Nuggets from Cosmos, Creator, and Human Destiny

Marden is spinning a yarn. His scenario raises huge questions. How would these aquatic insects even get the impulse to “experiment” with flying? Wouldn’t that take wings? In fact, these are larvae hatching. They already have wings, and built into them is the instinct to fly. How long would the fish allow these “aerodynamic experiments” without eating all of these tempting morsels—unless the fish at that time had already developed “altruistic genes”?

Dawkins continues the tale: “The ease with which small animals float suggests that we have only to assume that flying evolved originally in small animals and the flying peak of Mount Improbable immediately looks less formidable. . . . Kingsolver and Koehl . . . worked on the theory that the first insect wings were pre-adapted. . . .” [Italicized words show the speculative nature of Dawkins’s theorizing.]