You can ask questions like that one of AI yourself:
iAsk Question · When and how did the ability to utilize the sun for photosynthesis start and from what
Here's an excerpt from the response:
- The earliest forms of photosynthesis are believed to have emerged around 3.5 billion years ago. Fossil evidence, such as stromatolites, indicates that cyanobacteria were among the first organisms capable of photosynthesis.
- Cyanobacteria are prokaryotic microorganisms that utilize sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen through photosynthesis.
This was the beginning, which is what you asked for.
Much later, unicellular eukaryotic photosynthesizers formed in part by internalizing the descendants of these organisms (unicellular algae, diatoms, and dinoflagellates), and then multicellular eukaryotic photosynthesizers (plants) emerged, some leaving the oceans to form terrestrial plants.
These creatures transformed the planet's oceans and atmosphere.
The earth formed over about 100 million years beginning about 4.5 billion years ago, when the universe was about 9 billion years old. The ancients' understanding was that the earth was flat, immovable, setting on pillars, covered by a dome encrusted with the visible celestial objects above which were waters through which the rain fell, and created over six days. It was a typical primitive cosmology except for the timeline, which was likely added to compel a day off of work every week once the Hebrews settled and there were large central synagogues serving large areas of settlement so that the people could travel to the synagogue for instruction and to support the clergy with contributions.
The work week complete with a weekend was enshrined by claiming that the world took six days to create, which was followed by a day a rest, which the Hebrews were commanded to emulate with the creation of the Sabbath. There were no days of rest for able-bodied people for the centuries preceding civilization, and no need to give the clergy money when they were also hunters traveling with the horde, so a commandment was needed to support the notion of a day off and a new unit of tie was created. Natural units like days, months, and years were either too close together or too long.
There were no waters when the earth was formless gas and dust in the remnant of the solar nebula following the collapse of the gas and dust that became the sun. It's a myth, and it's incorrect.
No, it's a book of myths. The creation story attempts to explain why the world exists and how it formed, but the myth is not empirically derived. It was fabricated in the imaginations of the mythologists. Nobody witnessed the earth when it was forming. And we know that there were no deep or waters until the earth accreted and cooled. It was about 700 million years old when its oceans formed.
The theory postulates that life transformed continuously over billions of years from a primeval ancestral population of unicellular marine organisms to the tree of life we find today. Just how much of that was preserved as fossils and what fraction of those fossils can be unearthed is unknown. Many intermediate forms have already been uncovered since Darwin's theory was published.
Evolution is unintended, that is, it is not the work of a sentient agent creating something it imagined, but not undirected. Natural selection shapes populations to their environments.
That is incorrect. It predicts. for example, that therapeutics tested on the beasts can tell us about how they will affect man, and that viruses can evolve and become relatively immune to existing vaccines.
I asked AI at
iAsk Question · What are some of the predictions of evoution theory?:
Predictions of Evolution Theory
1. Adaptation to Environmental Changes
One of the primary predictions of evolution theory is that populations will adapt to their environments over time through natural selection. This means that individuals with traits that confer a survival or reproductive advantage are more likely to pass those traits on to the next generation. For example, if a population of insects is exposed to a new pesticide, those individuals with genetic variations that confer resistance are expected to survive and reproduce, leading to an increase in the frequency of resistant traits in subsequent generations.
2. Genetic Variation and Heritability
Evolution predicts that there will be genetic variation within populations, which is essential for natural selection to occur. This variation arises from mutations, gene flow, and sexual reproduction. The theory posits that heritable traits can be passed down from parents to offspring, allowing advantageous traits to become more common in the population over generations.
3. Speciation Events
Evolutionary theory predicts that over long periods, populations can diverge significantly enough due to isolation (geographic or reproductive) and different selective pressures that they may evolve into distinct species. This process is known as speciation. For instance, Darwin’s finches on the Galápagos Islands provide a classic example where different species evolved from a common ancestor due to varying environmental conditions and food sources.
4. Extinction Risks
The theory also predicts that species unable to adapt quickly enough to changing environmental conditions or new competitive pressures are at risk of extinction. This prediction has been observed in various contexts, such as habitat destruction or climate change impacting species survival rates.
5. Co-evolution
Another prediction is co-evolution, where two or more species influence each other’s evolutionary trajectory through interactions such as predation, competition, or mutualism. For example, flowering plants and their pollinators often evolve together; changes in one can lead to adaptations in the other.
6. Evolutionary Constraints
Evolutionary theory suggests that there are constraints on how organisms can evolve based on their evolutionary history and existing biological structures (phylogenetic constraints). These constraints can limit the directions evolution can take for certain lineages.
In summary, evolution theory provides a framework for understanding how life adapts and changes over time through mechanisms like natural selection, genetic variation, speciation events, extinction risks, co-evolutionary dynamics, and evolutionary constraints.
