Evolution question: what about bacteria and viruses?

Question

Aren't they the most successful life forms, being the most adaptable? But I would think they are also among the simplest, and oldest. Why doesn't evolution tend to simplify, rather than come up with more and more complicated organisms?

Then again, doesn't a bacterium or a virus need something ELSE to live on?

I dunno. Ignorance never stopped me from asking questions before. Discuss. Thanks!

Answer 1

Bacteria and viruses survived with their own forms as they could compete with the enviroinmental changes. Still they evolved.
Lets talk about viruses
T4 bacteriophage is totally diff from flu. only one of them sould have appeared first. The newer one arrived due to evolution.
Not satisfied?
bacteria fungi and viruses have been there for a billion years but humans just millions.
Then how the hell do you see HIV virus which is human immuno deficiency virus and needs a human to feed upon?
Certainly HIV evolved only after humans arrived.
Similarly Tobacco mosaic virus was born only after tobacco.

The key word here is the key word of the X Men series of films.

MUTATION
Virus and bacteria mutate every day and every day a new species of virus is born (Actually its thousands of species and zillions in number for any one of them in ten days thats their rate of *).
Humans dont mutate so easily because as you have typed humans are more complex.
Mutation is nothing but changing the cell structure and nature to adapt to enviroinment.

Humans dont easily mutate for they try to change environment.
Air conditioners, Room heaters are examples from early 20th century. List too big now.

Your mouth and the keyboard u use have more bacteria individually, than closet in your toilet. Due you think that they will be idle with no change and wait for mutation till you see Matrix reloaded the next time?
Certainly not. they keep on mutate.

Simplicity:
The most important sentence in evolution is "SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST". When there were numerous cells of similar type set together by situation and they had to fight for survival thay went for coalition and thus arose multi cellular organisms. Its all synergy stuff. That way the simplification was done in the total energy used by all the cells. Thus its no complication.

The total energy consumed by your body cells when you are in sleep is much lesser than the total used by billions of bacteria put together to equal you in weight. Doubtful if its true? You use bones along with muscles for movement which reduces energy usage. bacteria have no bones and hence stretch to spend more energy on it.

Matter and Energy are the two most important words in science and matter put together for energy optimization in larger beings.

I believe that its more than clear for you.

Answer 2

Actually evolution does often go towards the simple instead of the complex. Stephen Jay Gould wrote an excellent book/article on this topic. In the range of complexity there is a wall of simplicity that you can't go below, and that is one cell. In the other direction there is not really a limit other than what gravity and available food can support. So it seems like there is a "direction" towards complexity, but there actually isn't.

Some animals get smaller, sometimes they lose functional eyes, limbs, organs, etc... I'm sure you can think of some examples (snakes, whales, blind cave fish/insects/crabs, etc...) Horses used to have 5 functional toes, now they have one. Even earlier humans actually had larger brain cases than we do today.

Answer 3

Good question. Actually evolution does simplify. For example if an animal has a structure that it doesn't use, it will lose that structure. It is important not to waste vital resources on unneeded things. There are certain niches which take a pretty complex being to compete and in these niches a bacterium will not compete.

Answer 4

Evolution is the process of adaption to survive. So even simple forms change to survive. If the host changes to kill the virus the virus must mutate to survive. Its a concern for doctors that often times antibiotics lose there potency as the virus evolves to no longer is effected by it.

Answer 5

So what you're saying is that we should go extinct because bacteria exist? Wait, no you got it right in your second point. There is a food chain / carbon chain / phosphorous chain / etc etc. Everything is linked and there are different niches. If one niche is full, and another empty, then organisms that find a way in to that empty niche will prosper, so you end up with us hangers-on on bacterias planet.

Answer 6

Evolution does tend to simplify.

Is that how man came from a single cell? Simplification?

Man evolution is a bunch of crock. Read some of Darwin's stuff. It's all a wild guess, and he himself said 'I only had questions, and people began to believe the questions like a religion'

Sheesh.