So the question would be: Was it really the Egg that came first?

  • Thread starter Thread starter courtrigrad
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the classic philosophical and biological question of whether the chicken or the egg came first. Participants explore various perspectives, including evolutionary biology, definitions of "chicken" and "egg," and the implications of mutations in the context of species development.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants argue that the hen must come before the egg, as an actual hen is needed to produce a potential hen.
  • Others suggest that the egg came first, positing that the first chicken hatched from an egg laid by a non-chicken ancestor.
  • A few participants emphasize the role of evolution, stating that the first chicken emerged from a mutation in an egg laid by a different species.
  • There is a discussion about the definitions of "egg" and "chicken egg," with some noting that the term "egg" could refer to any egg, not just those laid by chickens.
  • Some participants express humor and light-heartedness in their responses, using jokes to illustrate their points.
  • Several participants highlight the importance of clarifying what is meant by "chicken" and "egg" in the context of the discussion.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus, as multiple competing views remain. Some assert that the chicken came first, while others maintain that the egg must have preceded the chicken. The discussion reflects a variety of interpretations and reasoning without resolution.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention the evolutionary process and the concept of mutations, but there is no agreement on the definitions of key terms or the implications of these concepts on the question at hand.

courtrigrad
Messages
1,236
Reaction score
2
What came first? The Hen or the Egg? What do you think and why?

Thanks :smile:
 
Physics news on Phys.org
The egg's only a potential hen. There must an actual hen before there's a potential hen. :smile:
 
Then what came before the hen?
 
courtrigrad said:
Then what came before the hen?

The hen has always been.
:biggrin:
 
Of course you could say that the hen is a potential egg hehe
 
...which strengthens my belief that I'm really just a damaged brain in a jar in some lab being stimulated by interested scientists.
 
Chicken - you can create a chicken hrough evolution but the egg can only come from a chicken and so the chicken must come first.

Just logic guys!

-NewScientist
 
NewScientist said:
Chicken - you can create a chicken hrough evolution but the egg can only come from a chicken and so the chicken must come first.

Just logic guys!

-NewScientist

The chicken in question didn't just form out of a pile of goo even if is was through evolution. Our final chicken still had to have been hatched at some point.
 
luxv66 said:
The chicken in question didn't just form out of a pile of goo even if is was through evolution. Our final chicken still had to have been hatched at some point.

Well done, that is evolution, we don't jst form out of primordial soup.

What happens is - organisms evolve (adapt due to surroundings) and develop, over time the chicken will be evolved into. this will because the chicken has adapted from another organism through a mutation that has turned out to be beneficial to its chances of survival.

The chicken was therefore the offspring of a non chicken - this is where it came from.

Now this organism (the non-chicken) can follow its evolution back to an organsim before his and so on and so on
 
  • #10
In that case it's pretty obvious that the egg came first. Well, if you take "egg" to really mean the vehicle for birth* and not an actual egg.

This is really just another question of cosmology the further you take it back.

*for lack of a better term
 
Last edited:
  • #11
the term egg was never defined, and actually you follow the tree back and end up at the ultimate beginning - whatever your view on that is.
 
  • #12
Well to avoid turning this into a relgious thread we can agree that an ACTUAL chicken came before an ACTUAL egg. ;)
 
  • #13
luxv66 said:
Well to avoid turning this into a relgious thread we can agree that an ACTUAL chicken came before an ACTUAL egg. ;)

Dinosaurs didn't lay actual eggs?
 
  • #14
luxv66 said:
Well to avoid turning this into a relgious thread we can agree that an ACTUAL chicken came before an ACTUAL egg. ;)

i don't agree an actual Chicken became before a chicken egg as explained above
 
  • #15
selfAdjoint said:
Dinosaurs didn't lay actual eggs?

I meant actual chicken eggs.
 
  • #16
NewScientist said:
i don't agree an actual Chicken became before a chicken egg as explained above

"Chicken - you can create a chicken hrough evolution but the egg can only come from a chicken and so the chicken must come first."


:confused:
 
  • #17
Now that I think about it, the orignal chicken that is the current product of evolution was obviously hatched from an egg. If we're talking about your standard chicken egg (sorry, I'm no chicken expert) that we see today, then the egg it hatched from was the first chciken egg and not the first egg it lays.

