Has anyone figured to stop a discussion by reciting, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” It is supposed to be one of those great unanswerable questions. Actually it is easy to answer.
The only way it works as a discussion stopper is if it is asked in the way of a strict Yes/No question such as, “Have you stopped beating your wife, yes or no? Just give me an answer!”
You solve it by a little knowledge and logic. If you say the egg came first people will ask you where the egg came from. If you say the chicken came first then they ask the same basic question but make the chicken the subject. Actually it could not be the chicken or the egg that came first.
The first part is simple. You know that chickens come from eggs. Thus you can have no chickens without the third requirement that I will mention in a moment.
A little birds and bees discussion for you. In order for a chicken to come from an egg, the egg must be fertilized. A fertilized egg has three requirements. The ones you recognize easily are a hen to lay the egg and a rooster to do his job. Without the rooster the hen can lay an egg but it will only produce omelets, not chicks. So the question is ridiculous as well as ignorant. It should be “Which came first the chickens or the eggs.” The third requirement? More on that later.
What if you feel the eggs somehow appeared fertilized and had to come first? Again a few lessons in life. Chicken eggs, even if fertilized, do not hatch unless they are kept at a certain temperature for a certain length of time. That requires a sitting hen. So it is obvious the egg could not come first, except for the third requirement mentioned above.
What is the third requirement? I hope you will forgive me for a little bit of foul language (I could not resist that) or cussing, if that works better for you. I find it necessary to use the “G” word. Either way you slice it, the one who came first required the third element of divine intervention. If it was the egg, God had to miraculously keep it warm until it hatched. Actually He would have had to keep at least two warm for the same reason the question was wrong. If it was the chicken He had to make two compatible animals that could reproduce, do it at the same time, and do it at the same location.
So the answer is that God only knows, after all, He is the one who made it happen. Nothing else works unless you believe that unicorns really fart rainbows.
homo unius libri
You mean they DON'T?
ReplyDeleteOkay, Gorges. Sit down. Take a deep breath. You might want someone to hold your hand.
ReplyDeleteOn second thought, I was just kidding. Yes, they do. Every, single one of them on earth does.
Feel better now.
Grace and peace.