“A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.”
Samuel Butler
I thought it would be apt to begin my first post with the ultimate question of the universe. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?
Believe it or not, I have spent time pondering over this question with friends and I have come to the conclusion that atheists and the rest of us will never come to a mutual agreement. Even so, for those who believe in the existence of God or gods or Goddesses, the fact remains that we cannot ascertain that God created any of the two first or if He (I will just use the masculine noun for convenience sake) created both at the same time.
I find it interesting, and I am probably treading the thin line of blaspheme here, that people of religion vehemently object to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The mere fact that we can think, articulate and possess superior mental faculties, as compared to the chicken, tells me that there is no reason why we should not investigate the mysteries of the universe instead of using the same old clichéd answer, God made the world as such. He made the chickens and He made the eggs and ultimately chicken tastes best with Colonel Sander’s “secret recipe” of 11 herbs and spices.
However assuming that I was to approach this question scientifically, I would agree with Samuel Butler. The egg definitely came first. Nonetheless, I would not expect you to take my word for it, so I will try to briefly explain part of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural evolution.
In any reproducing species of animal, there are no two identical individuals. When animals mate, the resulting offspring’s genome is a combination of its parents’ DNA. Half of its genome would be maternal and the other half paternal. However, the inheritance of genes is not that simple. Along the way, DNA gets rearranged and mutated before fusing to form the complete set of genetic material. These mutations give rise to different physical characteristics. The variations allow some animals of the same species to thrive in a given environment while others are less likely to survive. Individuals who survive live long enough to transfer their genes to the next generation. Over extremely long periods of time, new species are created.
Besides natural evolution, other factors can give rise to the creation of new species. For instance, consider a group of animals which migrated to greener pastures, and ceased interaction with the members of their own species that stayed behind. Both groups would lose the ability to reproduce amongst each other. At this juncture, a new species has evolved. The underlying principle though, for both cases, is that evolution takes a great deal of time. Nobody said the egg was built in a day.
In fact it is believed that it took 310 million years to build the egg. Recently, scientists have unmapped the complete genome sequence of the chicken and have proved that the humble chicken is a descendent of the fearsome dinosaurs. The chicken is a comparatively new species and it has been proven that the chicken is an evolution of the red jungle fowl. Interestingly enough, through human intervention, the first chicken egg was created.
Of course, at this juncture, many people (especially those who believe in God) would vehemently disagree. But think of it this way, just because God did not snap his fingers and made chickens appear does not necessarily mean He did not create them. Man, driven by profit and self-gain, tried to domesticate the jungle fowl and eventually, through artificial selection, choosing the fowls that were fatter and unable to fly properly, created the chicken. After years of artificial selection, two fowls got together and created the first chicken egg.
In conclusion, the egg has the distinction of appearing before the chicken, but the fact remains; Kentucky Fried Eggs would not have lasted half as long as its chicken counterpart.
Samuel Butler
I thought it would be apt to begin my first post with the ultimate question of the universe. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?
Believe it or not, I have spent time pondering over this question with friends and I have come to the conclusion that atheists and the rest of us will never come to a mutual agreement. Even so, for those who believe in the existence of God or gods or Goddesses, the fact remains that we cannot ascertain that God created any of the two first or if He (I will just use the masculine noun for convenience sake) created both at the same time.
I find it interesting, and I am probably treading the thin line of blaspheme here, that people of religion vehemently object to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The mere fact that we can think, articulate and possess superior mental faculties, as compared to the chicken, tells me that there is no reason why we should not investigate the mysteries of the universe instead of using the same old clichéd answer, God made the world as such. He made the chickens and He made the eggs and ultimately chicken tastes best with Colonel Sander’s “secret recipe” of 11 herbs and spices.
However assuming that I was to approach this question scientifically, I would agree with Samuel Butler. The egg definitely came first. Nonetheless, I would not expect you to take my word for it, so I will try to briefly explain part of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural evolution.
In any reproducing species of animal, there are no two identical individuals. When animals mate, the resulting offspring’s genome is a combination of its parents’ DNA. Half of its genome would be maternal and the other half paternal. However, the inheritance of genes is not that simple. Along the way, DNA gets rearranged and mutated before fusing to form the complete set of genetic material. These mutations give rise to different physical characteristics. The variations allow some animals of the same species to thrive in a given environment while others are less likely to survive. Individuals who survive live long enough to transfer their genes to the next generation. Over extremely long periods of time, new species are created.
Besides natural evolution, other factors can give rise to the creation of new species. For instance, consider a group of animals which migrated to greener pastures, and ceased interaction with the members of their own species that stayed behind. Both groups would lose the ability to reproduce amongst each other. At this juncture, a new species has evolved. The underlying principle though, for both cases, is that evolution takes a great deal of time. Nobody said the egg was built in a day.
In fact it is believed that it took 310 million years to build the egg. Recently, scientists have unmapped the complete genome sequence of the chicken and have proved that the humble chicken is a descendent of the fearsome dinosaurs. The chicken is a comparatively new species and it has been proven that the chicken is an evolution of the red jungle fowl. Interestingly enough, through human intervention, the first chicken egg was created.
Of course, at this juncture, many people (especially those who believe in God) would vehemently disagree. But think of it this way, just because God did not snap his fingers and made chickens appear does not necessarily mean He did not create them. Man, driven by profit and self-gain, tried to domesticate the jungle fowl and eventually, through artificial selection, choosing the fowls that were fatter and unable to fly properly, created the chicken. After years of artificial selection, two fowls got together and created the first chicken egg.
In conclusion, the egg has the distinction of appearing before the chicken, but the fact remains; Kentucky Fried Eggs would not have lasted half as long as its chicken counterpart.
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