DEVO

[Solitary]

Recently a member of this band died. As many of you know they got their name from devolution. However, from a biological perspective, there is no such thing as devolution because whatever it is called it would still be evolution. All changes in the gene frequencies of species, and quite often in the traits those genes influence, are by definition evolutionary changes.

The idea that humans might regress or "devolve" assumes that there is a preferred hierarchy of structure and function like legs with feet are better than legs with hooves or that breathing with lungs is better than breathing with gills. However, for those species possessing those structures, each one is a useful adaptation.

This is because people don't understand the theory of evolution and mistakenly conclude from religion and the bible that humans are the ultimate product, even goal, of evolution. This view causes many misconceptions in biology. Among these are that species evolve or change because they need to change to adapt to shifting environmental demands.

It is a fact that 99 percent of all species that ever lived are extinct, so it is clear to me that no requirement says species always adapt successfully. Extinction is quite common in response to changing environment conditions. We have climate change now that could cause extinctions, even of our species, if ignored that we cause it.

Another misconception is that increasing complexity is the necessary out come of evolution. It is a fact that decreasing complexity is common in evolution. An example: the lower jaw in vertebrates shows decreasing complexity, as measured by the number of bones, from fish to reptiles to mammals. The extra bones became our ear bones. Also, ancestral horses had several toes like we do on each foot; modern horses have a single toe with a hoof. Solitary

[stromboli]

I thought this was going to be another "Abba" thread.

[Colanth]

Another misconception is that increasing complexity is the necessary out come of evolution.

It's what Gould called the Drunkard's Walk.  Life can get as complex as it gets, but it can't get simpler than 'alive', so it tends to more complexity.  (That doesn't mean that a single line can't get less complex.)