In case most of you have not figured out, I am proudly a member of the political Right. Nevertheless, I also understand Evolution enough to be able to teach it to just about anyone. In fact, I can even answer difficult evolutionary questions in ways that make skeptics understand it more clearly. While many of you may think that whether or not a Presidential Candidate understands evolution is irrelevant, allow me to explain why some people find it very important.

Evolution is the foundation for the entire field of biology. Anyone who works for disease control must understand how it works. Moreover, understanding natural selection, the mechanism that drives evolution is used by computer engineers to design robots. Consequently, when someone claims that they do not believe in evolution because of ignorance, it makes many people question a candidate’s way of thinking.

One of the common statements made by people who do not understand evolution is that they claim that natural selection and evolution are random and consequently impossible to explain life as it exists. Well, the mechanism that drives evolution is in fact not random at all. All that is needed is the formation of a self-replicating molecule. The creation of a self-replicating molecule arguably may have at one time been random, but after that point, random occurrences are not needed. I will explain to you in this short post that once a self-replicating molecule is created, after billions of years, it is very easy to understand how humans evolved. Here is how.

Imagine a zipper in your hand before it was attached to a jacket. When you open the zipper all the way open, you have two “half zippers” separated from one another. Then imagine if each tiny tooth of the zipper represented an individual molecule that was unique. Now pretend that each tooth of each zipper actually had sort of a light “magnetic” force which could bond with other molecules that had opposite charges. You with me? Great!

Now picture thousands of little teeth on the ground. Take one “half zipper” in your hand and drag it across the ground where all the teeth are lying. Now pretend that the “magnetic” forces are picking up those teeth and bonding it to the “half zipper” in your hand. Pick up enough teeth so that you have actually created your original full zipper.

All the little teeth that you picked up should line up with the “half zipper” and attach tightly. But, keep in mind while you are doing this that all the teeth are unique molecules. These unique molecules also attach to the teeth that are above and below it on the same “half zipper.” Great, you did it.

Now repeat this in your head. 1) Open the new zipper you created; 2) Drag the Zipper on the ground; 3) Pick up all those little teeth like a magnet; 4) Recreate the new zipper; and 5) repeat.

You probably realize that you would have tons of identical full zippers in a short time. The molecules would not be thinking about what they are doing; they just would be doing it. All you would need are enough molecules lying around on the ground to continue the process.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just envisioned in your mind the precursor to DNA. DNA is a self-replicating molecule that is responsible for the variety of life on Earth. The teeth, are analogous to molecules that scientists have been able to create in a lab with bolts of electricity and gases. Hmmm. Now, let us go back to our zipper example.

Imagine what would happen if after thousands of years of the zipper opening, copying itself, and repeating the process, it made a mistake. The mistake would be like a copying machine when the ink gets dry. Or, say for example, one of the teeth on the zipper breaks. Eventually, when the zipper opened up, it would attach to a totally different combination of molecules on the ground thereby creating a new full zipper never seen before! When that new zipper repeated the process there would be totally new zippers created.

Simply by the fact that the zippers would be copying themselves so often, there would be millions of mistakes made, and consequently millions of varieties of zippers. There would be zippers that would be more likely to open and copy themselves, which would greatly increase its numbers. There would be zippers that would be able to pick off molecules from other zippers and attach it to itself. Over millions of years, we would get millions of different kinds of zippers with different types of “strategies” for copying molecules. The molecules would not plan on doing any of this, it would just be the type of “magnetic” charges that each molecule had, or the type of molecule used.

Eventually, there would be molecules that would weed out other molecules depending on the environment. For example, some molecules would have such strong bonds that they would never copy, thereby removing itself from existence. Others, however, would create the perfect bonds whereby they could open and close with precision, and would make fewer mistakes. Over millions of years, molecules that looked very much like DNA would be formed, because of its adaptive strategy.

Eventually, after millions of years, some zippers would use molecules to barrier itself from other molecules. Whichever, zipper did it first would guarantee its survival. Those barriers would be the precursor for the first cells and would evolve in similar ways to which I evolved my zipper. Add a billion years, with very gradual changes, and you reach more complex groups of cells and tissues and organisms. It is like an arms race to the top, but not because the molecules are trying to do this; it is because of the self-replicating molecule that continuously received better and better protection depending on its changing environment.

With all this being said. I leave you with some fascinating news. Scientists have just created synthetic DNA that is on the brink of creating new life forms. This is why Understanding Evolution matters.