Evolution Since Human Intervention

[Graybeard]

To what purpose this proliferation of "kitties".

Shoot the cats. Watch the Ants


cool bananas ... greg

[labelwench]

Shoot the cats. Watch the Ants


cool bananas ... greg

Perhaps not your most moderate suggestion, good sir, as per the following information borrowed from Wikipedia.

Cats in Egyptian mythology
Egypt was not always unified; initially, it was a land with many regional tribes and nomes. Many nomes had a totemistic system of religion, centering the worship of an animal as a spiritual symbol. Some peoples would choose a totem animal because of the services it provided, some for admirable qualities, some out of fear. Regardless, when war broke out between peoples, the tribe that won was able to demand more respect for their totem, and mandated its worship. Eventually an empire was formed under Menes circa 3100BC, and a more pluralistic form of totemism was established. Ibises, eagles, and beetles were among the totems worshipped alongside cats.

The Egyptians viewed their gods not as simple spirits but as intelligences that could be personified in a body. The earliest evidence of cats as deities comes from a 3100BC crystal cup decorated with an image of the lion-headed goddess Mafdet. The goddess Bast was originally depicted as a fiercely protective and warlike lion, but as her image "softened" over time she became more strongly associated with domestic cats.

As cats were sacred to Bast, the practice of mummification was extended to them, and the respect that cats received after death mirrored the respect they were treated with in everyday life. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that in the event of a fire, men would guard the fire to make certain that no cats ran into the flame. Herodotus also wrote that when a cat died, the household would go into mourning as if for a human relative, and would often shave their eyebrows to signify their loss.

Such was the strength of feeling towards cats that killing one, even accidentally, incurred the death penalty. Another Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, describes an interesting example of swift justice imposed upon the killer of a cat: about 60BC, he witnessed the chariot of a Roman soldier accidentally run over an Egyptian cat. An outraged mob gathered and, despite pleas from pharaoh Ptolemy XII, killed the soldier.


Kind Regards,

Labelwench

[austintorn@aol.com]

when a cat died, the household would go into mourning as if for a human relative

Yes, for cats are people, too.

The names of the rest of my cats are Sugar, Spice, Buttercup, Honey Bear, Blossom, Cinnamon, Pumpkin, Coco Puff, Jamaica, Simba, Maple, and one I forgot the name of.

[Mikal]

Shoot the cats. Watch the Ants


cool bananas ... greg

I was reading this and you came to mind....just jumped in there with my thoughts....lol...


Task Partitioning in Ant Colonies
by Hugh Ross

The capacity of individuals within an insect colony to divide their labor for the overall benefit of the whole group highlights an outstanding design feature seen in all species of social insects (such as ants and bees). Each of these tiny creatures appears to be pre-programmed to focus all their energies on achieving just one of the many tasks necessary for the survival of the colony. Where this “software” lays within the organism no scientist yet knows. More humbling still, this software appears to be more sophisticated than the best computer programs written by human engineers. Evidently, the Creator of social insects is a lot more knowledgeable and intelligent than we human beings.

Now, two biologists, one from the University of New Orleans and the other from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, have discovered that for Atta colombica, a species of leaf-cutting ants, the ensemble of different software programs manifested in each ant making up the colony is designed for optimal task-partitioning among the individuals.1

The researchers found the forager ants capable of a much higher efficiency of cutting and delivering leaf tissue to nest workers than what the ants actually cut and delivered. Instead, the foragers cut the leaves into smaller portions and, consequently, delivered less leaf tissue to the colony. The job of the nest workers was to distribute, clean, shred, and implant the tissue in fungal gardens. By delivering a sub-maximal amount of leaf tissue to the colony’s nest the forager ants optimized the productivity of the nest workers.

This particular biological research study showed that not only is the software for each of the worker castes in Atta colombica amazingly designed, but that an even higher order of design exists in the ensemble of software programs. The design at both levels brings about the optimal productivity for the species.

