"Humans sort of think like engineers. We think of what we want as an outcome and how we can get there sort of in the shortest distance. And we may use some trial and error, but we really try to minimize the error. Whereas really these evolutionary processes start with error. They start with a random change and then try those things out."
"So evolution, what it really means is change over time. So we wanna know how that change occurs over time. And there's two dimensions to this process and it kind of works like a staircase. And one process is mutation and that's the rise in the staircase. Those occur by chance. If mutation didn't happen, all things would be identical. So you need mutation to make individuals different from one another. Those mutations are genetic changes, changes in their DNA."
Humans tend to plan outcomes and minimize error, while evolutionary processes begin with random errors that are tested without foresight. Random mutations in DNA create heritable variation among individuals. Natural selection filters those chance changes by favoring properties that improve survival or reproduction, thereby propagating advantageous variants. Evolution functions like a staircase: mutation provides upward steps by generating new variants, while selection and environmental circumstance determine which steps persist. The interplay of chance invention and selective propagation over time produces the diversity and apparent order of life without intentional design.
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