What is the spark that powers Evolution?

by N.drew 173 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • TD
    TD
    For instance primate speech adaptation. It should be in it's development stage by now, don't you think?

    I'm not sure if this is what you're thinking of, but primates do communicate with each other verbally. It's been known for a long, long time that monkeys alert each other to predators via sounds. It's also known that they have different sounds for different predators which all the other monkeys in the troupe understand. Field experiments with recordings have confirmed that monkeys look up at the sky when they hear the sound which warns of an approaching eagle and scan the horizon when they hear the sound which signifies an approaching jaguar.

    Not only do they have different 'words' for different animals, they string these sounds together into sentence-like messages which changes the overall meaning. An urgent warning of a predator differs from a possible warning of a predator.

    Not only to they verbally communicate, they undersand and employ abstract concepts via this communication.

    Individual Capuchin monkeys for example, have been observed to scream an urgent warning of a predator when they suddenly discover food apart from the rest of the group. Why do they do this? Because they don't want to share the food. While the rest of the troupe is running for their lives because they took the false alarm seriously, the dishonest monkey is busy stuffing his or her face.

    Getting what you want by lying may seem like a simple and all too human thing, but that's the point. It requires a mental simulation of events that have not yet happened as a possible response to deliberate and calculated misdirection. In other words, it's abstract thought.

    In the case of the Capuchin monkey, this is a risky thing to do though, because if the subterfuge is discovered, the offender is liable to be killed. So the additional abstract concepts of acceptable social conduct and collective anger and retribution are also involved.

    Two or more species of monkeys sometimes form loose alliances. The largest alliance so far observed involved eight different species. Typically this involves at least one arboreal and one ground dwelling species. Since the arboreal species is in a better position to observe predators from the air and the ground dwelling species is in a better position to observe predators on the ground, this combines the benefits of both modes of travel. A fairly recent discovery is that sometimes these alliances are facilitated by a species, like the Diana monkey that understands the calls of the various other species.

    So the semantic concepts of vocabulary, grammar, syntax, varying languge and translation are all involved with monkeys. Their communication is much more sophisticated than has previously been thought.

  • N.drew
    N.drew

    Thank you TD, it is good what you say. It sounds like an A essay.

    If I were younger and self-reliant I might study how primates can communicate to humans, which I believe evolution will provide, sooner or later, it should. And I would convince the world court to make laws about the treatment of lab animals and their offspring. Can I call them children?

  • J. Hofer
    J. Hofer

    evolution does not provide anything either. evolution does nothing, evolution is only a label for several processes that take place. simply replace "evolution" with "changes", which roughly means the same thing.

  • sizemik
    sizemik

    Good post TD . . . I hope it's not wasted. J.Hofer your tenacity is a virtue worthy of admiration. It's hard to say it better than you.

    It's a mindset brought on by a theological bias that wants to attribute forethought, and see the present world as the "result" of evolution. We have no idea what form hominoids might take 50,000 years from now (if still here). We have no idea what environmental pressures or cataclysmic events will be involved with even a short period like that. But they will be noticably different. Evolution is a conveyer belt, neither a beginning nor an end.

    We're inclined to say "the human eye" like it's a finished product, rather than a work in progress. But the human eye does not have magnification, it has poor night visibility and functions poorly underwater, neither is it microscopic. Plenty of room for change and improvement . . . depending on whatever the environment deems to be an advantage in future.

    To answer N.drew's question directly . . . Our very hostile and ever-changing planet itself is what powers evolution. It is constantly changing, sometimes rapidly through cataclysm. Everything living on it's surface must change with it . . . or die off. Consequently, there's a lot of coming and going . . . and change. It's called by scientists "natural selection" . . . the "natural" being the ever-changing earth.

    This isn't such a bad question to ask really . . . the result has been quite a good "Evolution for Dummies" (in a nice way). There are some good posts here which give merit to your question N.drew . . . don't waste them.

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