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Post by Don on Nov 16, 2016 15:12:23 GMT -5
Perhaps evolution can be driven by several factors at the same or different times. What worked on earth may work other places, or there may be other driving factors in other environments, or the driver may change over time. Today some women select for peacock feathers, some select for brains.
I think regardless of the driver, I can see a case for mutant evolution but not competitive evolution if there were no major advantages to be had. But for that to occur, you must assume no competitive advantage in the search for food or safety, which in turn assumes an environment with no scarcity of any resource or any predator to fear. Evolution hasn't stopped for humans, even though most are far above the lowest level of Maslow's hierarchy, which was the driver for early human evolution.
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Post by petercawdron on Nov 16, 2016 16:24:26 GMT -5
Oh, I love Dragon's Egg, that's such an amazing story. If you are interested in my writing, the closest I come to that kind of science fiction would be Anomaly (which looks at just how different aliens could be from humans) and Galactic Exploration (which examines SETI in the far future) www.amazon.com/Peter-Cawdron/e/B00600L9FO/Personally, I favor the entropy theory of abiogenesis, which says (in essence) that under certain conditions, life arises inevitably as the natural result of physics. If you think about how much energy is stored in the DNA molecule it is quite phenomenal. There are literally millions of chemical bonds in a single DNA molecule. Life is a surprisingly efficient way of both storing and distributing (dissipating) energy. If this theory is correct, then places like Europa and Enceladus, which have had stable watery environments for billions of years, should have produced life. That life is probably going to be carbon based using something like DNA simply because carbon is the most promiscuous element in the periodic table. There are more possible combinations of carbon molecules than there are grains of sand on all the beaches in the world, or stars in the sky, and natural physics will explore them as simply as a rock rolling down a hill. Here's the article I'm refering to... www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2875874/Life-Earth-wasn-t-luck-development-inevitable-rocks-rolling-hill-claims-physicist.htmlCheers, Peter |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2016 21:06:06 GMT -5
You know, I've never read Dragon's Egg. This thread is rapidly expanding my reading list. I'll pick up Anomaly, too, as a start on your books. That sounds up my alley.
Interesting article, too - thank for sharing it. This intrigues me:
ETA:
I've picked up both Anomaly and Dragon's Egg. Will swing back and report on the thread when I've had a chance to read them.
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Post by robeiae on Nov 17, 2016 17:17:22 GMT -5
Getting back to the sex issue, I do seriously wonder sometimes if many of us are kidding ourselves, if the whole point isn't actually just to get laid as often as possible, if sexual release isn't the primary goal of existence, and those of us who don't feel this way are the anomalies, the evolutionary dead ends, as it were.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2016 17:52:56 GMT -5
Well, I don't have kids. So there's that.
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Post by robeiae on Nov 17, 2016 18:01:59 GMT -5
Seriously, imagine the consequences of this: Kim and Kanye represent the ideal, the "fittest," as it were. I say this with humor, but I am actually serious. This isn't idiocracy at all; intelligence matters insofar as it's a tool to make one as appealing as possible and as capable as possible, when it comes to finding mates.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2016 18:16:28 GMT -5
Why must you pain me so, Rob?
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Post by celawson on Nov 17, 2016 18:35:56 GMT -5
Seriously, imagine the consequences of this: Kim and Kanye represent the ideal, the "fittest," as it were. I say this with humor, but I am actually serious. This isn't idiocracy at all; intelligence matters insofar as it's a tool to make one as appealing as possible and as capable as possible, when it comes to finding mates. During a certain time in life, perhaps you felt more that way, Robo? High school and college? There are peak reproductive years where sex seems more important in our lives. But after that wanes, such as in a long marriage. (Hey, not mine!!  . ), then why is the drive to use our intelligence, to explore and produce and understand, still there and oftentimes stronger? What a sad and empty world it would be if it's all about sex. Um, I'm on my phone and I meant to quote Ro 's post above the one I quoted. Sorry |
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Post by robeiae on Nov 17, 2016 19:43:37 GMT -5
What a sad and empty world it would be if it's all about sex. Some would say it already IS a sad and empty world, no? |
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Post by Don on Nov 17, 2016 20:07:23 GMT -5
What a sad and empty world it would be if it's all about sex. Are you sure you're doing it right? |
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Post by celawson on Nov 17, 2016 20:10:04 GMT -5
What a sad and empty world it would be if it's all about sex. Some would say it already IS a sad and empty world, no? Some would. Some are in dire circumstances that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Yet some of THOSE people still manage to find goodness and beauty and love and peace. And others aren't in such a bad place but simply cannot see it. I wish they'd look a little harder. |
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Post by celawson on Nov 17, 2016 20:11:18 GMT -5
What a sad and empty world it would be if it's all about sex. Are you sure you're doing it right?  Yay! Thanks for my first use of Gigantor ROFL |
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Post by Christine on Nov 18, 2016 21:08:57 GMT -5
I read through this thread earlier today and just absolutely love the subject and the dialogue. As others mentioned, I too have new books to read.
As far as sex and all that jazz, I find I am waaay more interested in learning and exploring new ideas and information now that I'm older and the idea of a mate (or lack thereof) no longer feels relevant (or, dare I say, even desirable). Looking back, I could almost feel regret about the "wasted" time there, because the current course is so much more personally rewarding. But as regret would only be wasting more time, and there are different and necessary paths in one's life to be traversed and valuable experience gained from them... it's all good. Life is so cool.
That's my philosophy, yo.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2016 21:46:02 GMT -5
Yes, I've been enjoying this thread, too. I'll be looking around for similar sorts of interesting topics to start. I know we're all obsessed with the election still, but it's good to remember that there's other stuff out there worth discussing, too. (And it makes for a nice break and a pleasant change.)
I have a pile of reading to do this weekend!
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Post by Don on Nov 19, 2016 4:29:40 GMT -5
Seriously, imagine the consequences of this: Kim and Kanye represent the ideal, the "fittest," as it were. I say this with humor, but I am actually serious. This isn't idiocracy at all; intelligence matters insofar as it's a tool to make one as appealing as possible and as capable as possible, when it comes to finding mates. Okay, I apparently had to think about this one a long time to see the contradiction. If Kim and Kanye represent "the fittest," doesn't that argue for physical appearance and against intelligence as being the more important motivator of the two? Based on the trends I've seen in the world over the last 50 years, women as a group simply are not selecting for intelligence over attractiveness, hipness, celebrity or wealth. Then there are those who purposefully choose someone as much like FedGov as they can find; controlling, suspicious, untrustworthy, wasteful, and prone to violence when disobeyed. |
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. ), then why is the drive to use our intelligence, to explore and produce and understand, still there and oftentimes stronger?