Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Why is WikiPedia so slow?

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Vern Green wrote:
> Well you see that is the problem I have.
>
> I don't have a problem with evolution per se, however I have read some
> interesting information that actually still debunks the whole idea of
> natural selection. That on the surface does not really debunk
> evolution, but it raises some serious questions about at least part of
> Darwin's work.
>
> As far as man being descendant of Apes. I find it interesting that
> there is really no fossil record for the apes that exist today. Man,
> being a descendant of the ape has all sorts of fossil record to
> support that theory, almost to the point of becoming religious dogma
> about it. Yet, chimpanzees have little to no fossil record to speak
> of.
>
> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0831_050831_chimp_teeth.html
>
> So why then, if man and chimpanzee and orangutan and gorilla all
> evolved from one common ancester, why can we not trace back their
> family tree? Is it possibly because there was no evolution in those
> creatures? Or perhaps so little evolution as to make them
> undescernable from their present day counterparts? And if that is the
> case, then how can evolution be all encompassing where every creature
> evolves as Darwin suggested?

I think that the end of this article does a rather good job of 
explaining why searching for fossil evidence is rather like looking for 
a needle in a haystack.  (I get the impression that archeological 
evidence for the Bible is rather similar - in both cases it is very 
incomplete but actually quite impressive.  But disclaimer - my knowledge 
of archeology is at "history channel" levels, so I am not an expert.)

My sense is that a lot of information about common ancestors and family 
trees comes from looking at for similarities in the DNA.  I saw a rather 
good post on the talk.origins newsgroup that looked at non-functional 
similarities in the DNA for various species of apes, and the statistical 
evidence that certain apes (chimpanzees I think) are more closely 
related to humans than other forms of apes seemed very strong to me.


> The of course there is they idea of survival of the fittest, but what
> about luck? I read an example recently of a school of fish where 80%
> of the fish were eaten by a whale, is this really survival of the
> fittest? Additionally, babies are not very fit when they are born, is
> it really survival of the fittest when they are not eaten early on? Or
> is it a matter of luck?

I think that the notion of "survival of the fittest" is not that it 
represents a certainty of survival, but rather that it adds a slight 
"drift term" to an otherwise very random occurence.  I am sure that for 
individual animals, "luck" (or "providence" as I like to call it :-)) 
plays a very large role.

You can see similar trends in various stocks - for the most part the 
rise and fall of stocks can be represented as a random process, but 
different stocks have different "drift coefficients" and it is these 
that make them good or bad investments.  (And the "randomness" is why 
you want a broad portfolio.)

Finally, in your baby puzzle, you have to account that part of the 
"fittness" is in the parents and how well they look after the child, and 
this is also controled (in part) by the DNA.

> On 1/5/06, Rick Buford <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
>
> > Josh wrote:
> >
> > > And they are included in my edits. Do I consider their views valid? No.
> > > But I, for one, am not too much of an ideologue to acknowledge their
> > > existence when discussing the topic. And just for good measure: I
> > > consider those views to be about as believable as the fallacy that is
> > > evolution.
> >
> > Putting my other comments aside for a moment, my question is: do you
> > believe that evolution doesn't happen, or simply that man did not evolve
> > from monkey?
> >
> > Rick
> >
> > --
> >    People who are willing to rely on the government to keep them safe
> > are pretty much standing on Darwin's mat, pounding on the door,
> > screaming, "Take me, take me!"
> >
> > Carl Jacobs
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > discussion mailing list
> > EMAIL:PROTECTED
> > http://mlug.missouri.edu/mailman/listinfo/discussion
>
>
>
> --
> Thanks
> F Vernon Green
>
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