Evolving Complexity

Some will always see the world as too complex, too beautiful to be here via evolution alone. They will conclude that some force was at work bringing the earth into fruition – an intelligent designer. You could argue that the natural world is too complex for even the most super, super, being to formulate. So many interdependencies and so many refinements that can only come about through millions of years of gradual adjustments.

Life forms would utilise carbon and water in comparable ways, no matter where it spawns. Other planets harbouring life would not be that dissimilar to what we have here. I say that as many have pointed out that an eye is a lens at heart. An eye will always be like the eyes we see here as light bends and focuses with lenses. Some things work well, others don’t. Only things that work well are going to linger.

The electronics revolution started with the humble battery. With the means to produce electricity people then sought to turn the flow on and off with valves then transistors. Complex computers soon followed. The first part of the journey, building a pile of metals soaked in acid was slow compared with the latter. The early stages of animal evolution were slow too.

With lots of simple switches joined in unison, working in harmony we get a powerful computer. The possibilities increase tremendously with a small increase in the number of switches. With an upstairs light and a downstairs one, you have four possible states. Both on. Both off. One off one on. One on one off. With three lightbulbs, you have eight possibilities. Each extra switch doubles the permutations. From two states with one switch to over a million with twenty. To generate graphics and sound, to process information, computers utilise a vast number of basic on/off switches. They accomplish amazing tasks yet are built on basic building blocks. Lots of them.

Whether it is a computer or animal species, the building blocks need to be in place and working reliably first. Evolution is taking those basic building blocks and steadily adding more. Once the know how has been established it takes hold and spreads rapidly. An organism that operates reliably with a viable successful arrangement propagates quickly and relentlessly. Drop a few algae organisms into a pond and within a few days the whole surface is covered. Progress is only quick once something devised works. Each stage of enhancement takes a long time, testing all the possibilities.