Christian Evolutionist:

[Autodidact]

O.K..So why do we need to evolve?Or what makes us evolve in "positive" ways not negative if not the enviroment?

Or are we not evolving in positive ways?

Love

Dallas

Everything doesn't have to change dramatically all the time. It's largely related to how quickly the environment is changing. For examples, sharks have been around a long time, and have only evolved a little. They're evolving, but not that much. Same with cockroaches. OTOH, since polar bears can't evolve fast enough to adapt to shrinking sea ice, they're probably about to go extinct.

The overwhelming majority of species go extinct eventually, but OTOH new ones are constantly coming into being.

 

[Autodidact]

I would like to commend all in thread for moving past the usual level of argumentation about this subject, and actually teaching and learning from each other. *distributes frubals freely*

 

[painted wolf]

It depends on what is in the water making people sick.

In many cases its a parasite and antibodies are frankly next to useless.

wa:do

 

[DallasApple]

We're all born with this really cool ability to develop resistance to disease. It's incredibly complicated and absolutely fascinating, and deserving of a thread in itself.

She would, but she'd probably have to get sick at least once first. Then after that she would have developed the resisitance.

It is cool..I know a little about it..Like you cant catch the same "flu" twice.(I think)

Thats why the nasty bugger changes every time..and there are like 30 of them floating around at the same time looking for its next victim!

Oh and also..thats how a lot of our vaccines are created.With the dead virus..So we build up the anitbodies ahead of time to fight it off in case of an invasion.

Oh and what about the guy that has built up immunities to all this snake venom..Your right! Deserving of its own thread..

Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

Everything doesn't have to change dramatically all the time. It's largely related to how quickly the environment is changing. For examples, sharks have been around a long time, and have only evolved a little. They're evolving, but not that much. Same with cockroaches. OTOH, since polar bears can't evolve fast enough to adapt to shrinking sea ice, they're probably about to go extinct.

The overwhelming majority of species go extinct eventually, but OTOH new ones are constantly coming into being.

So in other words..we cant always evolve quick enough to keep up with a too fast movign enviroment so we die..

Maybe one day..we will evolve a fast evolving gene..and a steady as she goes evolving gene..LOL!!

Wouldnt that be cool if we could change shape and everything when we needed to at a moments notice?

Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

I would like to commend all in thread for moving past the usual level of argumentation about this subject, and actually teaching and learning from each other. *distributes frubals freely*

I agree...why not learn something sometimes..or teach.. Or both...Frubals to you too..

Love

Dallas

 

[Jose Fly]

Dallas,

Auto et al. are doing an excellent job of answering your questions, but I'll chime in now and then when I can. Let me know if it gets too repetitive.

So why do we need to evolve?Or what makes us evolve in "positive" ways not negative if not the enviroment? Or are we not evolving in positive ways?

It's not whether we "need" to evolve as much as it is that we just do (like all populations). As long as we keep producing offspring that are different than ourselves, we'll evolve.

The environment's role is generally to determine which offspring do well and which ones don't. For example, an organism with characteristics that help retain heat is going to do well in a cold environment, but the same set of characteristics are going to be negative in a hot environment.

Finally, given that environments are never static and are ever changing, it's imperative that populations evolve.

 

[painted wolf]

Bacteria can change the speed of their mutation rate. It's not by choice though.

Under stress the system that checks the genes for mistakes stops working as hard because it slows down the production of needed enzymes and proteins.
This lets the needed products get built faster, but it also increases the chances of mistakes and mutations.

Sometimes this works out in the Bacterias favor.

When conditions return to normals the system goes back into full edit mode and mutations slow down again.

wa:do

 

[Autodidact]

So in other words..we cant always evolve quick enough to keep up with a too fast movign enviroment so we die..

Maybe one day..we will evolve a fast evolving gene..and a steady as she goes evolving gene..LOL!!

Wouldnt that be cool if we could change shape and everything when we needed to at a moments notice?

Love

Dallas

I think that biologists think that the reason that sexual reproduction evolved is to enable species to adapt more quickly to changing environments, particularly diseases. If you think about it, more creatures die from illness than are eaten.

 

[DallasApple]

Dallas,

Auto et al. are doing an excellent job of answering your questions, but I'll chime in now and then when I can. Let me know if it gets too repetitive.

It's not whether we "need" to evolve as much as it is that we just do (like all populations). As long as we keep producing offspring that are different than ourselves, we'll evolve.

The environment's role is generally to determine which offspring do well and which ones don't. For example, an organism with characteristics that help retain heat is going to do well in a cold environment, but the same set of characteristics are going to be negative in a hot environment.

