Illustration of "The Descent of Man"
Or maybe the picture could be titled, "Monkey See, Monkey Do."
It has been said that the Darwinian mechanisms of random mutation and natural selection actually destroy information rather than create it and that natural selection throws out the good with the bad.
Fruit flies and cockroaches are considered to be likely survivors of a nuclear war because of their high resistance to radiation. So if those insects are the sole survivors of a nuclear war, they will then be -- by definition -- the "fittest."
Picture is courtesy of The Gradebook: Tampabay.com
Labels: Cartoons (new #1)
posted by Larry Fafarman | 4/12/2008 12:45:00 AM
6 Comments:
I've heard that there is now some doubt about cockroaches, especially given advances made in pesticides that eliminate them; I had never heard that about fruit flies before. But anyway, that is correct -- what survives depends on its environment. In the wake of global warming chaos, or an asteroid hit, or a global thermonuclear war (want to play a game?), etc., human beings may not be the most fit for any one or all of those environments. So what? Evolution doesn't say that the most intelligent will survive or even that humans are privileged. We have the advantage of being able to plan for such contingencies and to develop technology, but what we develop does not have to help us (see global warming and nuclear bombs).
Cockroaches are more resistant to radiation than humans, but not by much. Fruit flies are indeed quite tough -- it was concluded that irradiation was a completely unsatisfactory way of protecting fruit from them, since the fruit itself is badly damaged at lower doses.
Global warming might be beneficial, were we able to effect it.
I surely must hold that no mind
Helped design this critter's behind:
So I think (though it be
Quite stupid of me),
STUPIDITY made it, I find!
(Leaver is founding president of The Stupids, an organization of Darwinists who believe that all things are produced by "the creative power of stupidity." I am his diligent ghostwriter, Jim Sherwood.)
... believe that all things are produced by "the creative power of stupidity."
Hey, Sherwood, I can certainly see why you would think that.
But how about if you speculate as to the intelligence and motives of the "designer" of cockroaches, fruit flies, bacteria, etc.? Why would the "designer" ensure that the only creature remaining after a radiation holocaust would be a bacterium? (BTW, there could be a naturally-occurring radiation nightmare -- e.g., a nearby supernova.)
At last Larry has included a self portrait on his blog.
Or maybe this blog could be titled, "Monkey See, Monkey Do."
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