Skip to main content

What is the point of evolution in bacteria?


This is yet another question I was asked. The idea was that bacteria aren’t becoming complex organisms “on the way”, so what is the point?

This is like another question often asked by sceptics “If humans evolved from monkeys, how come there are no monkeys becoming humans nowadays?” The Earth is a rich place, rich with resources, rich with diversity. Humans did not evolve from monkeys, it’s not like monkeys are living in the past and we are living in the present. We all live in the present, and monkeys have spent time evolving like we have. Monkeys are adapted to their environment, and we are to ours, and bacteria are to theirs. Could you live off bananas, in a tree? Could you turn water, carbon dioxide and light into food? No. There are many different niches on Earth, each of which is inhabited by different organisms. Hot springs, dry deserts, deep oceans, high mountains and an airplane are all very different places. Why would there only be one species?? We are complex for our environment, but we are not universally adaptable to anything. We CAN live in deep oceans, but that’s not our home address.

Back to the question. The point of evolution in bacteria is to have bacteria live. If that so happens to increase their complexity due to their environment and the selection pressures present (which are due to more basic, chemical or physical factors and properties), then that’s just a side effect. Food for thought.

Comments

  1. Anonymous23 November 2011 at 01:41

    My question regarding bacteria was about "How" evolution exerts itself on bacteria compared to multicellular species; I never said "why"! In another word, I'm not skeptic of evolution at all but I'm considering myself one of many who want to fine tune the definition of evolution.
    Evolution is our generalization of the following;
    A) In fact the laws of subatomic physics govern the electron-orbital sharing to occur in the spacetime sequencing. Therefore all molecular events, including organic ones, are governed by these laws.

    B) Also the laws of electro-thermodynamics result in consequential (evolutionary) events in protoplasm/cytoplasm or any other biologically noticeable event. DNA, RNA, enzymes, buffers, cytoplasm, proteins,neural fluxing,,,,,,are all products & outcomes of the (A) & (B) together. What we call evolution is nothing but the consequences of these laws at work but during geo-ecosystemic time periods. Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ariana Explora23 November 2011 at 02:02

    I agree with you there...

    But why anonymous? :P

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comment...

Popular posts from this blog

4 Reasons Google's Calico Won't "Solve Death"

The on-line world has been taken ablaze by Calico's bid to end ageing, and thus death itself, but is this what they will actually focus on, and will they achieve it? The fact is ageing will be reversed, and death by "natural causes" will go with it. The questions are "When?" and "By whom?". Until recently, not a lot was known about the approach Calico would take in this venture dubbed "moonshot thinking" - a term touted by Google as the source of all considerable human progress throughout history. This we don't doubt, but is this what Calico is all about? CNN's Dan Primack has revealed details about Calico's plan , which hint at a less-than-moonshot thinking approach, and cast a serious question mark on its ability to deliver the punchy TIME headline. Here is why: 1. The man with the idea, Bill Maris, arrived at the conclusion that the root of all death-causing disease is simply ageing itself. Not only is this widely ...
11 comments
Read more

No, but seriously: What is “Life”?

i) Attempts to define life in terms of humans thinking about defining life in terms of egotistical individuals, genes, species or whatnot have failed for what should be obvious reasons. Life is a natural phenomenon no different to any other. It can be regarded as an abstract concept referring to an energy exchange process rather than any given chemical, object, individual or concrete material arrangement. The temptation to define life as such has been merely a bias of the definer, of our individual consciousness taking place in an individual body. While bodies may exhibit life, as they are alive, they are not as such life itself, as life itself does not operate in any significant way on a given object: not individuals, nor species, nor size scales, chemicals nor arrangements of matter. The failure of life at any of these levels (think individual death, species extinction or even mass extinctions) does not overall hinder the process of life through time, for as long as any sin...
Post a Comment
Read more

By-products of Evolution - why not everything has a purpose

Last time we looked at how certain major adaptations such as hair loss have enabled humans to survive over the millennia in different conditions, and when faced with competition from other species. Not everything about the human body has a specific purpose, though, in the sense that we expect it to. One example of such thing is the philtrum - that little channel leading from the base of your nose to the upper lip. Recent research suggests that this development dates back millions of years, and has been inherited from fish. Apparently, when human embryos develop their face in the womb, all parts of the forehead, mouth, etc come together and fuse where the philtrum is located. Some adaptations, on the other hand, are no longer relevant not because of their nature, but because the environmental selection pressure for which they evolved has disappeared. For example, an East Asian's typical eyelid shape evolved as a result of higher light intensities in that area of the world, yet th...
Post a Comment
Read more