How would an apple tree know?

"all the living things try to survive and reproduce"

Not really "try". It's just that organisms that do not survive, or reproduce, do not survive or reproduce.

That's where the flaw is, basically.

It doesn't.

Didn't you learn ANYthing in high school biology?

There are variations between different plants of the same species -- even variations among the seeds they produce.

Some ended up with seeds with a slightly thicker outer coating.

Those seeds had a slightly better chance of surviving being eaten or dehydration, and pass that trait on to its offspring.

Repeat the process a few hundred thousand generations, and you'd be amazed by the degree to which species can change.

It'd be like if you took a bowl of tangerines and grapefruits, and started shaking them. In very short order, you'd see the tangerines would be on the bottom and the grapefruits on the top. But it's not because the tangerines "wanted" to be on the bottom. The closed system (the bowl of fruit) will tend to settle into a more stable form; and the small fruit on the bottom can move less and thus form a more stable arrangement than being mixed willy-nilly.

Never underestimate the power of random forces to create the illusion of design...

Trees which had seeds without this protection died off because not enough of their seeds lasted to produce new trees. Only those trees with this defense mechanism were able to create new generations.

Are you aware that you're only able to be eating that particular type of apple due to the efforts of human intervention? If left to nature, there is no way to know what kind of apple will grow from a particular seed.

It doesn't know. The trees that couldn't reproduce got weeded out a long time ago. Those that could reproduce survived. Those that could do so better than the rest thrived.

It's really not that hard a concept.

Wow!! thats pretty hard when u think about it!!! I think someone found a seed somewhere, planted it then came the apple tree then the apple and a seed again!! but it could be the apple first!!! Either the Apple or Apple Seed!!

Same way a car engine just knows that if you vaporize gasoline, compress it, then add an electrical spark to it...the engine should run through a process known as internal combustion...

Sorry but...here's the thing...since many of us believe (in varying degrees) that a supreme being (God) created everything we know and see a very very long time (eons) ago...anything that He created is now an automated process that cannot be controlled once it is activated...you cannot utilize any analogy to try and make sense to those who choose to only see what they want to see...

The apple trees that didn't have that feature of their seeds never saw those seeds grow into trees.

Successful adaptation survive in evolution. Unsuccessful ones don't. simple. Trees don't have the capacity to "know" anything.

because if it didnt, it wouldnt reproduce itself, and thus would cease to exist.

granted im not saying the apple tree "knows" it. as i dont believe plants can "know" things.

but what your asking is kind of redundant. if it didnt have an efficient way of multiplying, it may cease to exist. if it ceased to exist, you would not know thus have no question about it....

what a curious question ... why do we have this urgent need and desire to procreate into a word little particles of our self to endure helplessness and hardship and to ultimately die..

All answers to our questions lie within us.. we know ...simply require the courage to face our innermost secrets ..

Such Is Life ...