2006-08-05 06:28:42 · 22 answers · asked by Miss beckham 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
http://www.answers.com/chicken%20or%20egg
The chicken or the egg is a reference to the causality dilemma which arises from the expression "which came first, the chicken or the egg?". When used in reference to difficult problems, a chicken and egg problem is similar to a Catch 22 situation where something cannot happen until a second thing does, and the second thing cannot happen until the first does. For example, a person might have trouble finding a job without work experience, but to get work experience he/she must get a job.
The earliest reference to the dilemma is found in Plutarch's Moralia, in the books titled "Table Talk," in a series of arguments based on questions posed in a symposium. Under the section entitled, "Whether the hen or the egg came first," the discussion is introduced in such a way as to suggest that the origin of the dilemma was even older:
"...the problem about the egg and the hen, which of them came first, was dragged into our talk, a difficult problem which gives investigators much trouble. And Sulla my comrade said that with a small problem, as with a tool, we were rocking loose a great and heavy one, that of the creation of the world..."
Various answers have been formulated in response to the question, many of them humourous.
2006-08-05 21:49:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you mean eggs in general then obviously the egg as eggs were being laid by various specied before chicken evolved.
If you are talking about chicken eggs then the chicken had to come first, the reasoning is that creature a & creature b (who are not quite chickens) had a baby, the genes of creature a & creature b combined to form a 'complete' chicken, once this chicken laid an egg, this egg became a chicken egg
2006-08-05 06:41:07 · answer #2 · answered by Mark T 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The chicken came first because it had to lay an egg and make sure it grew. If the egg came first, then it would eventually be too cold and would be exposed to many natural and human dangers. The chicken had to come first, or the egg would not be able to exist.
2006-08-05 06:44:52 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Egg came first
2006-08-05 06:36:20 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i would say the egg because dinosaurs layed eggs so over a period of time what was in the eggs mutated enough into a chicken! lol
or
It could be that the what ever was around before a chicken mutated into a chicken and it started to lay eggs!
lol you choose i think the egg came first tho!
2006-08-08 04:52:36 · answer #5 · answered by kew(q) 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The chicken. The egg is used for reproduction, but first you must have something to reproduce. Hence, the chicken before the egg.
2006-08-05 06:36:39 · answer #6 · answered by bpiguy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Easy one really. The egg came first. Chickens per se have only existed some 50 million years, eggs per se have been around many hundreds of millions. The first chickens as such would have descendants of genetic hybrids.
2006-08-05 06:40:56 · answer #7 · answered by bob kerr 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A chicken and an egg were lying in bed together. The chicken lit a cigarette and, grinning, said 'well I guess that sorts that one out then'
2006-08-07 11:43:18 · answer #8 · answered by keys780 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The chicken of course! Whoever heard of an egg that comes!!!!
2006-08-05 06:39:12 · answer #9 · answered by STEVEDAVIES7 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the egg came first where did it come from?
2006-08-05 06:34:06 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