Evolution of a Story

Evolution 101

Its my turn to make a presentation. Its my first biology class, my 2nd year of college. My friends call me Wall. The presentation was about evolution. During my research I discovered that evolution is really not about survival of the fittest, evolution favors those who are able to mate and make offspring. It so happens that the fittest are the ones that mate and produce offspring. It is possible that a weak member of a species is able to mate and produce an offspring, and with luck that will continue, but the weak will not survive for long. Evolution is really about adaptation. Evolution doesn't favor the strong, it favors those who are able to adapt to changing conditions. 

I made the presentation, looked up to the class, who were looking back, I was expecting an applause for my discovery, waited, didn't happen, said 'Thank you', and came back to my seat. 

The teach divided us into groups of three, I was with Jeff and Sami, we were to discuss evolution. Like me this was their first bio class, they were majoring in Business and Engineering. Jeff had a beard and looked old, Sami though looked like he was sixteen. 

"So," I said, "What are you studying Sami?".

"civil engineering". 

"What about you, Jeff?".

"I have my own business."

"Oh", I said, silenced prevailed, i looked around and other groups weren't doing much talking either. I looked at Sami, he was looking at a pretty girl, so i said, "Pretty huh".

"what", he said. 

I moved my eyebrows pointing towards the girl. 

"Oh yea, i guess", he said, "I was looking at jar with all the animals, do you think we can make them alive again?".

"Probably, I mean, I don't know" I said.

"Do you know that about 99% of the species that existed on earth are extinct?" asked Sami. 

"Seriously, 99%, so everything we see now is 1%, i wonder what kinda species existed", I said. 

"There were dinosaurs you know", 

"Off course I know", I said, "you think your the only one that watched Jurassic Park, how did so many species die, I mean, weren't they able to adapt?"

"Well", said Sami, "most species died due to mass extinction events, there have been 5 mass extinction". 

"What caused it?" asked Jeff. 

"Its mostly due to climate change", said Sami. 

"So, it doesn't matter if your strong, you will die anyway huh?" I said. 

"Well if your able to adapt to the drastic climate change, you will survive", said Sami. 

"So, there is a 99% probability that the human species won't survive?" I asked. 

"Well," said Sami, "We are different from other species that have evolved on earth, we can effect the climate, also we may be able to live in space". 

"How do you know there were no other species advanced as us that evolved on earth?"

"Well, there is no evidence that such a species ever existed," said Sami. 

"But there could have, couldn't it? may be they decided to leave earth entirely, and live in space"

"Yes, it is possible, but very unlikely" Sami said. 

"I'll tell you what is unlikely," I said, "you getting that girl". 

"What, i don't want that girl". 

"Off course you don't, that's cause you can't have her, haha". 

Alright, said the teach, "Now that you have discussed evolution, I want a member from each group to give me a summary of the discussion, we'll start from here."

Next was our turn, I pointed to Sami, he pointed to me, Jeff raised his hand, saying, "don't look at me". 

When it was our turn, I got up and said, "I am sure all of you have heard of evolution, even the song, 'Do the evolution', by Pearl Jam is about evolution. In our discussion we realized that 99% of the species that have evolved on earth has died, I am sure all of you have seen Jurassic Park, you know of the dinosaurs, like me you might wonder what other creatures have evolved. Currently there are millions of species in existence. All Species have evolved to adapt to the environments they live in. The environment to a large extent determines the evolution of species. When there are drastic changes in the climate, most species perish as they are unable to adapt to the sudden change. Since most species perish it is very likely that we will also perish, or we will evolve, it could be by natural selection, or by the use of technology. We are the only species advanced enough to direct our own evolution through the use of technology. Thank You."

I sat down, I wasn't surprised to hear the lack of applause, i was used to it by now. All these ideas were first for me, I guess others already knew, or didn't care. Other groups presented their thoughts as well. One idea that caught my attention was presented by the third group of 3 girls. They argued that since to our knowledge life exist only on earth, there is a divine force behind evolution, that development of life on earth since it began around 3 billion years ago, has been guided by the divine hand to eventually reach the evolution of humans. 

It got me thinking, all these girls are above 8, on a ten point scale, which one is most likely to go out with me, hmm. Is it wrong that I like all three girls?

Another thought I had was if there is a divine hand then why would all those other species evolve and die. Does evolution of life eventually lead to intelligent creatures?   

The class ended after the last presentation, after saying goodbye, I start walking to another building for my next class, Psychology.