Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!peregrine!ccicpg!felix!dhw68k!feedme!doug From: doug@feedme.UUCP (Doug Salot) Newsgroups: sci.bio Subject: Re: Evolution Keywords: evolution Message-ID: <112@feedme.UUCP> Date: 29 Jun 88 09:09:08 GMT References: <5944@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> Reply-To: doug@feedme.UUCP (0000-Doug Salot) Distribution: sci.bio Organization: Feedme Microsystems, Orange County, CA Lines: 33 In article <5944@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> orwant@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan L Orwant) writes: >I'm a bit confused about how special-purpose anatomical parts can evolve, e.g. >the evolution of a bird's wings from an unwinged predecessor. > >If it happens gradually, then why isn't the 2% of a wing along the way an >evolutionary detriment? > >-Jon Orwant (orwant@wheaties.ai.mit.edu) >Pity me. I'm a computer scientist. As a fellow pitiful CS-type, I present my own uninformed opinion (all sentences have an implied "I think" prefix): The selection aspect of evolution is highly overrated. I'd bet that neutral mutations (both [un]expressed) dominate [dis]advantageous ones. Consider a bird-like creature that can't fly but has some vestigial arms that neither help nor hinder it. At some point, a descendent develops the ability to fly. A new phenotype enters the pool. Going from a non-flying species to a flying one seems especially independent of selection because a new niche is found rather than better success in an old domain. As the new niche becomes populated, selective forces would probably act to increase speed, distance, etc. What I want to know is how did the cell and its organelles evolve? I can imagine cell populations evolving into multicelled organisms, but its quite a feat to go from primordial soup to an autonomous factory. There appear to be no selective forces, so an entire functional cell has to organize pretty much by happenstance, right? -- Doug Salot || doug@feedme.UUCP || ...{trwrb,hplabs}!felix!dhw68k!feedme!doug "Thinking: The Thinking Man's Sport"