• OldWoodFrame@lemm.eeEnglish
    35·
    6 months ago

    I don’t like this because it’s not addressing the actual saying. Obviously the saying is about chicken eggs specifically.

    But I’ve always felt obviously the egg came first. The first chicken was born in an egg, so the egg came first. That egg could have been produced from a creature with a mutation which caused it to produce the first chicken egg when it is not itself the exact same species.

    • srecko@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      6 months ago

      It’s somehiw obvious now, but the question appeared 25 centuries ago when it wasn’t even remotely clear what was the answer.

    • milicent_bystandr@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      6 months ago

      Ah, but when that line of tiny change is so arbitrary… Is it a true chicken until it grows up and fulfils its destiny? Is it a chicken based purely on its genetic code, so the egg whence it hatched is a chicken egg; or is it truly a chicken when it becomes a chicken… meh, I write this far and find I still agree with you: even in that case the egg it hatched from becomes a chicken egg by virtue of the chicken it grew into.

      • bob_lemon@feddit.deEnglish
        12·
        6 months ago

        In other words, the question becomes: “Is an egg defined by the creature that laid it, or the creature that will hatch from it?”

        • milicent_bystandr@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          Hatch or grow. Because once you’re asking those questions, is the first chick truly the first chicken?

          “Is a juvenile defined by what it currently is or what it will/might become?” And, “is chicken-ness an innate quality of the animal, or in relation to the animal fulfilling/presenting (or being able to fulfil) some chicken-ness?”

    • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      I believe this is correct as I read in a book somewhere that it was a kind of proto-chicken if you will, that laid an egg of which came a the first chicken.

      The more interesting question is how long did it take for the first BBQ Chicken.

    • Holzkohlen@feddit.deEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      But I think it’s not about chicken at all. People just don’t know which creature on earth laid the first egg, so the chicken is just a stand-in. As chicken are the species we most associate with eggs for obvious reasons. What came first: the first egg or the first egg-laying creature? Has to be the egg-laying creature, but then how did that get born?

  • rockSlayer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    6 months ago

    Over time, a population of proto-chickens lay eggs with unique genetic variations that randomly direct the population towards laying eggs that result in modern chickens. The egg comes first, and it’s a whole bunch of them

  • madcaesar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    6 months ago

    I know this is a science meme community but the amount of factually inaccurate comments is concerning.

    • Wilzax@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      6 months ago

      No, turtles and crocodiles share an older closest common ancestor than lizards and crocodiles.

  • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    6 months ago

    Forget the chicken. What came first, the tardigrade, or the egg? Well, in this case, I think the tardigrade would have to exist first.

    • kofe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      6 months ago

      Well some of us are not only ignorant but had our critical thinking skills to varying levels stunted by shitty education. To me the answer didn’t necessarily matter as long as people agree both exist, but I’m glad to now have an answer grounded in science rather than relying on philosophical musing

      • EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        but had our critical thinking skills to varying levels stunted by shitty education.

        I’ve also noticed that everyone I went to school with who got good grades is a dunce. But everyone who got shitty grades with me was much easier to talk to.

        I never have to explain in verbose detail what I mean by every fragment of a sentence to someone who got shitty grades in school. I had a principal at one school I went to who was an idiot.

        Every time another group of students stole my hat and there was a coordinated effort to keep it away from me, I had no choice but to go to the principal, because the teachers wouldn’t help me either.

        Every single time this happened, the principal, with zero self awareness would say “what do you mean ____ stole your hat? did you give it to him?” Then I had to explain in vivid detail each thing that happened for 15 minutes, like I was programming a robot-arm in a factory to this idiot with no ability to listen and think.

        George Carlin used to rant about how schools teach kids to just barely be smart enough to pull levers and push buttons, but never to critically think about things or to solve problems they don’t have a pre-planned solution for. and that’s why I hated going to school, as high functioning autistic man, when I was in school, they always wanted me to fit into a cookie-cutter path they set for me, but I never went along with it.

        This one boomer I know refuses to ever use anything except for the official tool you’re supposed to use for each thing. So I ask him, “well if this other pair of plyers does the job, why can’t I just use this one if I can make it work.?” “IT’S NOT MEANT FOR THAT!” with no good reason for not wanting me to help him by using that other pair of plyers that I can make work.

        I quit high school about half way through my 10th grade year one day when literally everyone in the school yelled at me when I tried to talk about literally anything. I just got my stuff out of my locker and walked home.