From: utzoo!decvax!duke!harpo!npoiv!npois!cbosgd!mark
Newsgroups: net.misc
Title: Re: A Chicken/Egg problem
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.2496
Posted: Fri Aug  6 12:09:13 1982
Received: Sun Aug  8 08:26:25 1982


Here are two "proofs" that the egg came first.

(1) I'll postulate that evolution occurs by mutation.  The mutants that
    are inferior tend to tie, those that are superior (rare but certainly
    present) tend to do well and become dominant.  Now, when does mutation
    take place?  Either from a defective egg/sperm, or early in the life
    of the embryo.  Once the reproductive organs in the embryo have
    developed, a random mutation is unlikely to affect any offspring.

    With this in mind, a proto-chicken pair mate to produce a mutated
    (chicken) embryo which becomes a mutated (chicken) egg.  This
    chicken egg becomes the first chicken.  (Presumably it must either
    have genetically dominant genes or inbreed with another mutant
    from the same litter to perpetutate the species.)

(2) The egg came first, because there were dinosaur eggs long before
    there were chickens!  (The rules said "the chicken or the egg",
    not "the chicken or the chicken egg".)