> I have a possible hypothesis for CP evolution. Suppose, as some noted
> scientists do, that humankind has reached a high level of civilization many
> times only to be destroyed by nuclear war.
I can't tell if you're serious about this, but if you are, can
you name some of these noted scientists? I have never heard this
theory and, since there is no evidence of any earlier
technologically advanced civilization on this planet, it's seems
totally implausible.
>Suppose then, that the earth was
> devastated each time. Plants, with the help of radiation, would be forced
> to adapt to a barren, destroyed world with poor levels of nitrogen, and thus
> have to trap insects for food. With the help of radiation, causing
> unnatural gene mutation, many different plants could have rapidly evolved
> into CPs. Even if no nuclear wars took place, astronmical phenomena could
> have irradiated the world with irridium, wiping out the dinosaurs, and
> causing extensive plant mutation.
You don't need nuclear war, or hi levels of any other radiation
to cause mutation. There are plenty of mutations that occur spontaneously
due to errors in DNA replication (the process of making a new copy of
DNAs in a cell prior to the cell's division), and naturally occurring
mutagens like chemical mutagens, and natural radiation. Also, the current
best guess as to what happened to the dinosaurs is that large quantities
of dust were dischard into the atmosphere by comet/meteor impact, which
caused a global change in climate. Radiation almost certainly had nothing
to do with dinosaur extinction.
> After Hiroshima, many local plants came back as bizarre mutations. This
> would explain VFTs and their cousins. If you look at VFTs, they remind you
> a lot of dandelions. Is it possible that VFTs actually evolved from a
> dandelion type of plant cousin?
There was also a theory that VFT's arrived on a meteor from
another planet.
Wayne Forrester