I'm sure someone with more knowledge in biology and evolution can explain this to me, but the whole evolution thing is so weird to me. Specifically, it's strange that animals have an incredibly wide variety of attributes to adapt to their surrounding, many of which are highly complex and unique - chameleons' color-changing skin, snakes' venom, armadillos' armor, etc, etc. Yet at the same time, the variation among higher animals (fish, reptiles, birds, mammals) is very very very limited. There are certain features that almost all those animals share - similar internal systems such as skeletal, respitory, and circulatory, as well as external features such as two eyes, one mouth, a head, some ear and nose structures. Most animals have four appendages. Why do some animals have such incredibly evolved and specialize traits, yet no animal has three eyes? Or extra legs? Wouldn't those be beneficial too? Or an extra genitailia, in case of injury? There are many strange structures that would help creatures survive. Yet for the most part, we seem to be all very similar in very important ways. Why do we not see more variety? Evolution is so simple in principal, yet it produces such immensely complex results and trends. Again we see that simple rules can create great complexity. . .
Posted by Ben at June 4, 2003 03:11 PMYou, my friend, have answered your own question. "Variation among higher animals is very very very limited." By "higher," you mean "more evolved." That means that the processes of selection and evolution have exerted themselves powerfully among these "higher" species. Think of a pyramid. At the bottom, things are very random, and randomness=variation. As things "evolve," specific traits are selected for, so randomness decreases as "fitness" increases. The traits required to sustain say, life as a mammal, are very specific. Here is the great irony: the more evolved we become, the harder it is to CONTINUE evolving. We're very fit, but not very random, so our only hope for evolution is random gene mutation (as opposed to pre-existing variance among us). But, even mutation is unlikely to do us much good. Sure, 3 eyes or 2 dicks, or color-changing skin would perhaps be useful at some point, but do YOU want to reproduce with such a person? We aren't attracted to "freaks," so we don't select for them unless their utility is immediately apparent, which is not generally the case.
Incidentally, on a related note; I'm currently working on slides about a drug that was derived from a toxin in a marine snail that shoots poison darts at fish. Now THAT is cool evolution. Turns out that if you put small amounts of that poison in someone's spine, it acts as a powerful pain killer.
Okay, that was way too long. There's my 2 pennies.
BTW: I think your road trip is rad.
Posted by: Shawn at June 5, 2003 12:00 PMHey Ben, just checking out your journal. It looks like your roadtrip is off to a good start.
A few comments:
Apparently, in the case of irreversible injury to a man's teste (we'll call this teste A), the other teste (teste B) can take over and function just as effectively as the previous pair. So, in a way, humans do have extra gentalia. However, you only have one dick. So, if one night while drinking with the crew, Danny offers you a quarter to pierce your own dick, DON'T DO IT.
Ok, that's it. Have fun. See you in July.
Posted by: Doc at June 5, 2003 02:16 PMDon't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
Posted by: Menyhart Russell at January 8, 2004 11:07 PMIf you save the world too often, it begins to expect it.
Posted by: BonnerJackson Aaron at March 16, 2004 07:19 PMVery interesting things in you site
You cannot learn without already knowing.
People are just smart enough to not be happily ignorant.
Posted by: Heiner Paul at June 30, 2004 04:49 AM