SingingMenstrual

Why? I'm curious, I'm not necessarily disagreeing.

@zella said:

@development said:

Perfect, will watch after I finish the BBC show, thanks.

@cale said:

Sound logic, I understand the bigger picture now about slow hit-and-miss mutations over long centuries, it makes sense. Thanks! I don't believe in absolutes, I like to mix my facts and spirituality, I'm crazy like that, so while the evolution thing is very legitimate and actually mindblowing and I believe it, I still believe in God's hand in the madness that is life on Earth, I think the two theories go hand in hand, feel free to roll your eyes. I'm not religious or anything btw. I simply don't think this debate is important enough for me to ensure believing the right thing, it's not essential in everyday life, so I mix it up a bit, it's fun.

Anyway, yeah the first question is answered now, the last piece of the puzzle is wrapping one's mind around the fact of mutations, but nature is a mystery. Also CaLe your graph of Earth's timeline is insane, I like it.

The future truly is now.

@development: Interesting links, I will look at them, thanks.

I see what you're saying - the bad mutations disappear with the death of the offspring that had them, the good mutations are perpetuated by their survival, and those become the convenient mutations seen in this documentary. Nature is amazing. I might be sounding stupid though but I'm still not 100% on the origin of these mutations. The fact that these animals mutate at all, let alone having some mutations that are so convenient for their environment, is a bit hard to grasp. Somebody's pulling those strings I just know it :P

That is good to know! But so far after 5.5 hours with Planet Earth it's been males doing the work in various species. The fact that the narrator called a group of female mountain bucks (of a certain area) a "harem" that the male must win by fighting other males was kind of weird. Doesn't that offend somebody somewhere?

@artelinarose: Thanks for spamming my thread with two consecutive enormous posts with no actual discussion or useful words from you. Appreciate it, and so does my mouse wheel.

Ohhh I see what you're saying. In that case I blame the show's narrator for making it sound like these useful mutations were the only ones that happened and that they somehow magically appeared to serve their purposes! It still sounds too good to be true for me, I mean these mutations are seriously complex and surprisingly fitting for the conditions of the environments they're in, but you're making me believe now, good point dudes.

I wish I was one of those. Those people never lose the essence of childish beauty and cheerfulness, I envy them. Then again some of them get called fruity in public, so I'm glad no one calls me fruity. Society is strange.

@zella: @video_game_king: Thanks for the replies, but neither of you told me what causes these mutations and, more importantly, how it's plausible to you that these extremely specific mutations that serve a specific purpose to allow the animal to survive in its specific environment, are merely mutations of nature and not the work of a conscious observer who is deliberately designing the necessary mutations into these animals.

Who is behind this and how did it come to be?

This is not a debate that has anything to do with religion or sexism, this is me asking fellow Giant Bomb users for their input and ideas concerning some things about nature that I fail to understand within the context of science and culture. I'm sure many of you know more about this (or have thought more about it) than I do/have, so gimme your two cents!

I know it seems hard to believe on the internet, but I have no actual opinion on this, hence my seeking your input.

I'm onto the sixth episode of BBC Planet Earth and these two questions kept popping in my head repeatedly:

Evolution - the detailed and complex features of certain animals

Does evolution tell us that all these strange and very specific defense/survival mechanisms that strange animals have, were just developed naturally on their own to ensure the survival of these species in their dangerous environments?

I mean, regardless of whether God exists, the theory of God tells you that he created all these little details, and the idea of someone designing these very specific details deliberatelyis more plausible to me than nature just somehow designing all these things out of... nature being nature. How does evolution explain the pouch that male Emperor Penguins have, where they hide their females' eggs? How does it explain the microscopic claws that rare cave invertebrates have that allow them to hold onto rocks and not drift in the current? How does it explain snakes having heat vision in order to snatch bats in the dark? It just developed on its own? Doesn't that sound strange? It gives biology a conscious persona, like it knows what tools and adjustments are needed. I don't get that.

These features and body parts are extremely specific and detailed, with the purpose of allowing the animals to fit their respective environments, but IMO they are too specific to believe that nature just "did" the job.

Gender roles - males always wooing females

Yes we are cultured and intelligent beings, we should be different from animals and their basic functions, but at the end of the day we are biological animals that evolved from cells in the sea, so how do you explain the fact that almost EVERY species has the males doing all the wooing and the courting showmanship? I believe in equality in rights between the two (human) genders, but I do not deny gender roles because they are a part of nature and biology, which is evident in all other living beings. The fact that the male does the penetration and fertilization during intercourse, for humans and animals alike, really symbolizes this IMO.

So far I have seen male penguins "serenade" to attract females, some form of male mountain bucks fight for hours in order to win a "harem" entourage of females which they proceed to fornicate (the narrator actually called them harem...), and many male birds do crazy shows.

How do people who deny gender roles explain the fact that in nature, it's always the male who does the wooing, followed by the f*cking? That it's always the male going after the female and trying to get her in bed? I'm NOT saying they're wrong, I'm trying to understand their point of view, because as of now I don't.

----

This here is a somewhat ignorant man (about this topic) who is asking for the input and perspective of people better educated on this matter, nothing more and nothing less :)

I'm sure science has explanations out there, so I'm seeking them!

Last time I saw a kids movie I was still a kid, and even the worst shit ever fascinated my small brain back then. The standards of a child are a beautiful thing.

When I grew up I no longer saw any kids movies.. why would you? Do you do it intentionally or do you have children?

There's one good aspect of this news to me: Joel McHale failing. I like this - something of his has failed or gotten cancelled. Tasty feeling.