Jun. 27, 2008 - Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny--or what really happens to your cruddy old electronics.
Most of you are familiar with the ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny argument from high school biology. The thought goes that as a human embryo develops, it passes through all the evolutionary stages in order. Nevermind that this has been a discredited theory since the early 1900s; you were still taught it. And never mind that despite it being discredited, evolutionists are asking us to believe it in a new and improved (?) version today.
I see one area of life where ontogeny really does recapitulate phylogeny.
My children are at maybe the "fish" stage of phylogeny in their electronic gadgetry.
Ever wonder what happens to those cruddy old electronic toys you discard?
My kids buy them. With their own money, they know better than to ask mom {aka the Lawgiver} for this category of crap. And they LOVE them.
While they may be only guppies electronically speaking, they are peak predators in maximizing their purchasing power. B, age 6, had no qualms going up to the nice man at the garage sale, smiling sweetly and saying he really liked the $5 Gameboy Color (circa 1993?) but he'd prefer not just the game it came with but the $2 game next to it thrown in for free. Of course, he got it.
J agonized at the Goodwill over whether to invest $3 in an original (1989) Gameboy with accompanying Tetrus game. It might be a $3 paperweight as there was no way to test whether it still worked. Ingeniously, he reduced his risk by having N put up $1.50 in return for half ownership of the toy. Later, when J tried to buy out N's half (after discovering the toy did work), I had to put a stop to his selfish gene.
The original playstation entered our house in similar fashion.
Our home is about to be rocked by what those of the evolutionary persuasion will attribute to punctuated equilibrium. A Wii may mysteriously appear on Christmas...thus skipping several links in the electronic evolutionary chain. But missing transitional forms are a vexing problem in all evolution, aren't they?
No Gouldian hopeful monster (Santa Claus) but the Designer himself (Dad) is in the Wii market. And proving his omniscience and wisdom, I wouldn't be surprised if a Wii Fit also made it's way under the tree. Dad, you might remember, is a consummate salesman and knows all the audiences in the house--including his wife--quite well.
Blessings, Holly
Comments
Jun. 27, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Arby
I once had a real bad case of ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, but my doctor cured it with a BIG shot of penicillin!
Jul. 4, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by dcellis
WOW! You used a lot of big words today! I'm glad I can understand what you're talking about due to the context of the blog. LOL! That was very interesting.
