Snippet #2056431

Miu wasn't really listening to the class at the moment, rather, she was doodling. Her head began to drop lower and lower and her doodles became rather splayed as the motions of her hand were becoming rather sporadic. She could hear Mister Walkins say something about evolution and she could hear Eros' retarded reply. Giving a heavy yawn, she raised her hand, but answered without being called upon. "Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor: the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers -- all related. Darwin's general theory presumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a purely naturalistic undirected descent with modification. That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. In a nutshell, as random genetic mutations occur within an organism's genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival -- a process known as natural selection. These beneficial mutations are passed on to the next generation. Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an entirely different organism; Not just a variation of the original, but an entirely different creature. While Darwin's Theory of Evolution is a relatively young archetype, the evolutionary worldview itself is as old as antiquity. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Anaximander postulated the development of life from non-life and the evolutionary descent of man from animal. Charles Darwin simply brought something new to the old philosophy - a plausible mechanism called natural selection. Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor advantageous genetic mutations. Suppose a member of a species developed a functional advantage such as it grew wings and learned to fly. Its offspring would inherit that advantage and pass it on to their offspring. The inferior disadvantaged members of the same species would gradually die out, leaving only the superior advantaged members of the species. Natural selection is the preservation of a functional advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild. Natural selection is the naturalistic equivalent to domestic breeding. Over the centuries, human breeders have produced dramatic changes in domestic animal populations by selecting individuals to breed. Breeders eliminate undesirable traits gradually over time. Similarly, natural selection eliminates inferior species gradually over time." Having spoken her piece on the topic, she let her head down on her desk again, the light sounds of her snoring rising from beneath her hair.