Natural Selection
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--- ! End introduction instructions ! --- Natural Selection, or "survival of the fittest", is defined by the online wiki as "the process by which individual organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with unfavorable traits'" see Natural Selection
The key point to understand about natural selection is that it does *not* explain how a particular trait arises, but rather why it is preserved in a population. That is, natural selection relies on a particular trait already existing in a population. One goal of potential research could be to examine various examples of natural selection to distinguish between explanations of how a particular trait arises, versus explanations for how the trait proliferates through a population. It is quite common, even among those familiar with natural selection to use phrases like "evolution through natural selection" (need a link here), when in fact natural selection, as defined above, can't explain the biological changes in an organism (how a particular trait arose), but only how the trait persists. Ironically, it's the opposite of biological change, it's biological stasis! Seen from this angle, in a debate between proponents of intelligent design and proponents of evolution, natural selection really has no bearing whatsoever. That is, the point of argument is not whether creatures are designed or a result of selection, but rather, are creatures designed by an intelligent agent, or a result of completely random unguided mutations? Exploring natural selection, determining whether it has *any* bearing whatsoever on the evolution of biological traits (not just their preservation) could clarify statements like
1)Does it make sense to use phrases like "evolution *through* natural selection", given the standard definition of natural selection? 2)Is it accurate to say that according to evolution, life on this planet is nothing more than random mutations? That is, can evolution be explained without making any reference to natural selection? If so, then the two are entirely distinct concepts. A criticism of evolution is not synonymous with a criticism of natural selection. (as is understood by some - show link to textbooks that show evidence for natural selection as evidence for evolution)
So one angle that Intelligent Design research can take is the clarification over what natural selection is and is not, in the context of biological origins.
Here is another potential angle to take:
Natural selection would obviously favor those creatures that have the highest rates of reproduction. That is creatures that are the "pinnacle of evolution" or the "most evolved"/"most advanced" should, one would think have the most efficient forms of reproduction. On the contrary, we find that the most efficient forms of reproduction are often found in primitive organisms - those that can reproduce asexually, multiplying at an incredibly fast rate, having the added advantage over sexually reproducing creatures in that favorable traits can be passed either via DNA or without even being encoded in the DNA (somatic mutations are heritable ONLY for asexually reproducing creatures, also most of the cases of creatures adapting to some kind of selective pressure, occurs in asexually reproducing creatures like bacteria). And some of the slowest rates of reproduction, are found, surprisingly, in mammals - 9 month pregnancies to produce a single offspring in some cases. Even granted that there's some selective advantage for sexually reproducing creatures, obviously creatures that can reproduce asexually & sexually would be most favored by natural selection, but only a few 'primitive' organisms have this ability. (link to statistics?) So the problem for natural selection is
1)Why do primitive organisms have more efficient forms of reproduction? Or, why are creatures that are considered the pinnacle of evolution have less efficient forms of reproduction (if you're still not convinced that the least efficient forms of reproduction are found in mammals, take a look at any endangered creature list -- you'll find plenty of mammals, but as you go down the evolutionary 'tree of life', you'll find fewer and fewer endangered species. A creature that reproduces at an exponential rate does not risk extinction, and it's well-known that slow rates of reproduction is one of the causes for why creatures are endangered) 2)Since creatures that can reproduce asexually & sexually seem to have the best of both worlds, why aren't they the dominant form of life on this planet? Or rephrased, what was the selective advantage for *losing* the ability to reproduce asexually (which must have happened at some point during evolutionary history)
At this point an interesting question can be posed for intelligent design - why would creatures be *designed* to have slow rates of reproduction? Well, consider the following - if creatures like whales, elephants, etc. really reproduced at the kind of efficiency of organisms like insects (laying hundreds of eggs at a time), bacteria (multiplying by a factor of 2 every generation), etc, there would hardly be room for any other life form on the planet, since they would grow out of control, overrunning the environment they're in, and perhaps ultimately themselves dying off (putting a drain on the ecosystem). The flip side is also interesting - if smaller organisms: plankton, ants, bacteria, (todo: use more specific terminology) reproduced at the slow rates of larger organisms, say producing 1 child at a time after several months, these populations would have no chance of even existing on the planet. Why? These organisms are often consumed in large quantities - see whale feeding. They had better have efficient means of reproduction, otherwise not only would they go existent, but also the creatures that relied on them as a food source! In a way, it's "intelligent design" to design smaller organisms with highly efficient forms of reproduction, and larger organisms with slower rates of reproduction. But natural selection does not explain this at all - on the contrary, as creatures evolved into larger organisms, those creatures with the fastest, most efficient rates of reproduction should have been preserved. We know this isn't the case, because had such creatures ever existed...they would have pretty much overrun all other creatures, both with their size and growth.
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