[Marxism] Re: Anthro 101 and Apes and Monkeys

["David Larsson" <david.larsson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 11:42 AM 04/01/2005, <david.larsson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >So for the very first evolutionary change toward multi-celled organisms,
> >there was a reduction in surface area. This is not the advantage needed for
> >Darwin's natural selection.The move to multi-celled organisms is a definite
> >disadvantage.
>What does that have to do with either Darwin's theory of evolution and the
>"modern synthesis"? It consists of two, quite simple, steps:
>1. random (or other) change in the organism (single-celled or multi-celled)
>2. selection
>
>Thus, the change appears first, not the selection (otherwise there would
>be teleology involved with evolution, but that is not the case, as you may
>be aware of). Therefore creatures with (a priori) disadvantages may be
>brought to life, but may still survive and procreate.

>"It is true that creatures with (a priori) disadvantages may be
>brought to life, but may still survive and procreate" for a time.  But >they
>will eventually be supplanted by organisms who, not possessing the
>disadvantages, will have advantages over them.
I still object to this idea. The species only have to be able /enough/ to
survive in the surrounding nature, otherwise we would only have one
species (the most advantaged). Once again, creatures with disadvantages in
comparison to other species may survive and procreate, not just for a
short time span, because these (a priori) disadvantages may turn out to be
advantages in changed environments etc. Or simply because there is enough
biological space to hold "disadvantaged" species alongside the
"advantaged" species.

David Larsson



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