Posted by Chris Woolston on December 30, 1996 at 11:14:04:
I'd like to make a late entry into the conversation
between Lynn and Stephen regarding the origins of the
universe and evolution. Lynn asked several times for
an explanation of how an orderly universe could arise
from the chaos after the big bang. True, a universe
full of aimless particles and lawless energy would never
produce order "of itself." But the gases and energy of
the early universe had to answer to the laws of physics.
Cosmologists don't know exactly how gravity and
quantum mechanics formed the stars and the planets
and the pulsars -- but none doubts that it happened.
As for evolution, Lynn says she doesn't know of any case
where a mutation actually helped an organism. In her
opinion, any adaptations are merely a case of recessive
genes rising to dominance. Let's examine the case of
Adam and Eve, the first humans. As depicted by the
Christians, the first humans were white humans. White
skin is clearly adaptive for people living in Europe.
But the descendants of Adam and Eve that migrated to
Africa developed dark skin, a very effective defense
against skin cancer. Did Adam and Eve carry
unexpressed recessive genes for dark skin? If so, one
in four of their children would have been dark-skinned.
If Adam and Eve were the first humans, a genetic
mutation must have crept into their bloodline, giving
rise to a race of people well-equipped to live in the
tropics. By the way, I happen to think that the story
worked the other way around, that the first humans had
dark skin and a mutation gave rise to a race of people
that could thrive in Northern Europe. But the point
remains the same.
Many mutations are meaningless, some are lethal, but
some mutations are clearly beneficial. The short-necked
ancestors of giraffes did not have recessive genes for
extremely long necks. Mutations that made the neck
incrementally longer tended to get passed on to future
generations until modern giraffes could reach the very
tops of the trees. Penicillin used to be extremely
lethal to infectious bacteria, but mutations made many
strains of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. The
examples of beneficial mutations are endless.
Sorry I entered this discussion so late. I only
discovered this site a few days ago. Looks like a
great place to hold a conversation. Happy remainder of
the holidays.