Claim CB941:
How do things know how to evolve? For example, how do plants know what
flavor of berries to evolve so the birds will eat and disperse them?
How does a coconut tree know there is an ocean nearby?
Source:
"Roadking1576", 2003 (Aug. 20). Got a question. Talk.origins post,
Message-ID: <20030819222202.05573.00000213@mb-m16.aol.com>
Response:
- The organism does not know anything. It is all just the "blind
watchmaker" at work. All sorts of mutations happen all the time. Most
of them are useless or even detrimental in the environment they find
themselves in, and those are mostly eliminated. The occasional
mutation that increases its bearer's reproductive success is preserved
and spreads throughout the population in future generations. For
example, different individual plants produce (over time) different
flavors of seeds. The flavors that birds like more get dispersed more
and thrive more; those that birds do not like fall by the wayside. The
end result is that berries evolve to become more flavorful to birds.
- Individual organisms do not evolve; populations evolve. The
individual's role is to survive and reproduce, or not. Those with
beneficial variation are more likely to survive and reproduce.
Further Reading:
Dawkins, Richard, 1986. The Blind Watchmaker: why the evidence of
evolution reveals a universe without design. New York: Norton.
created 2003-8-20, modified 2004-2-28
