this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
1390 points (98.9% liked)

Science Memes

11081 readers
2718 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
1390
Chicken vs Egg (mander.xyz)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
173 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 61 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (34 children)

The chicken vs egg question has never been about chronology or science.

It’s been about religion vs science.

Science says the egg came first: something nearly imperceptibly not quite a chicken laid an egg that hatched a chicken. That’s how evolution works, with the egg coming first.

Religion says a god poofed a chicken into existence. The chicken came first, and only ever laid pure chicken eggs. The eggs will forever hatch a chicken and nothing but a chicken.

That’s the chicken vs egg thing. It’s not a puzzle at all, it’s just science vs religion.

e: simplified. I’m too wordy by default.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 6 months ago (8 children)

This is by far the most correct answer to the chicken and egg question.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Not really, it still doesn't answer the question as the main thing is still unclear.

Is the first chicken egg the one the chicken hatched from or the first egg a chicken laid.

Both can be argued as correct.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not-quite-a-chicken laid an egg containing a definitely-chicken. Actual chicken egg was first.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

We are so zoomed in evolution at this point that the arbitrary distinction between what is a chicken and what not doesn't make any sense anymore. Evolution does some jumps, but it is still hard to actually draw the line where a nearly-chicken has not been a chicken yet. Maybe someone could fill in my mental gap in here for me, but hasn't Richard Dawkins given the example of some animal (possibly a rabbit?) that is traced back in evolution and since you cannot draw the line when it hasn't been that animal it is rabbits all the way down?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, the fossil record and dna analysis is such a gradient, any lines we draw are arbitrary. To be fair, those lines were always for our own convenience, in much the same way it’s useful for print designers to specify Pantone 032, but if most people look at the full colour chart they couldn’t even tell you where ‘red’ becomes ‘orange’.

It’s definitely rabbits (or turtles) all the way down.

We’re prokaryotes, and vertebrates, and mammals, and from there some people get bent. Are we apes? Genus homo? Where must we draw the line to ensure we’re not actually animals like other living things and were divinely inspired special creations?

I like simplicity. Life is a beautiful prismatic projection and it doesn’t matter that much what our Pantone swatch turns out to be.

(Sorry, /mini rant)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Well, I actually completely agree with you and thought your initial comment to be quite interesting. I've never viewed this thought experiment as to be science vs religion.

My point in my previous comment was exactly that, all our lines and categories are arbitrary. They're really useful to us, but in the end still arbitrary. I enjoy categorizing stuff and so I like taxonomy a lot. But I always have to keep in mind that the categories I choose are ultimately human made and can never represent the full spectrum of nature.

Pantone 032 feels to aggressive to me, can I have another color? :P

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I like 14-4317 TCX. 😎👌

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Haha cool blue, very nice!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

What came first? Chicken or egg?

It doesn’t say if the question is about “chicken egg” but only egg

Otherwise the question would be:

What came first? Chicken or chicken egg?

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (30 replies)