Evolution: ordered or random, both?

[zork]

Are the empirical observations collected over the years of actual instances of Evolution complete enough yet for us to see if they are typically occurring at random or in some type of pattern or order or possibly both?(random some times and orderly, reproducable at times)

Is this type of question important? If the question is expecting too much of the scientific Theory of Evolution, could we, who don't have as much time as perhaps others, have examples of the exciting breakthrough finds of the vast numbers of empiracally observed examples of the TOE?

I didn't want to sidetrack the other existing thread started by Perham on TOE but it got me thinking about it enough to start this one.

 

[A. BETTIK]

In terms of order and disorder: Evolution describes the process by which concentrated pockets of order become better engines at producing disorder. That is, speeding up or catalyzing entropy is what Life is all about.

Given Humanity's propensity for marshalling energy to do what we want, it would seem like a good idea to move Humanity off planet so we can get on with using even more energy without overly depressing the biosphere of Earth. A process I am sure which would take thousands of years but which could never start too soon (cough Constellation cough).

But, how you would detect individual mutation instances and accurately assign correlation to the world economy ( a measure of Evolution) seems a bit like trying to predict the weather 80 years in advance. You can observe the Hurricane, but can you identify the actual Butter Fly that caused it? And which flapping oscillation was it exactly?

 

[OldHippie]

Perhaps a combination of random and ordered. Evidence suggests that language appeared in human beings some 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. For that to happen, not only did there need to be a change in brain structure of the left hemisphere but there were changes in the mechanisms and structure of the throat to produce articulate speech. Perhaps a change of one type directly affects the usefulness, need and direction of the second type of change.