Can u expand Charles Darwin's evolving theory ?

Question

Can u expand Charles Darwin's evolving theory ?

Answer 1

You mean Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.  (Unless you are trying to attack Darwin with a bad pun.)

You can summarize the theory as three observations, and a conclusion:

Observation 1: Variation.   Individuals in a species or population are not all identical.

Observation 2: Inheritance.  Individuals pass traits onto offspring.

Observation 3: Competition.  More individuals are born in a species or population than can possibly survive.  Therefore there is competition for resources and mating opportunities.

These three observations lead to the following:

Conclusion:  Those individuals in a species or population that are born with traits that provide some advantage in this competition, will tend, *on average* to pass those very traits onto offpring in greater numbers.

So that is how the overall traits in a species or population changes over time (evolves), and why those traits make the species or population better adapted for its environment.

This is called 'natural selection' and is the main driving force of evolution (the slow change in a species or population over time).

----- {end of answer} -----

I'd also like to answer lincolntrue's questions.   He asks them, but since he provides no email access, it's not clear that he is actually interested in an answer.  But they are easily answered anyway:

>"question one: how could symmetry be necessary if evolution was indeed random?"

It's not "necessary", it's just more efficient.   From the point of view of DNA, genetics, embryology, etc., it is an *enormous* saving in information storage, processing, and energy during development if the exact same code that builds your left side also builds your right side.   There is no advantage to having three or five legs, and lots of advantage to having two or four.  Also locomotion with an odd-number of limbs is *far* more complex from a neurological point of view.  There are just no advantages.

Second even simpler answer:   Look at a snowflake.   Symmetry as a result of "random" process (that of water freezing).

Third, and most important answer:   EVOLUTION IS *NOT* RANDOM.  That is the entire POINT of Darwin's theory.

>"question two: what is it? (really, I want to know, and I do not accept it as 'divine intervention')"

If you mean, what is natural selection, see my answer above.

But the key point w.r.t. your post is that NATURAL SELECTION EXPLAINS HOW EVOLUTION IS *NOT* RANDOM.   The antelopes that get killed by lions are not determined "randomly" ... the lions kill the antelopes that are easiest to catch!  That is a NON-RANDOM selection ... that over time leads to changes both in lions and antelopes.

So for example, why does symmetry evolve?  Because (being an antelope) a lion is equally likely to attack from the right as from the left.  And (being a lion) an antelope is just as likely to be hiding in the bush on the right as in the bush on the left.   So any assymmetry that favors one side or the other provides no advantage.

As long as you think that "evolution is indeed random", you can never understand evolution!

Answer 2

Easily, seeing as it's being done for me.  Darwin added sexual selection, Georg Mendel lit the fuse that added genetics, and lots of new evidence becomes available each year to strengthen the theory.  The only bit left for me to do is to read about developments.

Answer 3

point one: the theory states that necessity of change leads to the eventual  genetic change in every living animal.

observation one: I have never seen an animal that normally has three or five legs. (maybe a deformed one)

point two:  there seems to be some symmetry involved in this type of evolution. (animalia)

question one: how could symmetry be necessary if evolution was indeed random?

point three (here is where I expand):  There must be another force governing the evolution of animals that helps to keep this symmetry.

question two: what is it? (really, I want to know, and I do not accept it as 'divine intervention')

Answer 4

Charles Darwin's "Theory of Evolution" as written in his book "The Origin of Species" says that all living things are directly related. He originally came up with this theory while bird watching in the Galapagos Islands. As conditions (food source, temp, etc) changed, birds of the same genus but different species would flourish or decline due to their adaptations. Over a few generations, the species with the best adaptation would be the more prevalent because they were best suited a la "Survival of the Fittest".

By studying the anatomy of different animals, he drew corollaries between animals from different kingdoms. Combining this with his study of the birds of the Galapagos Islands he concluded that all living organisms are different adaptations of one or a few "original" organisms. According to his theory, the current set of species we have are directly descendant from the original ones and have adapted to fit the niche where they live.