Are we just the result of billions (trillions?) of copy errors and mutations?

Question

So as I understand it, we are all just the result of billions (trillions?) of copy errors and mutations as is every living thing on the planet?

So if our original ancestor had flawlessly copied the genetic code every single time, we would still be pond scum?

Isn't this a sad view of life on the planet? We are all just mistakes that turned out to benefit us?

Answer 1

Not sad, just realistic.  So what's the problem?

Answer 2

No, we are the result of an all-wise and all-knowing Creator.  No mistake.  There is absolutely no way that the human body (or that of animals, for that matter) as intricately as it/they is/are designed could have happened by "copy errors and mutations" or come from "pond scum".  That is more than a "sad view of life on the planet", it is ridiculous to say nothing of being erroneous.  

Answer 3

Adaptations are not necessarily mistakes.  Indeed, it is not specialization to a certain environment that is the key to survival, but flexibility and adaptability.  Woolly mammoths and Neanderthals were highly specialized...but even small changes in their respective environments proved deadly.  On the other hand, the smallest and oldest life forms, bacteria and viruses are highly flexible in response to changes in their environments.  

To your second point, about pond scum...even if the original single celled life forms had flawlessly copied themselves, chances are the planet would be barren of life.  Your view does not take into account the violent mood swings of the planet, which has gone through some mighty horrible growing pains--"snowball earth" phases, periods of hot, lush, and highly volcanic global climate, cool, dry periods, and glaciations.  Without these variations life wouldn't have survived at all.  The earth at the point when life formed had an atmosphere of methane, not nitrogen and oxygen with its other trace elements we know today.  The "original ancestor" was anaerobic, oxygen was a toxic byproduct.  Organisms evolved that could use the oxygen...and a blink in time later, here we are.  

So...you think this is a sad way to view life?  Rather I find it endlessly amazing, a lush tapestry of variation and vitality.  When we find that we cannot evolve even a little, our days are numbered.  

Answer 4

Mutations aren't "copy errors" they are a natural part of life.  It's just what happens when creatures reproduce, be they bacteria or mammals.  You just seem to be one of those small, terrified people who needs to believe that a divine being has given you a purpose because you can't make one for yourself.  Evolution is a fact, like gravity.  Get over it.

Answer 5

Apparently so...with a little competition thrown in!

Answer 6

We are programmed to be flawed to allow evolutionary efficiency to be the final determinant in what is most important.  We are physically the result of countless mutations but there may be more to us that goes beyond the physical.

Answer 7

No, we are all beautiful people created by God who carry traits from different family members to make us our own original person.

Answer 8

Why is that "sad?" - would it be more comforting to believe some god molded U from clay in "his" image, & that you're 'special?' - go ahead then, most people do. It seems to keep them from being "sad" about the fact that we're no more 'important' than "pond scum!"