: thousands of years but over billions of years. Many, Many trial
and error
: scenarios may occur over such a time period.
:
: Neil
:
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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
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