The Cambrian Explosion

Whoops sorry, I don't know how the "pre" got in there.

Evolution: nucleotide sequences are being re-arranged on chromosomes and that happens all of the time. Sometimes these re-arrangements throw up things that are useful in terms of survival. This has the effect of amplifying that particular re-arrangement. Sometimes called "survival of the fittest" it probably should more accurately be called "survival of something that was fitter than the previous". An an example, a creature that mutates in a way that develops it's re-productive organs in a safer place that the previous one.

I'm not sure that my description of evolution would help Tom, but it may do. It's just a theory. And it is very annoying when scientists talk about "Evolution did this. Evolution experimented with that .."etc. Some scientists say "Evolution is true like the sky is blue" -- that's ok, because sometimes the sky is not blue. And you know my views on truth anyway :-)

I do find it rather amazing that Darwin knew nothing about genetics, or the age of the Earth, yet still came up with a remarkable theory that involved inheritance.

On accountability (or avoidance of it), this probably comes from society (our parents). Having observed two children growing up, neither of them were born with any innate "accountability" that I could see. My personal belief is that these people are trying to explain what they see in the Universe rather than attempting to avoid guilt or saying sorry.

You rightly point out that "randomness" is involved in these re-arrangements (mutations). I've been asking folks what randomness is. It pops up everywhere, the Prof didn't have a good answer to the question. Randmonness may be the result of a hidden variables. Or another way of saying it is that probability may be the result of something that is hidden, something that is already chosen. Which is very odd, Scott Adams (Dilbert) wrote:

"Probability is omnipotent and omnipresent. It influences every coin at any time in any place, instantly. It cannot be shielded or altered. We might see randomness in the outcome of an individual coin toss, but as the number of tosses increases, probability has firm control of the outcome. And probability is not limited to coins and dice and slot machines. Probability is the guiding force of everything in the universe, living or non-living, near or far, big or small, now or anytime."
...
"That's right. Our existence was programmed into the universe from the beginning, guarenteed by the power of probability. The time and place of our existence were flexible, but the outcome was assured because sooner or later life would happen. We would be sitting in these rocking chairs, or ones just like them, having this conversation. You believe that DNA and probability are opposites. But both make specific things happen. DNA runs on a tighter schedule than probability, but in the long run -- the extreme long run -- probability is just as fixed and certain in its outcome. Probability forces the coin toss to be exactly 50-50 at some point, assuming you keep flipping forever. Likewise, probability forced us to exist exactly as we are. Only the timing was in question."

Looking at the fossil record, maybe the Cambrian explosion was down to some intelligence dumping life on Earth, if so I hope that they are happy with the results.

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I am very happy to hear that you have a good heart. Now get fit ya lazy bum!

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Beauty, Marines, and masculine honour and integrity. I know what you are saying. Believe me that stuff is beautiful.

For me this is an unfortunate example however, to me it shows a lack of educationon the part of the Marine -- through no fault of their own I would add.

I say this because there are a few truly "evil" men and women in the world. "Evil" being a shortcut term here to define people like Hitler or Hussein. Most people are not this bad.

As a result, anti-evil (let's call them "good") people have to stop these evil people.

These evil people cause wars by having their versions of Marines come off of their production lines to go conquer.

The good people have to manufacture their versions of Marines to fight the evil peoples Marines. War.

Now the evil folks Marine and the good folks Marine really are the same, they are both probably good, and would much rather be living a peaceful life, drinking beers with their buddies.

The evil folks Marines have tears streaming down their face as they go off to fight for the glorious cause. They have honour and integrity and guess what? They are being lied to.

I didn't like that Michael Moore 9/11 movie, but it did show a scene where a couple of military guys (Marines?) were recruiting undereducated americans in a car park. They were misleading their targets. The smart ones don't go to war, they stay at home and let the men of honour and integrity with tears streaming down their face throw themselves in front of the bayonets don't they? Or they have mandatory service.

Imagine if the few evil leaders could not persuade their people to fight for them? No evil Marines, so no good Marines necessary. Maybe a few evil leaders in the boxing ring, millions of lives saved. But that won't happen, and that's all down to undereducated men becoming soldiers for their evil leaders, misled, lied to, with tears streaming down their faces as they become men.

I would not have fought other soldiers on the lines in Iraq, but I would have gladly participated in a team sent in to take out Saddam. Or even helped to plan the remote missile that destroyed wherever he was located. Quickly and silently removing evil. I don't accept the argument that a war was necessary, and I believe that there are only a few truly evil people.

As I have often said the future is a race between education and disaster, I am not sure who I stole that from either.