Would evolution happen the same exact way if Earth restarted?
If Earth instantaneously reverted back to when the only organisms were small microscopic creatures in the sea, would evolution happen the same exact way creating the same animals and species? Was chance a factor in the world as it is today? How drastic could that change be?
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1 answer
It depends on what you mean by "reset".
If you can somehow reset it perfectly so that all elementary particles are exactly the same as they were at some point in the past, and all input (cosmic radiation) happens exactly the same again, and so on and so forth, then you have a chance of having thing work out exactly the same again.
But if anything is different then Chaos will take over and who knows what you'll get.
Not to get crude (or personal), but if a different one of the thousands of sperm had made it to the egg first, you wouldn't exist. If you go back before someones birth and change even the smallest thing, the chance of them being born is vanishingly small. Some baby might be born, and might even get the same name, but it wouldn't be the same person.
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