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We received the following email from Dr. R:

Perhaps if you are to write about evolution and use it as an argument as to the meaning of life your authors really ought to read a little about evolution and learn to understand what it actually is. Not how it is often portrayed in the media and ill educated sites like yours.

Firstly and critically evolution is not about improving things - making people/animals smarter, stronger or faster. Each generation is not better, a successive generation may even be less adapted and 'evolved' to their environment that a previous generation!.

Evolution success = reproductive success.

This does not necessarily = the strongest/ most intelligent.

e.g Intelligent flies have less offspring. It is advantageous for them to be less bright - to act on instinct.

Secondly, even if every single human being has children we are still evolving. This is because different people have different numbers of children and at different rates. It is not just about having children or not having children. It is about overall reproductive success..

If you wish to use a scientific argument for the pointlessness of life - perhaps you could mention that our sun is eventually going to swallow the earth and destroy our planet. -

Dr. R

Our reply: What Is The Definition of Evolution?