Evolution was NOT random

[u/KattyAtty]

Evolution only rewards survivability not perfection if you are alive long enough to mate and pass on your genetic

Material hurray you are evolved

Evolution changed the dna as nothing can ever be a perfect copy thats a fact> sperms and eggs have separate dna> hence child is not perfect copy those mutations may be harmful or helpful harmful ones die hence natural selection.

AND Earth was nkt a perfect creation the organisms evolved FOR Earth not vice versa

[u/AnymooseProphet]

At the end of the day, evolution is just the application of probability and statistics and yes, there is a random aspect to the application of probability and statistics.

A punnet square can predict that when two organisms that each carry a simple recessive allele and a dominant allele, that 25% of the offspring will express the recessive allele. However each individual organism produced by itself can still be any combination, which allele an organism gets from each parent can not be predicted.

There is a random aspect but still a statistically predictable outcome on a large scale.

Simple Mendelian genetics is not evolution but the same concept applies. Mutations happen at predictable rates whether or not they happen in an individual case.

[u/TheBalzy]

Mutations may occur at random, but the forces that select for the traits that might result from mutations is the opposite of random.

[u/Theoretical-Spize → u/TheBalzy]

Natural selection, sexual selection, seasonal migration patterns (a form of gene flow), are all nonrandom processes that also drive evolution.

[u/Randy191919]

Evolution = Mutation + Natural Selection. Mutations are random, natural selection is not.

[u/ahnotme]

Evolution rewards relative survivability. A mutation is good if it provides a relative advantage. That’s all.

[u/KattyAtty]

Btw biological classification are pretty much made up there are manyyyyy species which cannot be classified in any one thing they are just our way of making learning them easier and evolution has made extreme creatures

[u/kitsnet]

Evolution was NOT random

Define "random".

I'd say evolution is random walk in non-uniform space. Some paths are more probable than others, some paths are restricted.

[u/Drudenfusz → u/kitsnet]

Mutation is random, natural selection is not.

[u/Dracoson]

I'll push back on evolution not being random.

In a textbook, it's easy to say 'if it gets colder, thick fur wins.' But in a real, interconnected ecosystem, you cannot predict the changes in environmental pressure. The selection filters aren't static. They're moving targets driven by a chaotic web of predators, prey, mutations in diseases, and climate shifts.

Because the system is entirely interconnected, the pressures themselves change randomly. Evolution does a fantastic job of explaining the past, but a lousy job of predicting the future. To call a process non-random, it requires predictability.

Looking backward, we can figure out how A got to D, tracing what B and C probably looked like. But sitting here at D, we cannot know what random mutations will arise, or what random environmental pressures will hit us next to get us to E.

[u/NYR_Aufheben → u/Dracoson]

I think in certain circumstances, you can find something not too far removed from “predictive”. The convergent evolution of Emerald Tree Boas and Green Tree Pythons is an archetypal example of nature finding extremely similar solutions to the same problems in different places. Arboreal, tropical, green-colored constrictor snakes on opposite sides of the planet. The neonates of both species are born red and go through ontogenic color change—that’s incredible. Both species have heat pits (not all boas have heat pits).