Sunday, November 07, 2004

Persistence



One way to look at evolution is as the product of persistence through time. I don't mean persistence in the common sense of "keeping on trying", although there's plenty of that in evolution - I mean that some things persist through time, they last, and some things don't.
Back when the world was a chemical soup, certain of these chemicals dissolved, while others showed a tendency to stabilize and to persist as time went on. They bound with other chemicals to form even longer-lasting compounds, and over time, given the sorts of conditions that existed on earth in its earliest days, they formed the very complex molecular structures known as proteins.

This process is not speculative - it has been reproduced in the laboratory under conditions similar to conditions on Earth in its earliest days.

A fuller discussion of the transition from chemicals to complex molecules to proteins can be found at: http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/e41/41.htm

But really evolution is about what persists and what doesn't. If something does not persist through time, we don't see it. It went. It's gone. It's extinct. If something does persist, it lasts, it's not gone, it carries on, it survives. The battle for survival is really a testing of what works to allow an entity to persist and not to dissolve or vanish.

So some things have come down to us from the dawn of the Earth because they have solved the riddle of persistence. They have "learned" how to survive. Even the smallest molecule can "learn" in the sense that it will do the things that permit it to persist, because if it doesn't, it ceases. This is not to argue that elements and atoms and molecules are intelligent and make decisions to survive. It just means that if they do not do the things that allow them to persist, they just don't persist and are gone.

It's important to understand this somewhat mindless process of chemical elements stewing about for millions of years, and eventually forming increasingly complex compounds that are different because they persist. The building blocks of life are elements like carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. From these there evolved sugars, amino acids, nucleotides, fatty acids, phospholipids, vitamins and coenzymes. From these evolved proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids. Eventually, the process produced very complex proteins like RNA and DNA, that persist because they have "learned" how to reproduce themselves. They behave in ways that result in their persistence.

The evolution of proteins is discussed here: http://www.utdallas.edu/~cirillo/nats/day18.htm
Again, remember that "learning" here is just doing the "right" thing to survive, and surviving is more than just existing, it is also a set of behaviours that will result in the chemical compound or molecule or whatever, the entity that displays such behaviour, persisting through time.

So to this point I hope I've shown that even chemicals can "learn" in the sense that they will do the sorts of things that result in their persistence. They do this unconsciously, but if they don't do the "right" sorts of things to survive - they don't.

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Saturday, November 06, 2004

Evolution

It all starts with an understanding of the theory of evolution.

A recent issue of the National Geographic magazine asked the question, "Was Darwin Wrong?" Inside it gave the answer: "No."

The evidence is in and it is overwhelming that life evolved out of the ooze and continues to evolve.



If you click on the pigeon image above and scroll down the National Geographic page that appears, you'll see a list of links to sites that explain the theory of evolution.

Evolution

www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution

This interactive and entertaining website is a companion to the PBS series on evolution. Explore Darwin's life and the theory he proposed, find resources for teachers and students and a library of additional resources.

The Writing of Charles Darwin on the Web

pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin

This site claims to be the most extensive collection of Darwin's writings ever published and includes The Origin of Species and other books, volumes of letters, and articles published in periodicals. Although the site appears to come from the British Library, it is produced by a historian affiliated with Cambridge University.

Exploring Constitutional Conflicts: The Evolution Controversy

www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/evolution.htm

A fascinating look at both sides of the issue from a University of Missouri law professor. Includes links to websites supporting evolutionist theory and creationism.

AboutDarwin.com

www.aboutdarwin.com

More about Darwin himself than about evolution, this entertaining site offers great detail about Darwin's life and science in the late 1800s. It includes a long list of links.

Center for Science and Culture

www.discovery.org/csc

This website presents the non-Darwinist and non-creationist point of view known as intelligent design, which holds that the universe is the product of intelligent thinking.

Answers in Genesis

www.answersingenesis.org

A very large young-Earth creationist website. Although most material is in English, it includes pages in ten Asian and European languages.

The Talk.Origins Archive

www.talkorigins.orgThis website is built around essays and articles addressing the evolution/creationism controversy from a mainstream science viewpoint. Lots of links to websites on both sides of the issue.

National Center for Science Education

www.ncseweb.org

The NCSE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending the teaching of evolution in public schools.

Robert Clark

www.nationalacademies.org

This organization provides a committee of experts in all areas of scientific and technological endeavor and gives independent, objective advice on critical international and national issues.

- Thom



Please support this blog!

In an age where religious fundamentalism is holding back the human project and truth and science are under daily attack, making the case for logic, rationality, the scientific method, secularism, and humanism has never been more important.

If you support my work, please make a small monthly contribution to my Patreon account HERE.
Thanks!


Friday, November 05, 2004

First Posting

Welcome, visitors!

The purpose of this blog is to discuss the big questions asked by humanity:

"What is the meaning of life?"

"Is there a God?"

"What is our relationship to the planet Earth and the rest of the cosmos?"

"What is our relationship to other living creatures?"

"What is Good and what is Evil?"

And so on.

I welcome your comments!

- Thom

P.S. In an age where religious fundamentalism is holding back the human project and truth and science are under daily attack, making the case for logic, rationality, the scientific method, secularism, and humanism has never been more important. 

If you support my work, please make a small monthly contribution to my Patreon account HERE.

Thanks!