Consider a factory assembly line. On the production floor each machine is designed to perform a particular function. The ensemble of machines are geographically placed and organized for maximal productivity. Likewise, the delivery of raw materials to the factory, the discharge of waste, and the export of product are all optimized for maximum throughput.

A factory observer recognizes that it takes careful, intelligent planning, design, and organization to make a successful, efficient factory. Similarly, a careful observer of nature’s insect communities can recognize that it takes a very intelligent and powerful Creator to plan, design, and organize both the hardware (ant bodies) and software (ant instincts) for a successful, efficient ant colony.

Martin Burd and Jerome J. Howard, “Optimality in a Partitioned Task Performed by Social Insects,” Biology Letters 4 (December 23, 200: 627-29.



Mikal

[Graybeard]

I was reading this and you came to mind....
.........Each of these tiny creatures appears to be pre-programmed to focus all their energies on achieving just one of the many tasks necessary for the survival of the colony. ........

....Evidently, the Creator of social insects is a lot more knowledgeable and intelligent than we human beings.......

...software for each of the worker castes in Atta colombica amazingly designed, but that an even higher order of design exists in the ensemble of software programs. The design at both levels brings about the optimal productivity for the species.....

........Consider a factory assembly line. On the production floor each machine is designed to perform a particular function. The ensemble of machines are geographically placed and organized for maximal productivity. Likewise, the delivery of raw materials to the factory, the discharge of waste, and the export of product are all optimized for maximum throughput.........

.........A factory observer recognizes that it takes careful, intelligent planning, design, and organization to make a successful, efficient factory. Similarly, a careful observer of nature’s insect communities can recognize that it takes a very intelligent and powerful Creator to plan, design, and organize .........

Hi Mikal .... Thanks for that. Leaf cutter ants are quite amazing, The leaves are poisonous to the ants and they can't eat them. So they cut them up and feed them to little critters that they farm in the colony. The little critters digest the leaves and produce sugar. The ants eat the sugar.

Further, nasty bacteria invade the farms and yet the little critters don't perish. It appears that the little critters use a nice bacteria in aid to digestion. The nice bacteria produce an anti-biotic the equal, if not better, than penicillin. (being studied for more vaccines ... lol)

The ants use this and spread it all around. So not only do they farm, but they fertilise and crop dust as well.

The only point I disagree with you on is that there is no designer. In order to understand this you need to ask yourself why the 'designer' made them the way he did? What purpose does the colony serve ? Is there a simpler and better alternative explanation ?

Guess what ... there is .....

Best of luck .... greg

[Mikal]

Hi Greg...I have always looked upon you as the "Ant Man"...lol

Checking to see if your on your toes...smiles....I guess you will have to take up argument with Dr. Ross as it is his study...like I said you came to mind...


Mikal

[austintorn@aol.com]

[labelwench]

Recent discovery at Krasnyi Yar in Kazakhstan, tentatively suggests that our domestic arrangement with the horse goes back some 6,500 years.

From being a species hunted for food, then domesticated for milk, meat, farming, transportation and war, our co-evolution with the horse has been interesting and remarkable.

Interesting in the manner that the horse appears in our mythology, and history. Just days ago, the R.C.M.P. made a gift of a special horse to the Queen of England.

Remarkable that a prey species has evolved to trust it's most successful predator, thereby making the human species the most empowered species on the planet.

"This country was built on horses and women, and I guess things ain't changed all that much..."
Ian Tyson, singer/songwriter, Own Heart's Delight.

The term horsepower has become a unit of measure in several applications. Here is a sampling, taken from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower

The definition of a horsepower unit is different in different applications; application outside of the context of a particular definition will be inaccurate.

One mechanical horsepower of 550 foot-pounds per second is equivalent to 745.7 watts
A metric horsepower of 75 kgf-m per second is equivalent to 735.499 watts
A boiler horsepower is used for rating steam boilers and is equivalent to 34.5 pounds of water evaporated per hour at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, or 9809.5 watts
One horsepower for rating electric motors is equal to 746 watts
A Pferdestärke is a name for a group of similar power measurements used in Germany around the end of the 19th century, all of about one metric horsepower in size. [1] [2]

Regards,

Labelwench

[labelwench]

Women, perhaps even more than men, have benefited from the service of the horse.

