Does EVERYTHING evolve?

[fuelair]

T'ai chi

I think the ancient martial art of T'ai Chi is an absolute pile of rubbish. What do you think?

I was also wondering what your thoughts were about everything evolving?

Regards

Karl Quigley

Notice that while he/she/it has started other threads since you wrote this, nothing from he,her,it has appeared in response to you or others in two days. your original TC question answered. And, examine the questions carefully. They sound profound on the surface but in substance they are as one brain-cell pharting.

 

[...JR]

here's a question that may sound a bit silly, but I am serious:

Have domesticated dogs evolved? I know that for as long as we have had them as our companions we have subjected them to artificial selection, but does that count as having evolved since it was not due to natural selection. This goes for all of the agricultural goods we have manufactured over time as well.

 

[HeyLeroy]

This counts as a kitten picture, right?

 

[DeviousB]

Generally, evolution is change.

"In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve. Biological evolution ... is change in the properties of populations of organisms that transcend the lifetime of a single individual. The ontogeny of an individual is not considered evolution; individual organisms do not evolve. The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are inheritable via the genetic material from one generation to the next. Biological evolution may be slight or substantial; it embraces everything from slight changes in the proportion of different alleles within a population (such as those determining blood types) to the successive alterations that led from the earliest protoorganism to snails, bees, giraffes, and dandelions."
- Douglas J. Futuyma in Evolutionary Biology.

And biological evolution does not have to involve selection (genetic drift, for example, is an evolutionary process that doesn't).

"In fact, evolution can be precisely defined as any change in the frequency of alleles within a gene pool from one generation to the next."
- Helena Curtis and N. Sue Barnes, Biology.

 

[Dancing David]

here's a question that may sound a bit silly, but I am serious:

Have domesticated dogs evolved? I know that for as long as we have had them as our companions we have subjected them to artificial selection, but does that count as having evolved since it was not due to natural selection. This goes for all of the agricultural goods we have manufactured over time as well.

I think they would count as artificial selection although they meet the criteria for success in natural selection.

And yes when you breed dogs that have survived a viral or bacterial infection, there is evolution.

 

[...JR]

I think they would count as artificial selection although they meet the criteria for success in natural selection.

And yes when you breed dogs that have survived a viral or bacterial infection, there is evolution.

\

good point about the infections. well noted.

 

[T'ai Chi]

Notice that while he/she/it has started other threads since you wrote this, nothing from he,her,it has appeared in response to you or others in two days. your original TC question answered.

Glad to have your opinion, anonymous "fuelair".

I generally don't answer questions I don't find particularly interesting. Should one? Does it surprise you that one doesn't have to answer questions they don't want to, and that they cannot be forced to?

It must. And it must really get to you.

 

[Bob Klase]

I generally don't answer questions I don't find particularly interesting. Should one? Does it surprise you that one doesn't have to answer questions they don't want to, and that they cannot be forced to?

It must. And it must really get to you.

Doesn't surprise me or get to me. Just strikes me as rude or stupid, or both, to ask a lot of dumb questions while intentionally never answering any questions.

 

[T'ai Chi]

Just strikes me as rude or stupid, or both, to ask a lot of dumb questions while intentionally never answering any questions.

"dumb" is an opinion. If it is dumb, funny how the dumb is apparently unignorable. Personally, I think asking questions about the universe is not dumb. But then again, no one is as intelligent as you and able to dictate what is dumb or not.

"never" answer any questions? Aren't you wary of anyone who speaks in such absolutes?

I answered several questions in threads today alone... not that I need to explain myself to hecklers like you.

 

[CFLarsen]

here's a question that may sound a bit silly, but I am serious:

Have domesticated dogs evolved? I know that for as long as we have had them as our companions we have subjected them to artificial selection, but does that count as having evolved since it was not due to natural selection. This goes for all of the agricultural goods we have manufactured over time as well.

Yes, they evolve, and so do domesticated cats (as much as you can "domesticate" a cat). That's the basis of breeding different races: Breeders spot a trait in a litter and focus on that.

A good example is the Munchkin.

 

[fishbob]

Glad to have your opinion, anonymous "fuelair".

I generally don't answer questions I don't find particularly interesting. Should one? Does it surprise you that one doesn't have to answer questions they don't want to, and that they cannot be forced to?

It must. And it must really get to you.

I think that I at last understand.
Not having, and with no hope of ever having, a clue or any manners has really gotten to someone. The facade of inscrutability is cracking. And my interest is waning rapidly.

 

[politas]

Have domesticated dogs evolved? I know that for as long as we have had them as our companions we have subjected them to artificial selection, but does that count as having evolved since it was not due to natural selection. This goes for all of the agricultural goods we have manufactured over time as well.

Yes, but not by Darwinian evolution, since they are under the effect of artificial selection, and are therefore partially the result of intelligent design.