Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Nataraja · 10-19-2002, 09:53 PM

Some of us have adapted rather nicely, thank you very much. I eat like a glutton and I'm skinny as a rail. I hardly (every week or so, tops) exercise, but I could run two miles with little trouble (probably ten, if I didn't smoke) and am not lacking greatly in physical strength. I am also able to keep extremely irregular hours suffering few ill effects (ever caught up on all your homework in a six-day marathon?). My one problem is my back, in just one place. I think I know why, too.

Nataraja · 10-19-2002, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Things are definitely happening at an accelerated rate. Perhaps we will become victim to drugs and technology, genetic engineering and the like, rather than enhanced by them? I dunno...

ARE you CRAZY??

Freaking HOOK ME UP! HOOK MY PSYCHOPATHIC QUEER-ASS UP! I want digital cable wired right to my brain! I want DSL for my membrane, baby, give me it all! Attach a tail to my ass so I can smoke a cigarette and type at the same bloody time! Clone my ass, except this time give me a better back and a longer attention span, and make me so horny I have to be careful not to damage the ceiling or poke my babe in the tits while I'm stimulating her with my genetically altered (AND PIERCED!) tongue! Get me stoned on so much weed you have to get a crane to dig me out! Put your wires in my brain, please! Cryogenically freeze my butt now so I don't have to wait for this shit I want it nownownownownowNOW!

lpetrich · 10-20-2002, 12:12 AM

I think that what lunachick means is some sort of backwards evolution -- evolution toward less complexity.

This is a common feature in the evolution of parasites.

For example, there is a parasite of crabs called Sacculina; it looks like a featureless little bag, and it sends out rootlike tendrils for feeding off of its host. However, its larval phase looks much like that of other crustaceans, especially barnacles. So it's descended from barnacles that had liked to attach themselves to crabs -- and that started living off of their attachment site.

The same thing happens to plants that are parasites on other plants; some of these plants no longer photosynthesize, though they may continue to produce flowers. The plant <a href="http://depcla4.bio.psu.edu/extras/rafflesia.html" target="_blank">Rafflesia</a> spends most of its time being tiny strands infesting a grapelike vine, but it produces the world's largest flowers -- flowers that smell like carrion.

So if our species gets spoiled enough by technology, we could experience similar changes, which is presumably what lunachick was asking about. But our current technology has not been around for long enough to allow that to happen.

lpetrich · 10-20-2002, 12:28 AM

Here's another example: <a href="http://www.nature.com/nsu/991021/991021-12.html" target="_blank">dicyemids</a>. This microscopic blob of an parasite likes to live in the kidney-ish organs of squids and octopuses. It has long been controversial. Is it an an independent invention of multicellularity? Is it some living fossil from very early animal evolution? Is it some degenerated fancier animal like a flatworm?

Enter modern genetics. Peter Holland looked for Hox genes in them; they are important for front-to-rear patterning in most of the animal kingdom. And he found some -- some that were typical of mollusks, annelids, and some flatworms. So it's degenerate in Sacculina fashion.

Coragyps · 10-20-2002, 08:35 AM

Quote:

I eat like a glutton and I'm skinny as a rail.

My words exactly. But then I passed my thirty-fifth birthday.........

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10-19-2002, 09:53 PM	#21
Nataraja Regular Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: NC Posts: 433	Some of us have adapted rather nicely, thank you very much. I eat like a glutton and I'm skinny as a rail. I hardly (every week or so, tops) exercise, but I could run two miles with little trouble (probably ten, if I didn't smoke) and am not lacking greatly in physical strength. I am also able to keep extremely irregular hours suffering few ill effects (ever caught up on all your homework in a six-day marathon?). My one problem is my back, in just one place. I think I know why, too.

10-20-2002, 12:12 AM	#23
lpetrich Contributor Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Lebanon, OR, USA Posts: 16,829	I think that what lunachick means is some sort of backwards evolution -- evolution toward less complexity. This is a common feature in the evolution of parasites. For example, there is a parasite of crabs called Sacculina; it looks like a featureless little bag, and it sends out rootlike tendrils for feeding off of its host. However, its larval phase looks much like that of other crustaceans, especially barnacles. So it's descended from barnacles that had liked to attach themselves to crabs -- and that started living off of their attachment site. The same thing happens to plants that are parasites on other plants; some of these plants no longer photosynthesize, though they may continue to produce flowers. The plant <a href="http://depcla4.bio.psu.edu/extras/rafflesia.html" target="_blank">Rafflesia</a> spends most of its time being tiny strands infesting a grapelike vine, but it produces the world's largest flowers -- flowers that smell like carrion. So if our species gets spoiled enough by technology, we could experience similar changes, which is presumably what lunachick was asking about. But our current technology has not been around for long enough to allow that to happen.

10-20-2002, 12:28 AM	#24
lpetrich Contributor Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Lebanon, OR, USA Posts: 16,829	Here's another example: <a href="http://www.nature.com/nsu/991021/991021-12.html" target="_blank">dicyemids</a>. This microscopic blob of an parasite likes to live in the kidney-ish organs of squids and octopuses. It has long been controversial. Is it an an independent invention of multicellularity? Is it some living fossil from very early animal evolution? Is it some degenerated fancier animal like a flatworm? Enter modern genetics. Peter Holland looked for Hox genes in them; they are important for front-to-rear patterning in most of the animal kingdom. And he found some -- some that were typical of mollusks, annelids, and some flatworms. So it's degenerate in Sacculina fashion.

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