Greetings all,
Re whales "choosing" to return to the sea. The statement seems
to turn natural selection on its head. My understanding of evolution is that
it's a question of adapt or die out. As the environment changes the more
adaptable in a species live and thus reproduce ever more adaptable
offspring, while those that fail simply die off.
The changes are totally random, due to the chromosome scatter which occurs
with each birth i.e no offspring is an exact copy of its parent, hence each
is a mutation of some degree. Some of this mutation is adaptable, some
irrelevant, some not and some harmful.
If the mutation increases survivability in a changing environment the
possessor will survive to produce more offspring with similar mutational
trends. In this way we have species change, some so vast that it seems
counter intuitive to link modern species such as the hyrax (rock rabbit) to
the elephant. Yet the link is there.
The changes are incremental and often miniscule, occurring on time scales of
hundreds of thousands and even millions of years, hence the outcome surely
cannot be attributed to choice.
As for warm blooded sea creatures such as whales, is there not a possibility
they are simply a link on the chain going the other way i.e. out of the sea
and onto land?
Regards,
Bob.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of
Keith Addison
Sent: Tuesday, 17 May 2011 9:56 p.m.
To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Human Intelligence and the Environment
Hi Chris
>quite true keith. you've touched on some points i've been meaning to bring
>to bring to bear on this discussion. hopefully i'll find some time to
>contribute more.
>
>robert, i was trying to draw you into the discussion as a thought exercise
>(the thing about the whales). this very question was put to me many years
>back,
And to me - or rather it was me that put the question.
>and it proved to be very transformational. no, i'm not trying to
>"guru" you. but i do like to share it when the opportunity presents
itself.
Here's what you said:
>>then there's the whales. we know their ancestors were land dwellers. in
>>other words, sea creatures gave rise to land creatures, and some of them
>>chose to return to the sea.
>>why would they do that? this is a serious question. after all, you're
>>giving up an awful lot.
Are they? I reckon they've got it pretty good. I'm a bit envious. The
way they live in the sea reminds me of the way later Paleolithic Man
lived on the land. Those were the good old days, I think.
You said they "chose" to return to the sea, and I guess they did,
though it's hard to say just why - because they like it that way, or
maybe the land-dolphins, whatever they were - or perhaps their
not-dolphin corporate dolphinhoods - screwed the land up somehow
(nuked it?) and the sea was their only refuge. Who knows, if they're
that bright maybe they geo-engineered themselves into sea creatures
rather than evolving or devolving or whatever.
I once wrote a three-page article about dolphins for New Scientist.
It's not that relevant to this discussion, but it's here, if you're
interested:
" Lessons from a deadly disease of dolphins - Attempts to save
captive dolphins dying from a bizarre disease known as malleiodosis
have paved the way for an effective vaccine for humans", Keith
Addison, New Scientist, Nov 17, 1983 http://snipurl.com/27wmeh
Those particular captive dolphins, by the way, had been rescued from
the annual dolphin slaughter at Taiji in Japan, the subject of "The
Cove". In 1983.
Anyway, the article was mainly based on interviews with two major
scientists. Among other things, I asked them whether dolphins
developed their big brains before or after returning to the sea.
"Before."
So then it could well have been a conscious decision.
Best
Keith
>>think about it.
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