Natural De-Selection And How to Avoid It

The phrase " survival of the fittest" was popularized in the mid-1880s by naturalist Charles Darwin, best remembered and frequently decried for his theory that modern humans evolved from prehistoric apes.

Interesting aside: photographs of him and contemporary circus impresario P. T. Barnum suggest that they could have been identical twins (we'll get back to that in a bit).

Mind you. my personal preference and religious upbringing steer me away from this aspect of Darwin’• s teaching. Although certain specimens on the TV screen promoting Wrestlemania give me moments of doubt.

I find it easy, though. to relate his observations of "natural selection" to the evolutions I've witnessed in real estate brokerage over the past six decades in America.

In extensive studies of birds in the Galapagos Islands. of all creatures and places. Darwin noted that although individual species might otherwise have almost identical physical characteristics. those with physical assets most compatible with the current environment tended to survive and reproduce, while the others stumbled. slid or were driven toward extinction. Mother Nature. it seems. tends to favor those of her creatures who are willing and able to adapt 10 changes in their surroundings.

Thus it is that the spectacular creatures appearing in Jurassic Park. although patterned after animals that once abounded on this troubled planet, now exist only in fantasy. History, and/or museum exhibits.