45er got me thinking about shark biology.
Many people will describe sharks (and many other species currently extant) as “Primitive”. This isn’t exactly untrue as the shark design has been going through only minor changes over the last million years, but given that during the Cambrian period all life was single-cell, technically all life currently around today (even single-cell protists) are equally advanced because they have gone through the same selection processes that shaped the so-called “Higher Lifeforms”, and the true primitive species simply aren’t around today because they went extinct.
Thinking about sharks got me thinking about 1911s. Its an old design originating from a time when guns were remarkably different. Back then only revolvers were double-action, and people didn’t trust safeties so they loaded their guns with superfluous safety features. Magazines were single-stack, and ammunition was low-pressure and subsonic.
A lot different than say a GLOCK 31 with a polymer frame, no manual safety, and a 15 round magazine of .357 SIG!
Still:
I picked that Sevengill video not only because its an awesome video, but the Sevengill has even more “Primitive” features to its biological design than say a Great White or a Hammerhead.
Still even a 10ft “Primitive” shark, or a “Primitive” 1911, are you really going to argue with them?
They’re primitive, but they’re also still around. They’re still around because they’re designs that still work very well, even in a world that has since moved on to different designs.
Any post that includes both 1911s and the Cambrian Period is filled with win.
Glad you enjoyed. I won’t lie and say it wasn’t fun to write! 8)
Glad I spurred a classy thought on Chondrichthyes (see what I did there?). I think you nailed it in the last paragraph. I don’t know that I would call an extant species “primitive”, myself. I would say they reached a pinnacle in design a while back and now all they have to do is tweak the design. Same applies to the 1911. The design was a pinnacle. Now most of what you see is tweaking, not re-designing.
Yep. The Gun I’m carrying right now has modern Heat-treatment, Metal Injection Molded small parts (which I have had zero failures on in my entire S&W stable) an external extractor (which is how JMB designed them in then first place, I might add!), a Scandium frame, and some various other tweaks like good sights, slim grips, and other minor tweaks.
Its probably about 95% the same as the M1911 rolling around in the trenches of the Philippines at the beginning of the 20th century, but it is different and improved IMHO.