CHICKEN OR THE EGG? BUCKNAKEDINBAMA vs Audioslave

[BuckNakedinBama]

Audioslave posits that the egg came first, and has challenged me to prove that the chicken came first.

However, Audioslave has presented a false dichotomy. The chicken evolved over eons, there was no magical first "chicken" or "chicken egg" as we know them today. The evolutionary changes which led to the chicken as we know it today occurred gradually, each generation slightly different than the one before it. Thus, neither the chicken egg nor the chicken came first, so the premise of his argument is invalid.

[Audioslave]

However, wouldn't that indicate that the first chicken that we know of today must have came from an egg? This should tell us that if evolutionary changes led to the chicken as we know it today, then at some point that chicken must have hatched from an egg. That egg may have been hatched from a prior generation in the line of evolution, but nevertheless, the first chicken that we know of today had to, at some point, have hatched from an egg.

[BuckNakedinBama]

However, wouldn't that indicate that the first chicken that we know of today must have came from an egg? This should tell us that if evolutionary changes led to the chicken as we know it today, then at some point that chicken must have hatched from an egg. That egg may have been hatched from a prior generation in the line of evolution, but nevertheless, the first chicken that we know of today had to, at some point, have hatched from an egg.

You are absolutely correct that each individual chicken, including any evolutionary changes from the predecessor generation, came from an egg.

However, each individual egg comes from a chicken, so without the chicken, there can be no evolutionarily changed egg.

This is fact.

[Audioslave]

You are absolutely correct that each individual chicken, including any evolutionary changes from the predecessor generation, came from an egg.

However, each individual egg comes from a chicken, so without the chicken, there can be no evolutionarily changed egg.

This is fact.

And you are absolutely correct that each individual egg comes from a chicken. However, the progenitor of the new species of chicken as we know it today must have been an egg. Therefore, regardless of its ancestors, the first chicken that we know of today must have hatched from an egg.

[BuckNakedinBama]

And you are absolutely correct that each individual egg comes from a chicken. However, the progenitor of the new species of chicken as we know it today must have been an egg. Therefore, regardless of its ancestors, the first chicken that we know of today must have hatched from an egg.

This all depends on when the mutations in the DNA occur. If the mutations occur over the course of a chicken's life (from UV rays, foods, etc) and are combined with genes from another chicken to create a fertilized egg, the chicken(s) get credit for the slightly mutated DNA. However, if the mutations or new variants don't occur until the genes combine to form a fertilized egg, or during the cell splitting process. We simply can't know.