Finally, given that environments are never static and are ever changing, it's imperative that populations evolve.

O.K..so we dont "need" to evolve we just do..and its random mutations of our parents genes that they handed down to us..

So then as we evolve we seek out an enviroment that best fits our "mutations"?

Like for instance Im very light skinned..Are you saying my light skin was passed down from my parents..(of course uniquely with variables)..and so then I seek out the enviroment that Im least likely to be burned to a bloody red crisp?But it wastn because my genetic (ancestors) were livign in areas without bright sun so devolped white as ghost skin and passed it down to me?

Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

I think that biologists think that the reason that sexual reproduction evolved is to enable species to adapt more quickly to changing environments, particularly diseases. If you think about it, more creatures die from illness than are eaten.

I see..so we couldnt just "split" ourselves in half anymore fast enough to keep up with what would kill us..?..Im sorry ..it would still come in handy sometimes!LOL!

Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

Bacteria can change the speed of their mutation rate. It's not by choice though.

Under stress the system that checks the genes for mistakes stops working as hard because it slows down the production of needed enzymes and proteins.
This lets the needed products get built faster, but it also increases the chances of mistakes and mutations.

Sometimes this works out in the Bacterias favor.

When conditions return to normals the system goes back into full edit mode and mutations slow down again.

wa:do

Would this explain in the case of bacteria ..them becoming antibiotic resistant?

Love

Dallas

 

[Autodidact]

O.K..so we dont "need" to evolve we just do..and its random mutations of our parents genes that they handed down to us..

So then as we evolve we seek out an enviroment that best fits our "mutations"?

No, I wouldn't emphasize that. What happens is that if a mutation is favorable, that individual gets to survive and have babies, so that mutation sticks around in the population. If you don't fit your environment, you die without offspring, and so does that mutation.

Like for instance Im very light skinned..Are you saying my light skin was passed down from my parents..(of course uniquely with variables)..and so then I seek out the enviroment that Im least likely to be burned to a bloody red crisp?But it wastn because my genetic (ancestors) were livign in areas without bright sun so devolped white as ghost skin and passed it down to me?

No, rather that if you were living in the wrong environment (before sunscreen and houses) you'd have died before you had kids, and that would be the end of the whitey-white mutation.

 

[Autodidact]

Would this explain in the case of bacteria ..them becoming antibiotic resistant?

Love

Dallas

Ding ding ding!!! Evolution in action. Frubals coming your way.

 

[painted wolf]

Yup among other things. It also lets them adapt to changing food types and environmental conditions.

Another thing that lets bacteria evolve so quickly are plasmids.
Plasmids are small circular collections of DNA that are independent of the rest of the Bacterias genetic code.
When bacteria have 'sex' and exchange DNA the plasmids sneak in as well. This lets the Bacteria quickly share antibiotic resistance and other traits.

Viruses can also give Bacteria antibiotic resistance by carrying helpful genes itself.. having your host die is no fun.

wa:do

 

[DallasApple]

Yup among other things. It also lets them adapt to changing food types and environmental conditions.

Another thing that lets bacteria evolve so quickly are plasmids.
Plasmids are small circular collections of DNA that are independent of the rest of the Bacterias genetic code.
When bacteria have 'sex' and exchange DNA the plasmids sneak in as well. This lets the Bacteria quickly share antibiotic resistance and other traits.

Viruses can also give Bacteria antibiotic resistance by carrying helpful genes itself.. having your host die is no fun.

wa:do

Oh so the bacteria has an army reserve..or "stow aways" Smart little ***-holes.

Im jealous fo their evolutionary abilities..

Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

No, rather that if you were living in the wrong environment (before sunscreen and houses) you'd have died before you had kids, and that would be the end of the whitey-white mutation.

Maybe thats where brains come in handy in evolution!..The mother of all invention is necessity!

Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

To sum it up..sounds like we are all a bunch of mutants!

Love

Dallas

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Or maybe their fins turned it legs because the legs helped them get around in marshy areas and get into places where the predators couldn't get to them, thereby helping them survive. (That is the truth about how it happened)

Can anyone say "Mud Skipper"....?????

 

[painted wolf]

Oh so the bacteria has an army reserve..or "stow aways" Smart little ***-holes.

Im jealous fo their evolutionary abilities..

That's why they out number us so much and live in every possible place on the planet. Not bad for such 'primitive' things.
On the plus side we couldn't live without our bacteria, so they aren't all bad.

Be proud of your Mutant-ness, it makes you unique.

wa:do