At 09:34 AM 11/3/97 -0600, Eduardo G. Moros wrote:
>Hi Glenn,
>
>I'm not sure that it can be termed "survival of the fittest". In the same
>plant, for example, we see each branch/leaf seeking sunlite. We can say that
>a given plant is competing with other plants for sunlite, but, can we say a
>plant competes with itself?. What it looks like competition to us may just be
>a natural "mandatory" response (phototropism +). What I mean is that the
>plant is not really competing but just following a law. The same goes for the
>roots (geotropism -). BTW, nobody knows yet why these things happen in terms
>of basic mechanism. I think our interpretation may be a case of Western
>Anglo-Saxon competative philosophy imposed on nature. Another point. The
>exact dimensions of our bodies are not coded in the DNA, otherwise we would
>die before loosing or gaining weight. But all the necessary machinery to
>properly response to the environment is in us. An adult tree, every spring,
>produces all its leaves, but the number of leaves, their locations, and the
>individual designs are never the same, yet the general shape of the leaves is
>remarkably similar from leaf to leaf and from year to year. Just thinking.
>What do you think?
Deacon calls it a competitive selection and an evolutionary logic He is the
expert in brain construction, not me. I wouldn't want to go against his
observation until I know a whole lot more about the field.
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm