2011-05-23, 10:47 PM
I have learned something like this in biology back in the day, but I wasn't too terribly into it and it was taught in Vietnamese anyway, so I basically have no clue.
Generally, the idea is this: Almost everything we physically (and sometimes, symbolically) see today exist because they survived a process of natural filtering.
Survival of the fittest. Humans, chimpanzees, lions, certain types of moths that survived the Industrial Revolution, etc...
However, when I think about African people and this thing I heard in biology class about their genes being the prominent (therefore oftentimes better) ones: dark curly hair, tanned skin, etc.., I can't help but wonder where adaptation stands in all this, since they certainly did not originate from a different ancestor from ours, or did they?
Surely all lives strive to survive and get changed in one way or another during the process, but whether or not that can be passed on is not guaranteed, is it? However muscular a dad might be doesn't say anything about his son; but the dad's quality of chivalry might very likely pass on and reflect in later generations.
How should I look at, say, a chameleon's ability to change its colors? Is that a by-chance ability that the lizard adopted during mutation or something they worked so hard on and finally achieve? What about birds' ability to fly? What about us humans? On what basis are we different?
Generally, the idea is this: Almost everything we physically (and sometimes, symbolically) see today exist because they survived a process of natural filtering.
Survival of the fittest. Humans, chimpanzees, lions, certain types of moths that survived the Industrial Revolution, etc...
However, when I think about African people and this thing I heard in biology class about their genes being the prominent (therefore oftentimes better) ones: dark curly hair, tanned skin, etc.., I can't help but wonder where adaptation stands in all this, since they certainly did not originate from a different ancestor from ours, or did they?
Surely all lives strive to survive and get changed in one way or another during the process, but whether or not that can be passed on is not guaranteed, is it? However muscular a dad might be doesn't say anything about his son; but the dad's quality of chivalry might very likely pass on and reflect in later generations.
How should I look at, say, a chameleon's ability to change its colors? Is that a by-chance ability that the lizard adopted during mutation or something they worked so hard on and finally achieve? What about birds' ability to fly? What about us humans? On what basis are we different?