Re: Plants The sixth sense

From: William Perez free.willie at verizon.net> on 2002.02.02 at 19:00:01(8143) > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Neil Carroll" > To: "Multiple recipients of list AROID-L" > Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 10:02 AM > Subject: Re: Plants The sixth sense > : +More > : The explination is that these chance differences are chosen out, > not in > : thousands of years but over billions of years. Many, Many trial > and error > : scenarios may occur over such a time period. > : > : Neil > : > *************************************** > You may call me old fashioned, but I have a hard time swallowing > that "evolutionary" events of this type cover billions of years. I > find it hard to imagine that the earth's distance from the sun > wouldn't have changed over such a long time span. Small amounts, > either closer or nearer, would prohibit life as we know it from > existing. Thermodynamics. > > Why do we not notice these "experiments" by plants or animals > occurring today or since science has kept up with things. I mean, > with the large propagation firms that exist, you'd think that > occasionally things like this would show up. Now, I'm not talking > about abnormal or defective parts, but actual new variations, i.e., > the "eggs on the roots". The real question is what induced such > things to occur in the first place, not natural selection, which > would occur later. An example of this is why do we have two lungs, > two eyes, two kidneys? Why not three or just one? These basic > precepts occur in all mammals, not just humans. > > Take cattle for example, as they have been domesticated in massive > amounts for millennia. They have changed physically in size, shape, > color & etc., slightly due to selective breeding, but they are all > still are cloven hoofed furry animals that moo. Their udders > haven't begun to relocate nor have they begun development of canine > teeth (or any meaningful upper front teeth for that matter). > They've always been ruminants with multiple stomachs and it doesn't > look like that will ever change. No changes that would distinguish > them as another or new developing species have occurred. This is > the case for all animals that are known to exist currently. > Elephants are very much the same as they were three thousand years > ago. Even in the case of Metasequoia glyptostroides (Chinese > Redwood), it remains unchanged from the fossil record. Also the > Coelacanth fish and Alligator for that matter. > > Just to add fuel to the fire: I heard awhile back that some > scientists hypothesize that basically all species alive today have > always been around and other, less flexible cousins became extinct > for various reasons over time. Perhaps most ancient plants and > animals will always be unknown due to fossilization never occurring > or never being found. We may have only discovered a tiny amount of > species that have existed and just got lucky with what we have. > Scientists can't even agree on the dating methods of fossils. In > any event, I don't think we'll ever know for sure. I just have > faith in the Original Designer's handiwork. > > Please no flames, just thoughtful discussion. > > David Sizemore > Kingsport, TN > > > Descent with modification! Read 'The Panda's Thumb" by Stephen Jay Gould. Or any of his books, for that matter. Basically, changes occur with modifications with what's already there. As for the panda, it has a 'thumb' that's evolved from a wrist bone or something like that. That's why cows will always be cows.

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