The Beauty of Selection Pressure

The Beauty of Selection Pressure.

I received several comments on my statement that the crafting work of selection pressure was a beautiful thing. I thought, perhaps I should expound on this issue.

I am an actor / director. I love art and beauty. Art and beauty is often portrayed as being in stark contrast to science, but for me, it isn’t the case.

I live in the Texas Hill Country, about 100 miles northwest of Austin. Ahhhhh, Austin, a shining patch of gleaming blue in a big red state…… But that is an issue for another time. We are talking about science, art and beauty. When I walk through the woods behind my house, I am taken with the beauty of the trees, the animals, the earth as it presents itself to me….. The most beautiful part, is how selection pressure has crafted each element to be the best it can be for the environment. Except for me of course. To quote Bill Hicks, humans are a virus in shoes. I wear size 12 -½.. (see my blog “has evolution stopped for humans”)

To understand selection pressure, you first need to understand fidelity in reproduction, or the lack thereof. Each time biological reproduction happens, there is a recombination of DNA. Doesn’t matter if it is a tree, a moose or Tommy Johnson, it was created by combining DNA. (there are a few species that reproduce from asexual means, but they are essentially clones and are a different class that doesn’t evolve, so they aren’t relevant to the discussion) So back to fidelity. Each time a copy is made, there is the opportunity for mutation. One particle hops over another, and the copy…….Changes.

I forget the exact statistic, but something like 97 percent of these mutations are fatal, pre-birth. Of the ones that survive, many are insignificant in the large scheme of things. That is to say, they have no effect on selection pressure because they provide no advantage or disadvantage. But the few that do….. WOW, they change everything.

I am trying not to ramble here, but I have to cover many diverse points in order to pull this into a cohesive statement. Another unavoidable factor is time. Evolution takes time more than anything else. Many mutations will happen, some will happen again, and over time, the ones that provide an advantage will be reinforced. When you look at the several billion years that the earth as existed and you see how there is plenty of time for the process to work.

So most mutations are fatal, some do nothing, and some provide an advantage, be it large or small. Imagine if you will, the first hominid to walk erect. A mutation changed his/her spine, hips, etc. and suddenly a new form of locomotion was born. This new creature was the top of the chain. He went on the hunt and was never eaten (I don‘t have to outrun the saber tooth, I just have to outrun you…) . He could reach the high branches. Those who wanted to reproduce flocked to this one, as he/she had the strength and the resources to produce many healthy offspring that lived to reproduction age themselves. WHAM, we have evolution at play.

Creatures are crafted by the environment around them, to fit as well as is possible. Only when the environment changes at a rate beyond the optimum reproduction rate do problems happen, usually resulting in extinctions. Sometimes this happens from a natural event, other times, more recently, it happens from an artificial event. (See those who believe in “Dominionism” for details on this.)

Occasionally there is an environmental change that drops an ill or well suited entity into the mix, but that is a rare condition called environmental displacement and is generally the result of a catastrophic weather event.

In most cases, the environment crafts the species. That’s what is so beautiful. Small subtle changes, refined over long periods of time, bring us miraculous creatures. Each minor mutation, each small mistake in fidelity, has the opportunity to craft the species in a new direction. So after billions of years of the earth’s existence we have tigers who attack with brutal quickness, we have chameleons who change pigment to match their environment. We have giraffes, polar bears, kangaroos, and alligator snapping turtles (including the one who lives in my office, his name is Spike). All uniquely suited to their environment, crafted by selection pressure.

I have been told that this scientific explanation takes the wonder out of nature. I am baffled by this. To me, it is wonder and majesty. To see all of this at work. This is the art and beauty I see in nature.