You seem to be asking questions in good faith - i.e., you don't seem to be attempting to "bait" anyone here - so permit me to take a crack at answering!
(Full Disclosure: Am not a biologist, but I know the difference between a man and a woman. Ha-ha!)
Don't fixate on "evolutionary benefit."
Evolution is not perfect, nor can it react instantaneously. Makeshift "fixes," poor fits, bad "legacy code," improvisations, "junk" DNA, etc. are the rule.
An imperfect analogy (since automobile design is, of course, intentional - i.e., "guided" by behind-the-scene actors with agendas all their own, and not the strict result solely of mechanical and aerodynamic factors; however, there are similarities), but consider for a moment the diversity of car makes; are they really justified by geographical or other different factors impacting the basic "job" that cars have to perform?
Also: If you walk into a parking lot, and spot one VW Beetle with a different color fender, and maybe a funny bumper sticker, and a pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror - If you were an other-worldly observer visiting our planet for the first time, you might wonder why those diff. features "came about." (Given the assumption that the only / basic goal is to get from point "A" to "B.") You might notice that the tread on the left rear tire is (worn) different from that of the other tires. "What possible benefit could that have?" you might wonder. You notice that the titanium concentration in the rear bumper is 113 ppm, but only 95 ppm in the front bumper: "Why go to all that extra effort to have diff. concentrations?" And that bird poop on the windshield! "What purpose does that serve?"
The above is not meant to be a "slam-dunk" answer or explanation; I'm not making any falsifiable claims, just trying to prompt you to think about it.
Again what’s the evolutionary benefit to the chicken to lay a consumable egg, nearly one a day, to the chicken?
Seriously?! Chickens in the wild don't do that! Like asking how bananas could possibly evolve to fit the human hand so perfectly! (Hint: They didn't.)
Lastly and not my thought but someone else’s that made me think, say the lightning strike on the ooze created the first life, did it also create the food source to feed this life
Now I'm not so sure you aren't trying to bait and/or "pwn" us! The first organisms were undoubtedly heterotrophic - e.g., deriving their metabolic energy from the chemical reduction of, say, iron compounds.
Regards,
“ Am not a biologist…”
That’s obvious.
“, but I know the difference between a man and a woman. Ha-ha!)”
That’s a good one.
“ Like asking how bananas could possibly evolve to fit the human hand so perfectly! ”
Interesting that the books that are the subject of this post are apparently arguing for this point of view as useful and valid.
Good answers, not really getting your auto analogy but appreciate it
As to chickens, forgive my ignorance, but as I understand it chickens have been doing this egg a day thing for along time, before there was engineering to make this happen.
Like orange trees, never (not that there are not), have I seen great flicks of wild chickens lol
The reason I bring up advantage, is that is a prime part of Darwin’s theory. There is a benefit or advantage to the mutation that promotes this over something it was…
Not a biologist, just an observer