Hormone Replacement Therapy.

The Birth Control Pill.

By human intervention in this aspect alone, have we greatly influenced the course of our own evolution.

An interesting irony, that it is the urine of a pregnant mare made into a treatment for women that prevents conception.

Our freedom of choice, from the labours of such a remarkable creature as the horse.

[labelwench]

As hunter/gatherers, we faced the daily and seasonal challenges of just getting through the day by finding enough sustenance and shelter.

With the advent of agriculture, we gained some measure of security over our food supply, albeit still subject to the conditions of nature.

Through natural selection, cross-pollination and now genetic modification, we have intervened in the evolution of many species, with immediate impacts on our own. Some may argue that we haven't intervened at all, as such action arises naturally from the evolution of mankind.

Fair enough, but by what processes are our decisions and selections made? Of course we assume that we are the species doing the selecting.

Speculate if you will, that plants and animals are able to manipulate our choices by evidencing those traits that we begin to select for.

Who is really in charge here? The outbreak of colour in Tulips which resulted in fortunes made and lost, is one such interesting example in history.

I leave you with this speculation, which I found while exploring the deep recesses ot the forum.....

I decided to grow my own salad vegetables. Amongst the parsly, mint, lettuce, chilli, I planted two small cherry tomato plants (the fruit matures arund half the size of a golfball and requires no pestcides). The cherry tomatoes came from a different environment. From Gatton, far to the west and high on the Darling Downs, a prime agricultural region. Each was an 25mm high (inch). They cost two dollars each at a roadside stall.

They soon showed that they were two entirely different plants. Within two weeks one had grown to a metre tall and was covered in flower bunches.. each flower would be a tomato. The smaller, the runt, was about half a metre but had grown two complete bunches of cherries, still green.

Within a month the smaller had produced two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of cherries that were all turning red and would obviously all ripen at once. The larger was obviously going to produce much more fruit than this, but it was going about it very slowly. It was now 4 times the size of the runt.

To cut it short, the runt fulfilled its promise and died. The larger was still going and producing 2-3 cherries a day. In my wisdom, I saved some seeds from the runt and replanted. The big one I uprooted and threw away, it was drinking too much water and was all show, whereas the runt was all go.

For quite a while I was very proud of my newly developed agricultural expertise, and the way I was playing God and Lord-over-all on the Balcony. I was making correct decisions, such as any farmer would and maximising my crops with limited water supply. And believe me, in Brisbane we have a serious water supply problem. Level 3 restrictions,no parks are watered, no fountains flow, garden hoses are banned, etc, and soon to go to restriction level five.

As things stand, the runt is the only tomato DNA pool left on the balcony.

A doubt has crept into my mind and is shaking my omnipotence as Lord-over-all on the balcony.

This is the doubt... I thought I had made all the decisions ...in my WISDOM. But had I made the decision, or had the runt made the decision I had decided who would live and who would die. I was in control of the Gene pool and was manipulating it to maximise the crop. . The runt's descendents currently rule the gene pool and they expect and demand water from me every day.

Think about, did it seduce me by its early and complete delivery of the goods, by its promising red blush on its fruit while the giant was still in the flowering stage.

Was it the quickest and the best to adapt to its new and different environment, therby ensuring its DNA survival. Any human who wanted tomatoes would have done what I did.

Am I still the Lord of the balcony, or did I just play a small servile part. Was I ever Lord, or was that only in my mind ???

Have I ever been master of any decision relating to anything.

Each day my conviction lessens ... but the salads taste great !

Please feel free to make any comment.

greg .. Former Lord of the Balcony.
__________________
'Blondie says I must hate all Brunettes. I'll try, but if I can't ... I'll love them both'
... graffiti on Tavern wall, Pompeii, circa AD 70.

Regards,

Labelwench