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Re: great chain of being
Sean Stinson (sstinson@uoguelph.ca)
26 Oct 1995 23:09:05 GMT
Geoffrey Norman Watson (gwat@cs.uq.oz.au) wrote:
:
: I think there is also a grain of truth in the "great chain of being" idea
: too :). Considering the evolution of life on this planet as a system in
: its own right, this system is capable of producing *complex* organisms.
Sean replied,
the concept of complexity being related to evolutionary
advanceness is untrue. If you want to talk about one of
the most successful organisms on the planet you have to look
at bacteria. I doubt anyone would argue that bacteria are more
complex than humans, but the are far more successful. In fact
in can be argued that more complexity is maladaptive because
it ultimately leads to extinction. Bacteria have been here since
almost the very beginning, I would argue that they are the most
"advanced" life forms on the planet because only they have
survived the test of time. My advice is throw out the words
primitive and advanced and stick to the facts. These words
don't say much other than "I'm arrogant about my existence..."
Sean Stinson.
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