A common creationist objection to evolution is that man could not evolve as the intended creation of God, since evolution, although not random, is affected by random factors. "How,"the creationist might ask,"can a process that is at least partially due to contingent factors result in an intended outcome?"
As Stephen Gould wrote, rewind the process, and something very different might result. A tiny difference in momentum, and the Chixlub object will miss the Earth, and the mammals remain mostly small, marginal organisms, dodging the dinosaurs.
St. Thomas Aquinas had an answer:
"The effect of divine providence is not only that things should happen somehow; but that they should happen either by necessity or by contingency. Therefore whatsoever divine providence ordains to happen infallibly and of necessity happens infallibly and of necessity; and that happens from contingency, which the plan of divine providence conceives to happen from contingency."
Aquinas, Summa Theologiae
So "time and chance happen to them all", but that's O.K., because God can use time and chance. Not everyone buys that conclusion, since it's really hard to test.
The question is, "could intelligent creatures evolve with much the same behavioral basis, even if they evolved from very different organisms?"
The answer seems to be "yes."
Curr Biol. 2018 Oct 8;28(19):3136-3142.e4.
A Conserved Role for Serotonergic Neurotransmission in Mediating Social Behavior in Octopus.
Edsinger E1, Dölen G2.
Abstract
Human and octopus lineages are separated by over 500 million years of evolution [1, 2] and show divergent anatomical patterns of brain organization [3, 4]. Despite these differences, growing evidence suggests that ancient neurotransmitter systems are shared across vertebrate and invertebrate species and in many cases enable overlapping functions [5]. Sociality is widespread across the animal kingdom, with numerous examples in both invertebrate (e.g., bees, ants, termites, and shrimps) and vertebrate (e.g., fishes, birds, rodents, and primates) lineages [6]. Serotonin is an evolutionarily ancient molecule [7] that has been implicated in regulating both invertebrate [8] and vertebrate [9] social behaviors, raising the possibility that this neurotransmitter's prosocial functions may be conserved across evolution. Members of the order Octopoda are predominantly asocial and solitary [10]. Although at this time it is unknown whether serotonergic signaling systems are functionally conserved in octopuses, ethological studies indicate that agonistic behaviors are suspended during mating [11-13], suggesting that neural mechanisms subserving social behaviors exist in octopuses but are suppressed outside the reproductive period. Here we provide evidence that, as in humans, the phenethylamine (+/-)-3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) enhances acute prosocial behaviors in Octopus bimaculoides. This finding is paralleled by the evolutionary conservation of the serotonin transporter (SERT, encoded by the Slc6A4 gene) binding site of MDMA in the O. bimaculoides genome. Taken together, these data provide evidence that the neural mechanisms subserving social behaviors exist in O. bimaculoides and indicate that the role of serotonergic neurotransmission in regulating social behaviors is evolutionarily conserved.
As Stephen Gould wrote, rewind the process, and something very different might result. A tiny difference in momentum, and the Chixlub object will miss the Earth, and the mammals remain mostly small, marginal organisms, dodging the dinosaurs.
St. Thomas Aquinas had an answer:
"The effect of divine providence is not only that things should happen somehow; but that they should happen either by necessity or by contingency. Therefore whatsoever divine providence ordains to happen infallibly and of necessity happens infallibly and of necessity; and that happens from contingency, which the plan of divine providence conceives to happen from contingency."
Aquinas, Summa Theologiae
So "time and chance happen to them all", but that's O.K., because God can use time and chance. Not everyone buys that conclusion, since it's really hard to test.
The question is, "could intelligent creatures evolve with much the same behavioral basis, even if they evolved from very different organisms?"
The answer seems to be "yes."
Curr Biol. 2018 Oct 8;28(19):3136-3142.e4.
A Conserved Role for Serotonergic Neurotransmission in Mediating Social Behavior in Octopus.
Edsinger E1, Dölen G2.
Abstract
Human and octopus lineages are separated by over 500 million years of evolution [1, 2] and show divergent anatomical patterns of brain organization [3, 4]. Despite these differences, growing evidence suggests that ancient neurotransmitter systems are shared across vertebrate and invertebrate species and in many cases enable overlapping functions [5]. Sociality is widespread across the animal kingdom, with numerous examples in both invertebrate (e.g., bees, ants, termites, and shrimps) and vertebrate (e.g., fishes, birds, rodents, and primates) lineages [6]. Serotonin is an evolutionarily ancient molecule [7] that has been implicated in regulating both invertebrate [8] and vertebrate [9] social behaviors, raising the possibility that this neurotransmitter's prosocial functions may be conserved across evolution. Members of the order Octopoda are predominantly asocial and solitary [10]. Although at this time it is unknown whether serotonergic signaling systems are functionally conserved in octopuses, ethological studies indicate that agonistic behaviors are suspended during mating [11-13], suggesting that neural mechanisms subserving social behaviors exist in octopuses but are suppressed outside the reproductive period. Here we provide evidence that, as in humans, the phenethylamine (+/-)-3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) enhances acute prosocial behaviors in Octopus bimaculoides. This finding is paralleled by the evolutionary conservation of the serotonin transporter (SERT, encoded by the Slc6A4 gene) binding site of MDMA in the O. bimaculoides genome. Taken together, these data provide evidence that the neural mechanisms subserving social behaviors exist in O. bimaculoides and indicate that the role of serotonergic neurotransmission in regulating social behaviors is evolutionarily conserved.
