Posted on 04/22/2004 8:46:34 AM PDT by Michael_Michaelangelo
Try it and get back to me. (I raise fish).
Let's consult the rule book.
The unscientific prollem I see with that is a conscious being (meaning you) has had controlling input over the selection process to achieve a desired outcome. If not a Creator, then who makes that selection in nature?
Guppy out...
Well, if this were the case, than it should be possible to reverse the selective changes done to any population. I think we both agree that no amount of manipulation is going to get us from a population of sparrows to an archaeopteryx.
I do agree that we would probably see this population of fish revert if (1) they are allowed to interbreed with regular guppies, or (2) if they are put into an environment that favors normal guppies. However, if they are kept distinct and are not at a disadvantage, there is no mechanisim (that I am aware of) which would cause them to revert.
If you disagree, can you explain how this might occur? Do they carry with them all of their old genetic code?
Every organisim is in competition with others of its kind. Some are better at surviving than others. This competitive pressure is one form of selection.
Another is environmental change. My back yard, now a lawn, was once a forest; long before that, it was a sea. As the environment changes, animals must adapt to these changes, or perish.
Schwabe C.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, USA. schwabec@musc.edu
The new hypothesis of evolution establishes a contiguity of life sciences with cosmology, physics, and chemistry, and provides a basis for the search for life on other planets. Chemistry is the sole driving force of the assembly of life, under the subtle guidance exerted by bonding orbital geometry. That phenomenon leads to multiple origins that function on the same principles but are different to the extent that their nucleic acid core varies. Thus, thoughts about the origins of life and the development of complexity have been transferred from the chance orientation of the past to the realm of atomic structures, which are subject to the laws of thermodynamics and kinetics. Evolution is a legitimate subject of basic science, and the complexity of life will submit to the laws of chemistry and physics as the problem is viewed from a new perspective. The paradigm connects life to the big events that formed every sphere of our living space and that keeps conditions fine-tuned for life to persist, perhaps a billion years or more. The "genomic potential" hypothesis leads to the prediction that life like ours is likely to exist in galaxies that are as distant from the origin of the universe as the Milky Way, and that the habitable zone of our galaxy harbors other living planets as well.
Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Sparrows and archaeopteryx are different species. One cannot become another. This is not what is being discussed.
You are dealing with specific traits that have been emphasized among select populations of the same species, and which will dissapear (return to the original) if not kept selectively enhanced. It's simple to prove this in a tank, try it. Some of each generation will exibit traits of the originating generation and continue interbreeding with the ones that have the emphasized traits till they are all back in the original state (outside influences removed).
This is the reason (specific traits being exhibited among some members of each generation that are not common to the entire generation) that allowed breeding the specific 'big tail' traits to begin with. It's the same with people, look at 'family' traits and how they are carried on or not carried on by subsequent generations according to the mates chosen by each generation. But the're all still human and each has various dominant and subordinate traits (height, color of eyes, skin, hair, etc. that could be selectively bred to make different 'racial' groups over time.
So long as we are talking about animals of the same species, unusual traits might well receed into dormancy. However, if we continue our experiment to the point where our two groups are no longer able to interbreed, then this is no longer the case.
Environmental pressures, potential mates.
You are saying that "Intelligent Design" has already been proven wrong and really isn't even a theory???????
Well, you're half right.
Actually, humans have a different number of chromosomes than apes do. But the nature of the difference actually provides unmistakable signs that humans evolved from the apes. See my post, How humans and chimps ended up having different number of chromosomes, and how this supports our common ancestry.
The site I linked an image from seems to be down right now, so here's an alternate view of the same info -- look at chromosome #2, which is the one I discuss in that post.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.