The average life-span of a species is an estimated four million years. That seems like a long time to a species only 200,000 years old, but remember, that’s an average. Some species survive for hundreds of millions of years, numbers large enough to offset the short existence of other species. Lampreys, for example, have been around for more than 300 million years, and some mollusk and arthropod species appear to equal or exceed that duration. Average guarantees nothing for the individual.
The recent discovery of Tritylodontid teeth in Japan lends evidence for the contemporaneous lives of transitional reptiles and mammals millions of years ago. A recent genetic survey seems to indicate that the modern Y chromosome descends from one man who lived 190,000 years ago. He was himself a descendant of Mitochondrial Eve, the mother of all of us who lived 200,000 years ago.
“And, your point?” you ask.
Regardless of jokes to the contrary, men—and women—are complex organisms whose genetic roots go back to transitional forms that led to the rise of mammals. Regardless of the race or culture with which men identify, they—and women—are here because all those life-forms that were ancient ancestors somehow survived to reproduce over and over and over, not just for the couple hundred thousand years of human existence, but for the millions of years of mammalian existence. Imagine the chance.
Maybe you play the lottery. You have a fantasy that you will win the big money prize when your numbers magically arise from the chaos of numbered, bouncing Ping Pong balls. But winning is very chancy. The Powerball, for example, has an estimated winning chance of one in 175,000,000. Not very good odds for your $2 ticket.
But think of how you have the won the lottery of life. Mammal-like reptiles led to mammals that led to primates that led to humans that led to you. One in one hundred seventy-five million is nothing by comparison. Maybe something like billions of individuals in the forms of different species had to have an unbroken line that led to you. That means getting through the filters of genetic mutations, accidents, diseases, volcanic eruptions, droughts, storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, and impacts from space rocks. There have been uncounted life-forms with even more potentially life-ending circumstances that might have prevented the rise of genetic offspring that includes you; yet, here you are: Lottery of Life Winner.
One of the truisms of winning the lottery is that it brings troubles with dollars. A significant number of lottery winners have lost their winnings, their friends and families, and their short-lived happiness derived from winning a jackpot. Sorry state of affairs, isn’t it? To have won, but to have subsequently lost, to be rich, then broke.
Here’s the point. There’s no denying that you won the lottery, and no avoiding the choices that winning imposes. You can squander your winnings like so many lottery winners, or you can use those winnings prudently, making them last as long as they can and using them for the greatest good. Think of your ancient ancestors, from part reptile/part mammal through four-legged to two-legged bipedal relatives: Many squandered their winnings. Would Mitochondrial Eve and that ancient chromosome-Y Adam be proud of you, their distant offspring, for the way you are handling yours?
The recent discovery of Tritylodontid teeth in Japan lends evidence for the contemporaneous lives of transitional reptiles and mammals millions of years ago. A recent genetic survey seems to indicate that the modern Y chromosome descends from one man who lived 190,000 years ago. He was himself a descendant of Mitochondrial Eve, the mother of all of us who lived 200,000 years ago.
“And, your point?” you ask.
Regardless of jokes to the contrary, men—and women—are complex organisms whose genetic roots go back to transitional forms that led to the rise of mammals. Regardless of the race or culture with which men identify, they—and women—are here because all those life-forms that were ancient ancestors somehow survived to reproduce over and over and over, not just for the couple hundred thousand years of human existence, but for the millions of years of mammalian existence. Imagine the chance.
Maybe you play the lottery. You have a fantasy that you will win the big money prize when your numbers magically arise from the chaos of numbered, bouncing Ping Pong balls. But winning is very chancy. The Powerball, for example, has an estimated winning chance of one in 175,000,000. Not very good odds for your $2 ticket.
But think of how you have the won the lottery of life. Mammal-like reptiles led to mammals that led to primates that led to humans that led to you. One in one hundred seventy-five million is nothing by comparison. Maybe something like billions of individuals in the forms of different species had to have an unbroken line that led to you. That means getting through the filters of genetic mutations, accidents, diseases, volcanic eruptions, droughts, storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, and impacts from space rocks. There have been uncounted life-forms with even more potentially life-ending circumstances that might have prevented the rise of genetic offspring that includes you; yet, here you are: Lottery of Life Winner.
One of the truisms of winning the lottery is that it brings troubles with dollars. A significant number of lottery winners have lost their winnings, their friends and families, and their short-lived happiness derived from winning a jackpot. Sorry state of affairs, isn’t it? To have won, but to have subsequently lost, to be rich, then broke.
Here’s the point. There’s no denying that you won the lottery, and no avoiding the choices that winning imposes. You can squander your winnings like so many lottery winners, or you can use those winnings prudently, making them last as long as they can and using them for the greatest good. Think of your ancient ancestors, from part reptile/part mammal through four-legged to two-legged bipedal relatives: Many squandered their winnings. Would Mitochondrial Eve and that ancient chromosome-Y Adam be proud of you, their distant offspring, for the way you are handling yours?
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