Contingent evolution (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, June 30, 2014, 13:02 (3581 days ago) @ David Turell

Dhw (to Tony): However, before I recap, please bear in mind that we're not discussing origins here. Our subject is whether evolution happened, and if so, how it works, what is the role of chance and whether it has a purpose. -Dhw: The first forms of life were endowed with mechanisms that enabled them not only to reproduce but also to adapt and innovate, in accordance with the needs and/or opportunities presented by a changing environment.-DAVID: Those first forms were a giant step, resembling a miracle. First point for God.-Go to the bottom of the class for ignoring instructions. We are discussing evolution, not origins. But since you insist, an eternal consciousness without any source doesn't resemble a miracle, it IS a miracle, and some people don't believe in miracles. First equal point for atheists.-Dhw: Genetic modification was not random. It was engineered by the cell communities themselves ... and once a new combination proved to be successful, it was perpetuated. Scientific research suggests that cellular communities interact, communicate, take decisions, process information etc., and this hypothesis would account for the higgledy-piggledy development of the evolutionary bush, the sudden appearance of new organs and species (innovations must work if they are to survive) and the phenomenon of convergence (separate cell communities finding similar solutions to environmental problems). Theists can argue that the complexity of such mechanisms demands design; atheists can carry on placing their faith in a chance origin. It seems to me that this hypothesis is at least as credible as those you have offered.-DAVID: Except is does not do away with the issue of 'chance'. And you have admitted that chance is a major problem. Point two for God.-If you are once again referring to origins, see above. Equal point two for atheists.-Dhw (to Tony): "Pre-planning" and "complete knowledge" imply a creative intelligence with an overall view. I'm not discounting that, but am proposing an alternative, which is billions of "intelligences" cooperating from within, because balance is essential to their survival. All of life is made of single units combining, and that is the essence of my panpsychist hypothesis: no pre-planning, no complete knowledge, but a system that evolved through cooperation and natural selection, in the sense that whatever did not work perished, and only what did work survived. Even David now concedes the possibility of his God experimenting. This hypothesis offers the possibility of billions of organisms experimenting. [...] However, sooner or later, this hypothesis like all others, including that of a God, comes up against the brick wall of how such "intelligence(s)" originated. -DAVID: You have now described the preponderance of evidence that strongly suggests God exists. Brick wall indeed.-I have described how evolution might have proceeded without any intervention by your God. I have left open the question of origins, as that is not the subject of this thread. But since you insist, what I have described contains no evidence for or against the existence of God. Stay at the bottom of the class.