Where are the new posts about the law of accelerating returns? I had promised a daily-series of hacks that showed how something as complex as the eye could come about from "simple" evolution. I've either lost steam, or I've been really tired these past few days.

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Read more about tools and algorithms that aid biological evolution, and in tandem systems of accelerating complexity.

Groups of related organisms are 'variations on a theme' -- the same set of bones are used to construct all vertebrates. The bones of the human hand grow out of the same tissue as the bones of a bat's wing or a whale's flipper; and, they share many identifying features such as muscle insertion points and ridges. The only difference is that they are scaled differently. Evolutionary biologists say this indicates that all mammals are modified descendants of a common ancestor which had the same set of bones. (Introduction to Evolutionary Biology)

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My conversion from Catholicism to Agnosticism coincided with my first exposure to Darwinian natural selection in the 9th grade. In Natural Selection I saw the beginnings of what seemed like a better sketch than Christian genesis. However, I had my doubts about Natural Selection; Darwin's theories still made it seem like it would take forever to bore out only average or gray species. How was this simple thing supposed to ever spontaneously produce life, or create something as complex as the eye?

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