In today's class Mr. Kauffman came in and spoke to the class about Darwinism. Mr. Kauffman has been teaching physics for 20 years at South West. Mr. Kauffman described to us the basic ideas of evolution and how darwinism came to be. Since Darwin was wealthy, he was able to do more things to discover and learn more about his idea of evolution. During his lifetime in the 1800s, geology was a big topic and humans learned about the world. Darwin's understanding of the natural world was profound. Because of the time period that Darwin was born into, many people did not want to believe what him. Most people believed that everything in the Earth was made the way it was for a purpose, but Darwin disagreed. He saw was diversity as a natural change over a long period of time. Part of evolution is natural selection, the process where living things with beneficial traits produce more offspring than others. This results in change of traits over time. These ideas revolutionized biology, nobody had ever thought that way before. Because of Darwin's ideas, people realized that the earth was millions of years old and not 6000 like most thought. Since evidence is needed in science to prove ideas to be true, Darwin traveled the world on a boat to find evidence. He found that finches, in different places, had different beaks that better suited their needs, which showed that animals adapt based on where they live and what they need to survive. "Survival of the fittest" is really the best adapted to the environment. Evolution is not about perfection, it is about creating the most complexity and diversity.
I find it very interesting that in our world today, people don’t think about living as survival anymore. Every basic need is easily accessible like food, water, and shelter, but there could always be an outbreak in disease or a nuclear war or in my scenario, a plane crash on a deserted island where people would have to survive. As Darwin says, it’s the fittest that survive. If one of these scenarios occur, natural selection would happen; the more fit people would pass on their genes. In today’s world, people with unfit genes aren't be left behind like they would've been a long time ago or in an apocalyptic scenario.
Darwinism relates to my apocalyptic scenario because in a plane crash the most "fit" people will survive. It's not exactly the most in-shape person that will survive but the one that adapts the best to the environment. If you had to survive on an island, you have to be more than just strong. In order to survive you have to be smart; know how to find food, how to get drinking water, and how to build a shelter. Also, the person who can make the best tools and weapons would have a better chance at survival. The main concept of Darwinism, evolution, does not apply to my apocalyptic scenario because if you were deserted on an island you wouldn't be there long enough for evolution to take place since evolution takes hundreds of years
I find it very interesting that in our world today, people don’t think about living as survival anymore. Every basic need is easily accessible like food, water, and shelter, but there could always be an outbreak in disease or a nuclear war or in my scenario, a plane crash on a deserted island where people would have to survive. As Darwin says, it’s the fittest that survive. If one of these scenarios occur, natural selection would happen; the more fit people would pass on their genes. In today’s world, people with unfit genes aren't be left behind like they would've been a long time ago or in an apocalyptic scenario.
Darwinism relates to my apocalyptic scenario because in a plane crash the most "fit" people will survive. It's not exactly the most in-shape person that will survive but the one that adapts the best to the environment. If you had to survive on an island, you have to be more than just strong. In order to survive you have to be smart; know how to find food, how to get drinking water, and how to build a shelter. Also, the person who can make the best tools and weapons would have a better chance at survival. The main concept of Darwinism, evolution, does not apply to my apocalyptic scenario because if you were deserted on an island you wouldn't be there long enough for evolution to take place since evolution takes hundreds of years