Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection

On Jun 4, 5:21 am, backspace <sawireless2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection
"...Natural selection is the process by which favorable traits become
more common in successive generations, and unfavorable traits become
less common."
"...Natural selection" - What naturaled and who did the selecting?

"Natural" is an adjective in this sentence, not a verb. As in what
sort of selecting? The sort that happens naturally- that is without a
"who".

"...by which favorable traits become more common in successive
generations" -

Either favorable or unfavorable will become more common. Looking back
to the previous generations what third alternative was there? I as a
human being will either be dead or alive tomorrow - what other
alternatives are there?

You could be working for the DMV.

Stating the obvious doesn't explain why I
would be either dead or alive. Lets presume I am alive, how does
stating that I am alive explain why I am alive.

Perhaps you should reread what you're responding to. The original
statement answers a different question than you're pretending it
does. Just saying "survival of the fittest" does not explain why a
cow has four legs and a snake has none or why either or them is alive,
and it isn't meant to. It explains why cows and snakes look
different than their 1000 times great grandpappies.

"...and unfavorable traits become less common."

Ofcourse, if they weren't unfavourable the organisms who had them
wouldn't be dead now would they.

That isn't necessarily so, as bad things happen to people with good
traits.

The essence of the sentence rephrased:
"Favorable traits become more common in successive generations, and
unfavorable traits become less common."

Does anybody know how these favorable traits were actually measured
apart from noting that the favourable traits became more common?

A traitometer.

You seem to be trapped in a rather obvious bog. If a trait helps a
creature survive, then it's favorable, at least in terms of survival.
The point of the phrase isn't to quantitate the amount of
favorabilitiy of specific traits, but to explain why creatures change
over time. If your knickers are in a wad because you see "survival of
those with the traits that make them fittest" as tautological, well,
I'll remind you that tautologies are true, so you waste your breath
arguing about it.

.

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