Because my mind drifts...

Strangely enough, I found myself thinking of evolution today. I was biting in to an apple and thought about the design. Actually built to fall to the ground when ripe. A complicated process of germination requiring several levels.

Some of the insane will simply indicate that this is indicative of a designer. They have never studied random number patterns. What I thought is that these are new. The forests of the Jurassic had no apples. There weren't grasses either. The very plants that allowed the rise of mammals came along with us. They and we adapted together. Could a human survive on ferns and meat? Possibly. But we would not thrive. Man do not cultivate plants in jungles. 65 million years ago, a freak accident changed the game. The plants and animals that could hibernate survived. Although nature would again dance in the sun, it hid in the cave and burrow first.

So, the next time you imagine walking with dinosaurs, think of the jungles of our current world. Imagine the prisons the French built that didn't require walls.... just to be surrounded by jungle. Think of the things that do live there now.... the snakes and bugs.... Everything was far bigger, but the end result is the same. We are not designed for it. We would be the only thing sweating. We could be tracked for miles and although we could find sustenance, it would be meager.

Apples exist because mammals exist and vice versa. The bird large enough to eat an apple or spread the seeds would be a raptor. If a niche arose would something fill it... yes. However, that assumes that apple trees stay around that long and that something else doesn't arise to replace them.

We generally assume that plant life is static and animals adapt to it. We sometimes forget that flowers may have existed without bees, but they wouldn't thrive. They would be one of those rare accidents that have made our planet what it is. The wind would spread pollen as would contact with other animals, but neither of these would be all that effective. And flowering plants are not very resilient. By definition, an ecosystem is interdependent. The bees need the flowers and vice versa. Would there be similar things replace them? Maybe. The niches do seem to produce similar forms. However, assuming a niche will always be there is a mistake. There is nothing constant. There are no rules. We are just one species on one planet. We change the world every day.

And it changes us.