I was going to have eggs for breakfast but now I think I'll just have a waffle...
 
  • #18
lets have some good english please!

Clarify!
 
  • #19
If the question is "what came first, the chicken or the chicken egg" then the chicken came first: The first ever chicken much have been hatched from an egg which was not that of a chicken. A chicken egg must originate from a chicken, so the product of whatever predecessed the chicken must have been some other kind of egg.


So there's a chicken and an egg lying in bed. The chicken is looking pissed off, and the egg has a big grin on his face, and is smoking a cigarette. The egg says "so now we know the answer to that question!"
 
  • #20
brewnog said:
If the question is "what came first, the chicken or the chicken egg" then the chicken came first: The first ever chicken much have been hatched from an egg which was not that of a chicken. A chicken egg must originate from a chicken, so the product of whatever predecessed the chicken must have been some other kind of egg.


So there's a chicken and an egg lying in bed. The chicken is looking pissed off, and the egg has a big grin on his face, and is smoking a cigarette. The egg says "so now we know the answer to that question!"
I have to agree with Brewnog. There were eggs before there were chickens. If you specify that you mean a chicken egg then the egg must have been laid by a chicken to be a chicken egg.

And Brewnog you have a dirty mind. :cool:
 
  • #21
What we call a chicken egg came about from a DNA mutation. Therefore the story goes like this:

1) A bird (NOT a chicken) developed an egg which had a DNA mutation.
2) This mutated egg is what we call a chicken egg.
3) Once this chicken egg developed it was laid
4) A chicken hatches from this egg.

The Egg came first.
 
Last edited:
  • #22
I think something had to sit on the egg to hatch it, the hen had to come first.
 
  • #23
There's a chicken (or hen) and an egg in bed. The egg rolls off the chicken (or hen), lights a cigarette, and says "well, I guess we solved that riddle".

:smile: :smile: :smile: I posted it in the jokes section but I couldn't resist posting it here as well.
 
  • #24
"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Sounds like, the chicken did.

"Why?" Because the question didn't say "the egg or the chicken."
 
  • #25
i think egg was first. :confused:
because of the evolution process the first hen was born by something other than hen :redface: ; like, first man was made by a monkey (the most developed monkey :redface: ).
so the the mother of the first hen was not a hen :redface: but gave birth to an egg of a hen (mutation). :redface:
what do u think? :confused:
 
  • #26
dduardo said:
What we call a chicken egg came about from a DNA mutation. Therefore the story goes like this:

1) A bird (NOT a chicken) developed an egg which had a DNA mutation.
2) This mutated egg is what we call a chicken egg.
3) Once this chicken egg developed it was laid
4) A chicken hatches from this egg.

The Egg came first.



hey i didnt see that though. but we had the same thing in mind. :approve:
 
  • #27
dduardo said:
What we call a chicken egg came about from a DNA mutation. Therefore the story goes like this:

1) A bird (NOT a chicken) developed an egg which had a DNA mutation.
2) This mutated egg is what we call a chicken egg.
3) Once this chicken egg developed it was laid
4) A chicken hatches from this egg.

The Egg came first.
It's all about defining what a chicken egg is. What if it was the Male gamete that provided the mutation after the egg was laid.. so it was just a normal bird egg but hatched a "chicken" (which would go on to lay 'chicken eggs' instead of 'bird eggs')
 

Similar threads

How Many Eggs to Turn a 40lb Flywheel in a Vacuum?
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
1K
High School Probability of eating one egg with salmonella
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
3K
Hardboiled Egg Tips for Perfect Deviled Eggs
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
3K
Misc. I want to mechanically detect when an egg-timer runs out - ideas?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Rocket Design: Egg-Safe Landing Plan
  • · Replies 25 ·
Replies
25
Views
3K
How can the force of impact be reduced in an egg toss game?
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
3K
Graduate Thermodynamics - time to cook an egg
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
4K
Where did old videos of rock groups come from?
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
1K
Hen Precedes Egg, Mother Precedes Infant
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
Organisms or Consciousness: Which Came First?
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
3K