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It may be that I haven't kept up, but doesn't evolution require a guiding force of some kind? Speaking purely scientifically, of course.
by earnubs 15y ago
It may be that I haven't kept up, but doesn't evolution require a guiding force of some kind? Speaking purely scientifically, of course.
- loumf 15y agoNot according to the theory, no.
- cousin_it 15y agoEvolution is guided by the environment. For example, if customers always choose the best-looking pumpkins to take home and eat, and the ugliest ones end up being used for seed, the genes of ugly pumpkins will have more successors in each generation, and pretty soon your crops will consist of ugly pumpkins only. That's the complete mechanism of evolution right there. Would you say the customers unwittingly acted as a guiding force in evolving your population of pumpkins toward ugliness?
- Tichy 15y agoI think your example is unfortunate because it involves intelligent decision makers, which could indeed be interpreted as a guiding force. There are of course forces in nature, namely the laws of physics.
- demallien 15y agoThe easiest way to think about it is this: if evolution has a guiding force, in which direction is it guiding? And before answering that question, think about where most of the biomass of the Earth is found (hint, it's not in us humans).