(In response to a comment on the intelligent design of birds and their ability to fly, to a Jesus Crispy)
I don't have a traditional view of god. But I must point out the eye as one of those things that "is too complex to evolve" but did. Or "if an eye doesn't work exactly correctly the first time, it is an evolutionary defect and thus it will never get a chance to genetically improve itself." Eyes should not exist...but do. Thus we must not understand how a simple photon sensor became a fully operating eye. Given enough time it will happen. The amount of time that things have been adjusting to better fit the environment around them, is immensely large. The kind of 'large' amount of time that the human mind cant fathom. Enough time that the diversity of life on earth in and before the Jurassic period has had a chance to die down to the world we know now. Billions of specialised plants and creatures in a veritable circus of different species roamed far and wide, taking full advantage of every nook life could take hold in. Even the most advanced biological organs and internal sensors have their roots in these eras.
Feathers, in their original form, were used on most all dinosaurs like mammals use fur, for camo. and temp control. They had a very simple structure when compared to hair, fur and flight feathers. (in fact the word 'feathers' is deceiving, but that is what most people see when they look at them.) "Feathers" are used for more than flying now and use to be used for everything but flying.. The Pterosaurs was/is a flying dino., it had dino. feathers that did not help it to fly, like bats of modern day. It also seems the only land dinosaurs that survived whatever killed most of them off, are the flying ones (modern birds). That leaves plenty of time for feathers to change into what we see now... flight feathers.
What gets me is some of the evolutionary changes seem to happen in one season (like finch beaks changing seasonally from generation to generation in accordance with the current weather, and thus the future food supply.) To me this does not prove "intelligent design" but instead proves we don't have a clue how fast things can change. Or you can say alien intervention (liken to Gods intervention...but more plausible) may have been the source of any unusual advances we have made. It just seems it makes more sense to say we humans don't know for sure. But a logical approach is paramount to finding out. And we may not realize the importance of the knowledge until we understand it.
We too may have the capacity locked away in our own DNA to change ourselves in one generation. But science states that these finches had already had both beak types at one time or another, thus the latent DNA info was there and just needed to be 'keyed in' by environmental influences. (These quick changes are de-evolution. Evolution is a long process.) The finches of long past had all the genetic info locked in their DNA, but if it wasn't linked to the environmental 'key in', they would be less able to survive than the finches that had 'key ins' unlock their latent DNA (thus de-evolving their children). (Protein differences in the food eaten would be the most likely things to cause a 'key in', thus linked to making it active. Not willpower, worldly or not.)
Today studies are showing a near 30% drop in male birth rates. Is this a process of de-evolution in humans brought on by something in our environment 'keying in' a latent program to make more women, thus children? Or it may be natural for organisms to increase birth rates in the face of certain radiological/geological changes that may have resulted in mass extinctions in the past. Could we be pumping up our numbers to survive a future our DNA detects and we can not? Or is it that the more children the stressed species have, the more chance of some random genetic mutation that will allow the species to survive the upcoming upheaval?
Is it in the air, water or the food we eat? Is it the sun or the rapidly crumbling magnetic fields around our planet?
Mostly, it is either an already 'keyed in' DNA code expressing itself and de-evolving us to survive a future that has been mirrored in our past...or it is a desperate genetic attempt to save a race that, on a genetic level, knows it is doomed and must mutate to survive. (Both very positive survival mechanisms I assume must be in place for life to even still exist on Earth).
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