Thursday 22 November 2007
Evolution- The Only Way Is Up
Life- Where's it going?
Why are we here?
Simple. The universe favours chain reactions. That's what life is.
Start it up, it starts off identical reactions (life cycles) in an ever increasing number. More energy spent. A good route, in the thermodynamic universe.
So, in the universe of life, what is BEST, wins. Every time.
That's you. OK, you're not rich. But you are member of that tiny percentage of organisms who are on a winning streak. And in the best group of the lot- those whose genetic descendants stand the best chance of conquering the universe.
Fact.
That's YOU.
Why? How?
Because of the need to keep the reaction going, the cycle going.
Early life molecules, reacted against eachother. Those survived best, which could take fuel from NEIGHBOURING reactions, giving themselves more time to fuel THEMSELVES.
The first predators.
And so, in one group survival became about being best at seizing the forms and life of others.
The first speciation.
The first war.
And so on, for two billion years.
Till one day, a species of bacteria went further. it buried into its victim. It took over it's entire form. And controlled it.
The first parasite.
The first eukaryote.
The first... sex.
Because that is what is replicated in all eukaryote life. That invasion of one cell, by another. fertilisation. The starting process of all multi-cellular life.
Because those bodies, one cell driven by another, were strong.
they learned to combine with other such bodies.
And transmit themselves, eternally dividing, through the first organic superstructures.
Plants, Fungi and...
Animals.
And for long these curious bodies just swum in the ocean, processing carbon, or having their carbon assimilated into other bodies.
Until.
One day, a predator got too good.
Enter the Red Queen.
The Red Queen hypothesis, says that all life has to run to stand still.
Basically, the prey that gets captured, does not reproduce.
That which survives, does.
So the offspring of the escaping prey, is better at evading capture.
So predators that cannot catch the enhanced prey, die young.
Meaning that the next generation descends from predators BETTER at catching the CLEVERER prey.
The evolutionary arms race.
And so on.
The land is free- those who flip on to it, cannot live on it, but risk it, catch untouched vegetation.
And one day, push evolution long enough, there exists creatures who CANNOT live OFF the land.
That's how it works.
Time, Pressure, Survival.
And yes, we are its finest product.
And no, it's not subjective.
Basic points of evolution.
The finest form is that most able to ensure it passes it's genes to the future for the longest period of time, before extinction. Ultimately, the most successful form, is the one ancestral to all alive at the latest point.
Well, that has to be us. We dictate which species live or die. Like it or not, we have that power.
If Earth-life spreads away from Earth, it will be us that causes that.
We are the result of four and a half billion years of mother nature, red in tooth and claw
We are GOOD. We are life, at it's pinnacle, in this star system, at least.
Ultimately, we have loyalty to ourselves.
To our genes.
To perpetuating our descendants.
That's why we are meant to care for eachother. Because we breed with eachother. And we need eachother.
Evolution, the universe, the laws of existence, favour humans bonking eachother like mad, and increasing exponentially.
Not limiting our births, but finding space for us.
We are so great, because we are the result of four billion years of life, seeking to live.
And we can only go forward.
Life forms, do take backward steps, but overall, life ALWAYS moves forward, overall the total amount of matter locked in it, the total amount of energy it expounds, ALWAYS increases.
Oh, nematode worms, are the most numerous, individual for individual.
But human bodymass, outnumbers ALL other body mass.
Our descendants- or some of them- will be beings beyond our comprehension.
We are going places.
And no, it doesn't matter about the rest.
Just us- that's all we need, what's in our heads.
Yes, worry about Earth- we live here, our survival matters.
But otherwise, it's ours. We ARE the lords of creation. What doesn't serve us, will join the sabre tooth tiger.
I'm aware that last paragraph, must have rubbed up a bad nerve. Yes, I can see why.
Because we all remember the last guys to sell THAT message.
But that's how they sold it. THAT'S the bit that got people to buy it.
Dirty message, Yes. But the kernel of truth they sold it on, shone.
So let's seize that kernel of truth, which died with their extermination camps, their depopulations, their warped, homo-erotic marches.
The bit that says, the energy in Man, was good.
Man IS good, and the more logical, more dynamic, more knowledgeable man IS the best. The bit that says, go for it, do it (or, might is right, it amounts the same, the strongest energy wins. So yes, if you think about like that, right ALWAYS wins- remember, the Nazis LOST)
Let's stop this pretence that 'protecting' the Andaman islanders, by enforced blockade, from civilised life, is anything other than treating human beings as zoo animals.
Man has every right to reach out to God's throne. Man IS what Man decides to be.
Vae Victis, folks.
Let that be our motto.
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9 comments:
And we can only go forward.
You were doing great up to this point, Crushed.
Evolution, expanding like the universe.
I can always count on you for adding to my knowledge. This is my personal goal of evolution, to learn at least one new thing every day. Whether I remember it is another matter.
I said this to you the other week, in the last 1,900 years there have always been white men and women, and black men and women. in the last 100 years, people have started to mingle sexually, to produce mixed race children.
I predict (although I won't be here to see it) that by the year 4,000 there won't be any white men and women anymore, and everyone will be mixed race!
Oh dear! Genes, the gene pool. I fear that I haven't evolved much past the amoeba stage myself.
Best wishes
Haha jmb's comment reminded me of a song by Monty Python, 'The Galaxy Song'.
I liked this post to...evolution has always fascinated me.
Oestrebunny is a cutie.
If we are the best, god help us.
James- Have faith. We WILL move forward.
The future is bright.
jmb- Evolution, like everything only happens because of the laws of physics. Life progressess as it uses up energy better.
SS- I think I said, five hundred at most. Of course, we can speed up that process.
McEwen- Your genes are the great survivors. Think about it. MOST genes go extinct. The chances are that in a million years NONE of your genes will hve survived, did you know that?
Even if everyone alive then can claim descent from you (Which they either will, or NONE will).
Oestrebunny- It's certainly a pet interest of mine. Especially in trying to work out aspects of the human psyche, and more, what our future will be.
James- You always have an eye for the ladies!
Welshcakes- We're not perfect. But we have so much going for us, as a species. So much of what humanity is doing now, is new territory in terms of evolution.
The Only Way Is Up
That depends on whether you believe that time moves forward. We have no way of telling this from our standpoint.
There are plenty of examples of evolutionary regression - eyeless sockets, blind moles ...
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