random evolution question

[NLSoldier]

If at some point humans and other animals are all killed off due to nuclear war or natural disasters or whatever, but all the elements required to generate organic material and maybe even some simple organisms still existed, I assume that the process of evolution would start over?

How likely would it be for species similar to those currently existing on earth to exist again? And mainly, at what point would a species be classified as "intelligent life"? (basically at what point would we consider them essentially 2nd generation humans)

[kevin017]

yes, evolution would start all over.

if evolution were to occur again from near-scratch, any outcome we predicted would be extremely unlikely to happen. there's no way to know if we'd get human-like beings ever again or if we'd go in some unforseen direction and get moving balls of lard that roll around eating dirt.

we'd consider them intelligent using the same judgement we use now i guess. i also think its possible we'd get intelligent life that I wouldn't call second generation humans because they'd be sufficiently different, but still intelligent.

[m_the0ry]

Of course. This has already happened once.

While there are still many theories about why the dinasaurs went extinct, it is still an irrefutable fact that there was mass extinction at some point. Maybe a meteor, maybe disease, maybe a giant volcano, but it killed almost everything except microorganisms. And evolution created what lives now.

[Rearden]

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How likely would it be for species similar to those currently existing on earth to exist again? And mainly, at what point would a species be classified as "intelligent life"? (basically at what point would we consider them essentially 2nd generation humans)

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Depends on how strict you are with the term "similar to those currently existing on earth". With the same physical laws in place (weight in relation to wingspan and lift) you may get generally the same product (but of course now think of what variation that provides in natural application today even in the limitted example of birds). I dont think it would be surprising though that crossovers occur. You're talking about thousands of species with hundreds of biological niches. Hunting and locomotion restrictions (meaning restrictions in the sense of "stuff that works that allows an organism to avoid natural selection") would likely prevent the evolution of the Hutts on this planet. Three eyed Deer though... why not, if it provides a practical advantage in the sense of survival in that future world it would happen.

As for intelligent life. Thats another front of evolution. In addition to stronger, faster, better camo, etc. Brain power is just another frontier. So in a couple billion years I dont think it would be a stretch to see a (relatively) fragile, slow, and poorly armed intelligent being that makes up for all of that by out thinking the opposition. What the line is for intelligent life... who knows that gets pretty deep (AI, etc). Communication and tool use seem to be good starting points though.

[siegfriedandroy]

[ QUOTE ]
If at some point humans and other animals are all killed off due to nuclear war or natural disasters or whatever, but all the elements required to generate organic material and maybe even some simple organisms still existed, I assume that the process of evolution would start over?

How likely would it be for species similar to those currently existing on earth to exist again? And mainly, at what point would a species be classified as "intelligent life"? (basically at what point would we consider them essentially 2nd generation humans)

[/ QUOTE ]

zero. no chance evolution would occur, even given the (incredibly ridiculous) grant of an already existing universe prim soup or whatever. zero. most of the evolution posters on this thread are poorly educated even on primitive evol theories (evidence is i know a lot more than them). but even if they were quasi smart, victor already tried to condemn me in mhslholdempacman, he is not even a good player though. funny. i was banned here for recriticizing lestat after he wrongly criticized me. most of you are psuedo intelligent. that is incredibly euphemistic though. most of you are 1800 at chess. fish

[SNOWBALL]

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While there are still many theories about why the dinasaurs went extinct, it is still an irrefutable fact that there was mass extinction at some point. Maybe a meteor, maybe disease, maybe a giant volcano, but it killed almost everything except microorganisms. And evolution created what lives now

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AFAIK, mammals coexisted with dinosaurs. But us mammals had to stick to the graveyard shift economy. When dinos croaked, we extended our hours of operation and diversified our workforce.

[SNOWBALL]

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zero. no chance evolution would occur, even given the (incredibly ridiculous) grant of an already existing universe prim soup or whatever. zero. most of the evolution posters on this thread are poorly educated even on primitive evol theories (evidence is i know a lot more than them). but even if they were quasi smart, victor already tried to condemn me in mhslholdempacman, he is not even a good player though. funny. i was banned here for recriticizing lestat after he wrongly criticized me. most of you are psuedo intelligent. that is incredibly euphemistic though. most of you are 1800 at chess. fish


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It's possible that you know a lot more about evolutionary theory than the average atheist. However, an aquaintance of mine also knows more about the moon landing than almost everybody. He believes it didn't happen! He must be right!
No. He's just a whacko.

But at least I can give him credit for doing his homework. What about you? I've never been impressed by a single post you've made. But that's just a euphemism. What I mean to say is that you're a [censored] troll

[siegfriedandroy]

please elaborate

[Magic_Man]

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but even if they were quasi smart, victor already tried to condemn me

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Does not compute. Even if you were quasi smart, purple monkeys don't fly at night.

[madnak]

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maybe even some simple organisms still existed

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This isn't a "maybe even." It's the core of the question. If we have bacteria, then evolution would probably be very likely to occur again. If there is no life at all, then personally I don't think it would happen (certainly not in a timely enough manner - the sun won't last forever).

But there's no way to know for sure. We still don't fully understand the origins of life on Earth, and until we do speculation is all you'll get.