Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

Question

Is this a paradox? Why or why not?

Answer 1

If you said "The chicken or the chicken egg?" I would have to say the egg came first, because that is where the first chicken would have to have come from. But that is where this stupid question comes from, without a chicken how could you get a chicken egg? but I am not going to get in to an evolution debate.
But since you just said the "The chicken or the egg?" I would say the egg predates any bird by many millions of years.

Answer 2

It is not a paradox. A paradox would mean that two statements/situations contradict each other (either in actuality or just in appearance). Maybe there is a paradox in answering the question, but it is not a paradox per se.

The chicken-or-the-egg dilemmais more of an ad infinitum conundrum. If the statements were taken by themselves, the reasoning would constitute an absurdity (but the chicken WAS an egg).

But if you consider other factors, an answer can actually be achieved. For example, if you use the logic of evolution, then the chicken is the answer. Most likely, a parent species slowly evolved into the chicken, which developed a reproductive system that produces an external egg. Other answers can be surmised...

Answer 3

The first answer is probably right, evolution indicated that the development of a chicken happened on of course a genetic level meaning that whatever creature a chicken evolved from first laid an egg that was biologically not fully a chicken but not fully the creature chickens evolved from. Therefore over time the creatures who chickens evolved from laid eggs and gradually the genetic material kept changing more and more into chicken DNA and eventually the mutations were enough that the chicken could no longer mate with the creature from whom it evolved and therefore at that point constituted chickens a new species. So neither the chicken or the egg came first because species like chicken arise through evolution and evolution just doesn't pop an egg and day okay thats gonna be a chicken. It takes thousands of years.

Answer 4

It does sound puzzling at first, but how much does one have to think until one realizes that both chicken and egg must necessarily have come from something that is neither a chicken nor an egg? This answer was knowable centuries before biology came about, yet people assumed there was some unsolvable mystery behind the issue.

The modern chicken is generally believed to be a descendant of "Archaeopteryx", the oldest known bird. This 150 million year old resident of the Jurassic period laid eggs, and at some point of time, evolved into an animal that was one generation away from being a proper chicken

DNA mutations occur in the early stages of life of organisms. As you know, when new cells divide, the DNA within the nucleus separates nucleotides and duplicates, then two new helix are formed. The amino acids responsible for mitosis are prone to make mistakes to the genetic architecture-- a beautiful system of flaws that cause evolution and diversity in species. It's like the reason why children will look like their parents, but not approximately, they are a combination of both parent's ancestor genetic history and the result of new combinations in the DNA helix.

So according to fossil research, before the chicken was the "proto-chicken" and this bird was almost chicken, but not quite. Well this proto-chicken laid an egg with a mutation, and the interior change of the DNA was enough that the exterior of the new bird could be thought of as a new species.

Answer 5

from a creationist viewpoint (where everything is created as-is) chicken came first, because if they are both just as likely the pop out of nothing, then what matters is what happens after their first appearance. the chicken can survive, the egg still needs to be incubated.

alternatively, from an evolutionary point of view, the egg probably came first, because it would have been laid by a pre-chicken animal, and it would have contained the first mutated form of that animal that could be called a modern chicken.

it isn't a paradox, it just depends on how you're looking at the situation.

Answer 6

The egg from a mutant. No. Because it lacks the requirements to be a paradox.

Answer 7

~~~ This is like the 10th. time I answered this same question. Okay, the egg came first: I ate it for breakfast. Later on I ate the chicken for dinner. Is this a paradox? I really doubt it. I don't eat with one Doc,let alone a pair of them. Are we clear now? ~~~

Answer 8

This is circular reasoning. You could make arguments for either one coming first, but you have to remember - a rooster had to be involved for an egg to appear.

Answer 9

The chicken HAD to come first, had it been the egg, there would have been no "parent" to incubate it (sit on it to keep it warm) and it would have never hatched.

Answer 10

Chicken = Adam and Eve
Egg = Cain and Abel

So which one comes first?