If these were synchronic, then it would be possible
anything that appears spontaneously has its own purpose,
which is not to say that anything we create justifies itself.
What would it mean if we were to say
that a new organism could appear without a purpose?
That it could appear but not survive?
That it must soon develop a purpose?
Possibly purpose is only our rationalization for its function,
good or bad, in the system of which it is a part.
The microscope was the key invention for discovering and describing cells.
The cell is still being discovered. It didn’t stop
with discovery of nuclei,
or the Golgi apparatus, or the flagella, cilia, or pili,
or the ribosomes, mitochondria, centrioles, chloroplasts, peroxisomes, or lysosomes,
or the endoplasmic reticula.
We are still working out how these things work.
The microscope was the key invention for discovering and describing cells. The cell is still being discovered. It didn’t stop with discovery of nuclei, or the Golgi apparatus, or the flagella, cilia, or pili, or the ribosomes, mitochondria, centrioles, chloroplasts, peroxisomes, or lysosomes, or the endoplasmic reticula. We are still working out how these things work.
See also in The book of science:
Readings on wikipedia: