Animals with traits that are beneficial to the environment can live longer and potentially contribute more to the gene pool.
The latter is all that matters (biological fitness, or how many viable offspring are produced) in natural selection. Lifespan and any greater purpose (benefit to the environment) are not applicable.
As I see your revision it seems you are more careful in describing NS, but does your view on NS escape being a tautology?
Since contributing to the gene pool is the only definition you give, it either has no result (the author calls that a 'lame' definition, since it isolates the proces of NS so that it no longer tries to explain evolution), or the result is a difference in the gene pool (that is: a difference in the frequencies of genes) after one or several generations, and then we have a tautology again.
'Contributing to the gene pool' is a very vague phrase to use. I clarified what I meant to make the definition more specific. Under natural selection the 'purpose' (if you will) of living is to reproduce as much as you can and leave behind as many offspring as possible. Now, you can get into genetic theories and rationalize that, every offspring will have slightly different genomes due to genetic recombination and spontaneous mutations, which can have good, bad, or neutral consequences in terms of future biological fitness (the ability to produce offspring). But it seems reasonable to me that given a diverse gene pool (which is facilitated by increased biological fitness), the population as a whole would be more likely to survive some calamity or other.
I don't understand where the tautology is in that.
Natural selection
- 06/08/2011 03:51:26 PM
1235 Views
selection for suitability
- 06/08/2011 04:18:51 PM
874 Views
Thanks for your responce
- 06/08/2011 04:41:20 PM
994 Views
- 06/08/2011 04:41:20 PM
994 Views
I can't speak for LadyLorraine and won't try, but here's how I see it:
- 06/08/2011 06:49:49 PM
949 Views
Just a question
- 06/08/2011 07:18:09 PM
958 Views
Yes it can
- 06/08/2011 07:41:59 PM
798 Views
But how?
- 06/08/2011 07:52:10 PM
1016 Views
Re: Just a question
- 06/08/2011 07:49:21 PM
1044 Views
I'm not sure I understand you
- 06/08/2011 08:20:44 PM
943 Views
All tautologies are truisms, but not all truisms are tautologies.
- 06/08/2011 09:38:12 PM
986 Views
Then it is still a tautology
- 06/08/2011 09:45:33 PM
996 Views
You can know it's beneifical to a particular individual, but it's harder to say for populations.
- 06/08/2011 10:18:16 PM
1059 Views
Maybe...
- 07/08/2011 01:55:54 PM
932 Views
I'm more inclined toward his logic, but possibly toward your conclusions.
- 09/08/2011 12:45:46 AM
991 Views
we can't really know ahead of time what makes a specific trait benefical in that environment
- 09/08/2011 06:16:02 PM
1046 Views
As I understand it
- 06/08/2011 06:04:44 PM
876 Views
Better...
- 06/08/2011 06:36:38 PM
872 Views
Did you perhaps mean "beneficial in the environment" rather than "beneficial to the environment"?
- 06/08/2011 06:34:44 PM
990 Views
yes. I did not really phrase that very clearly. *NM*
- 09/08/2011 06:14:11 PM
396 Views
No biggy; from what Bram said, I underestimated how well you were understood anyway.
- 09/08/2011 06:45:16 PM
919 Views
Hmmm... there's some truth to that
- 06/08/2011 06:36:35 PM
961 Views
The complexity of the problem makes it all but impossible to falsify...
- 06/08/2011 08:26:06 PM
969 Views
The questions go deeper
- 06/08/2011 08:38:31 PM
1002 Views
Re: The questions go deeper
- 06/08/2011 09:10:32 PM
981 Views
I think I know why you don't understand my question.
- 06/08/2011 09:38:41 PM
1010 Views
How many equation's has Moraine screwed up?
*NM*
- 06/08/2011 09:45:36 PM
413 Views
*NM*
- 06/08/2011 09:45:36 PM
413 Views
100% I think Moriaine is a very beneficial trait that contributes a lot to the RAFO pool
*NM*
- 06/08/2011 09:46:54 PM
441 Views
*NM*
- 06/08/2011 09:46:54 PM
441 Views
Re: Natural selection
- 07/08/2011 03:00:30 AM
976 Views
Thanks a lot
- 07/08/2011 01:38:39 PM
1108 Views
2 things
- 07/08/2011 04:00:35 PM
854 Views
Re: 2 things
- 07/08/2011 04:33:00 PM
1080 Views
Re: 2 things
- 07/08/2011 05:48:26 PM
905 Views
My best guess
- 07/08/2011 06:00:28 PM
963 Views
Re: My best guess
- 07/08/2011 06:37:58 PM
880 Views
Re: My best guess
- 07/08/2011 06:47:26 PM
1030 Views
