Re: Evolution increases the computational ability of organisms.

On Sep 24, 5:10 am, Tim Tyler <seemy...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
*Hemidactylus* wrote:
Cave fish become simpler in that they commit less to eye
functionality. Tapeworms, as parasites, have off loaded digestion to
their hosts and haven't committed t the expensive chore of developing
their own digestive structures. The ancestors of snakes have done away
with limbs as have whales.

And other organisms (many of them) have ignored the call to a more
advanced complexification altogether. Unicellular protists still exist
that seem to have not realized the "need" for multicellularity.
Somebody should tell them they are missing out on a good thing not
having an embryological trajectory to muliticellular bliss. Slime
molds do have their communal phase, but easily revert back to a
relative state of anarchy after they have finished with the communal
bit.

Ecosystems, *not* species progress.

Do you have the goal posts on a rail so you can shift them back and
forth at will? The thread title was about *organisms* not ecosystems.
But since you want to drag ecosystems into the argument, there is
ecological *succession* between communities, but this is not
"progress*. And factors such as fire are imprtant in whether a
community of one sort will give way to a community of another. Supress
fire and you might end up with a different set of plants and animals
than if you either allow periodial natural burns to run their course
or impose a controlled periodic burn cycle. And when you add invasive
plant species into the mix all bets are off as you might wind up with
something that is completely different and out of whack. These
invasive species (eg- Brazilian pepper trees, melaleuca, and
Australian pine in Florida) are often the result of human action. Is
this "progress"? If global warming increases the rate of
desertification and deserts overcome what were once more diverse plant
communties is this "progress"? If the tundra melts and results in a
new set of plant/animal species to take over is this "progress".
Succession maybe, but I hesitate to impose human valuations upon
ecological processes.

My apologies to ecologists who actually know much more than I do about
this. I know (or vaguely recall) enough to be dangerous when I wanna
be.

Species can lose features -
and *even* go totally extinct.

Shifting the posts...species can lose strutures and thus become more
capable of survival and reproduction.

What is it about this ridiculous straw man that makes it look
as though it is worth attacking?

Did someone ever make the crazy claim that all species exhibit
progress?

People seem to be playing up progress as a general trend. I hate to
burst their bubbles but...

Is this simply a misunderstanding by the critics of the idea?

Or are the critics trying to make their opponents look stupid
by projecting nonsensical views onto them?

I really don't know - but it seems like a big waste of everyone's
time and bandwidth - please desist.

What exactly are you doing besides shifting the goalposts all over the
place?


.

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