Are Evolutionary mutations chance?

Question

I accept it takes many years for evolution to occur what I want to know is if the mutation itself is not pure chance does this mean the genetic code is aware of its surrondings and can adapt itself to pass on the correct adaptations to offspring

Answer 1

Mutations are pure chance, yes. The power of evolution comes from the combination of chance with inheritance and selection. No, the genetic code is not aware of anything - all that's happening is that the genes which find themselves in successful individuals tend to prosper and the genes that don't tend to die with them.

Answer 2

That's an interesting idea, but I haven't heard much about it in mainstream science.

Certainly the present idea is that it's random, but that does not need to be the whole situation. It may be that there is a genetic advantage to having some sort of selection at a genetic level, but how this would be accomplished is beyond me. As to the code itself being aware, that's also beyond the edge of known science right now, but there is a lot of work being done on the roots of awareness.

This would make a good basis for maybe a science fiction story. And it's certainly something that should be considered. I don't think it's absurd that in the future, it could be discovered that DNA has a build in feedback process that involves adaptation to environmental factors.

I'd love to see someone, maybe you, win a nobel for work in the area. Creative ideas are good!

Answer 3

There is no evidence that the genetic code has awareness, but there is evidence that mutations are not purely chance.
Some organisms have increased rates of mutations when they fail to get adequate nutrition. This may be just the cellular machinery breaking down & mis-copying due to lack of calories, but it seems that it might be beneficial to respond to stress of this sort by having more mutations. No evidence of consciousness, but perhaps evidence of a feedback loop.

Answer 4

genetic mutations are chance.
adapting is evolution, a species can and will change over time when it needs to.

here's some useless knowledge for you though: Hammerhead sharks were a genetic mutation that managed to breed and survive. this is rare and hardly ever happens.
white lions and tiges are also considered a mutation that's very rare in the wild and most do not survive because there to visisble.

Answer 5

One problem I have is that all mutations are weaker than the original species, i.e they are freaks and usually killed off by other members of the family or species...this happens even today. The idea of 2 mutations breeding to get more mutations is even a little thin for even me to believe. It even goes even against the very principle that the evolution theory was based on....."survival of the fittest".

Answer 6

There is no mutation of anything. For example, do you believe the earth recently evolved or mutate from being flat into globe? Everything we see existed because God created them. Just before Satellite's time people believed the earth was flat but God had already told a man name Job about 3500 years ago that the earth is round and hanging upon nothing. -Job 26:7; Isaiah 40:22.

Answer 7

But don't forget, it isn't just sequential chance. It is simultaneous chance, every member of the species undergoes mutation and natural selection allows the ones with beneficial mutations to survive and pass those good mutations along with the help of natural selection.

Answer 8

Mutations are chance. The ones that live on are not.

There actually is a chemical process that speeds this up when an organism is on the edge of survival. This will explain that a little: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/222096.stm

Answer 9

How many years do you want for evolution to occur?

The genetic code is written, who wrote it?
It has meaning, and has definitons, and if it is messed with (in breeding) the results are very bad. Witness the Royal families of Europe.

Surely you cannot believe that something like that happened by chance? If so, your faith in chance is greater than most peoples' faith in God. The odds against miracles are less than that against that for miracles.

Answer 10

The genes that do not adapt die out. That's the 'survival of the fittest' which adapts species over eons.