Though I’ve never had a problem accepting the fact of Evolution, it’s always seemed to me that it has happened far faster than the mechanism of natural selection, random mutations and a bit of jumbling between the parents allowed for. Recently this was confirmed for me when I read about a type of lizard introduced as an experiment to a new environment, where within 6 months their legs lengthened to avoid predators, and then shortened after another 6 months so they could climb trees and avoid them even better.
What’s happening now through the science of evolutionary biology is that the genetic basis for this adaptability is just beginning to be understood. The general finding being made is that animals already have the genes for all sorts of different physical features, and it’s just a matter of them being switched on or off. So adaptation to a new environment can happen very quickly, and new species can therefore arise very quickly.
For example, we have 99% of our genes in common with chimpanzees (speak for yourself, I hear you saying!), but because different genes are switched on or off, we are very different to them. We still have the genes, for example, to be covered in body hair.
In an experiment on chicken embryos, it was found that if one particular gene (also found in other birds) was encouraged to express itself, the chick began developing a wider, taller beak; with another gene, a long, slender beak. So it’s like a lot of it is there already, you don’t need millions of years of random mutations to adapt successfully to an environment.
Where it got spookily interesting was in the case of an ancient fish known as the paddlefish. Investigations revealed genes already present which, if turned on, could lead to the development of fingers, hands and feet, crucial innovations used in emerging from the water to a life on land. Obviously this means that the transition to walking on land can happen more quickly than we might previously have thought. But the really interesting question, which the article didn’t raise, is why should these genes have been there in the first place if there had never been any need for anything remotely like fingers and feet? This is what I find mind-boggling. How does evolution run ahead of itself like this?
What I like about Evolution is that it tells us so much about the life-force, its vitality and creativity, it’s determination to survive and thrive, its sheer variety. And the sense that somewhere there is some sort of direction or purpose to the process, even though it is hard to define. But how the hell does it run ahead of itself like this? It reinforces the idea of some sort of purpose, some sort of blueprint out there in a wider reality that is drawing evolution onwards. And if this is happening on a physical level, why not also on a cultural level with humans?
11 comments:
Well it is Dr, when you think about it, there wont be many astrologers out there who do not believe in some sort of a 4th dimension. Charles Harvey always refered to it as "the divine" when lecturing. Follow that argument forward, pluto rules the collective unconscious, trace back how the human race has been under the influence of the various signs, think how the human race has been under the current sign - Saggitarius, now sit back and observe how there will this definable shift when Pluto gets settled in Capricorn.
I personally like the Oxford Simulation Argument which kind of suggests that we evolved as a planned alien project providing higher intelligence with the biological answers they needed to "correct" what they'd lost in the most basic biology, spirituality and emotional expression of thier species.
Having said that...there is a definite structure to our cells which do evolve based on how we respond to everything from stress (decreases fertility) to physical adaptation (Africans sing alot and work hard and as racist as this sounds, they are the best singers and athletes on the planet; just look at Kenyan marathon runners!)
Evolution is very interesting indeed. Instinct and fight or flight response is something animalistic as are phermomones and sexual attraction.
Astrology illustrates our animal and spiritual natures equally. It's in the decantes. A lower degree is typically a more base, instinctual expression whereas higher degrees (unless poorly aspected) often can achieve great detachment from the rest of the chart to sound the highest octave of spiritual awareness.
Don't you agree Dharmaruci?
Ah genetics one of my favorite subjects.
Perhaps you will be interested in Barbara McClintock's work, she showed that genes could transpose within chromosomes. Her experiments on Maize showed they could move around: "jumping genes"
Basically this says we can change who we are, while we are.
PS, the song that says, "we are stardust" absolutely true. There is hardly a particle of difference in the DNA of anything. Recently it has been narrowed it down to at most only 3% (i lean toward far less) of DNA is encoding DNA- the rest they call "junk". Ghosts of our past. Does it go all the way back to RNA? Possibly. I prefer to think it is merely the truth that we are all One.
"It reinforces the idea of some sort of purpose, some sort of blueprint out there in a wider reality that is drawing evolution onwards."
It does? Actually, I find that when I'm about to embark on a trip where I've been before, or to participate in an event where I've experience, I pack only what I know I need. By contrast, when I'm headed off into a new adventure where I'm much less certain of what to expect, I pack pretty much a little bit of everything "just in case".
So is that the blueprint? That there IS no actual plan--it's just a non-stop ride of unexpected adventure--so we'd all better have a bit of everything 'cause pretty much ANYthing might happen along?
lol!
MaryBeth, I don't really know about the decantes, but they sound interesting. Is a higher degree in any sense 'better' than a lower degree in this system?
I think the idea of a bluprint or plan is one of those ones that depends on what day of the week it is. I think it's a Neptunian idea - we are progressing to what we always have been, our perfectedness, our bliss, we just have to wake up to it. The other days of the week have Uranus: entirely original ideas that have never been thought of before that open up vistas of evolution. It's fate vs free will and all that, and you can never come down entirely on one side, and there's no final position you can adopt on it.
If one of the older cosmologies were to speak in modern terms they would say that the moderns have gotten things topsy-turvy. All of "evolution" is man externalized…
So it isn't surprising that chimps or chickens have some of our genes. :-)
Maybe only the anthropocentric ones?
Is this the same concept as the eco-devo paradigm (how genes actually produce whole bodies with small variations) that is being discussed or just an expansion on the neo-Darwinism (which would say that the genes turned on vs. randomly mutated within an individual)?
Who knows what we’ll find out….maybe the ideal of evolution won’t even hold up. I like what you said with
What I like about Evolution is that it tells us so much about the life-force, its vitality and creativity, it’s determination to survive and thrive, its sheer variety. And the sense that somewhere there is some sort of direction or purpose to the process, even though it is hard to define. But how the hell does it run ahead of itself like this? It reinforces the idea of some sort of purpose, some sort of blueprint out there in a wider reality that is drawing evolution onwards. And if this is happening on a physical level, why not also on a cultural level with humans?
It brings us back to ideas over the “Overmind”.
I don't know which idea it is, but I think the advance is they're able to get so specific and concrete through developments in chromosomal analysis, and cross-discipline it into evolutionary terms.
Yeah....I love genetics. My degree is in Anthropolgy and I agree. When I was in college and found out how closely related to chimps we are, it was a real paradigm shift for me relative to the interconnectedness of all life on Earth.
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