The stuff of life
What we know about life
From observing our ourselves and our environment we are able to deduce some basic truths about life and being alive. The most obvious characteristic of a thing being alive is motion. When we see something move we conclude that it must be alive that is, if it moves of its own power. This is fairly obvious in insects and animals. Plants and trees are also alive and they only move when the wind blows or when they are pushed aside by a passing animal and they generally are rooted to the spot. They do not have the ability to move from place to place although they are able to distribute themselves over a vast area of land by adapting their methods of reproduction to suitable means like having insects and animals be the carriers of their seed or of having such light seeds that the wind can waft them away to develop somewhere else far form the original spot.
From this small observation we can alo deduce that insects and animals are probably more advanced forms of life. Without the tools of science to tell us we know that plants occupy a lower rung in evolution. They are more advanced than simple one-celled organisms and their manner of reproduction can be very sophisticated. Asexual reproduction is a simple way of reproducing oneself and works just fine for one-celled things but as organisms gain in complexity first by grouping together and specializing then by having different complex parts which are also specialized for a certain task the need arises for a more advanced method of reproduction. As more and more specialization occurs the organism develops higher faculties and capabilities. Sexual reproduction was invented by nature in order to speed up the process of evolution. Taking the strong and desirable properties from one and merging that with the best and finest of another would result in a much more vibrant and vigorous offspring.
That sexual reproduction occurs both in the animal and the plant kingdom is a testament to its superiority as a means of protecting the strength and promoting the number of the species.
Cool blogs basking in the blog park. Visit these pages:
posted by underdog at 5:10 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home