Review of Spetner's book (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, November 19, 2014, 17:44 (3444 days ago) @ David Turell
edited by dhw, Wednesday, November 19, 2014, 18:08

DAVID: Dr. Lee Spetner's new book, The Evolution Revolution, is a follow-up to his previous, Not a Chance, 1997 both of which do not accept Common Descent. -Thank you for reviewing and summarising this book. There are a few things that are not clear to me: 
DAVID: The Talmud quotes refer to 365 original types of organism which adapted into the current bush of life...-By “original”, does he mean these types were all created at the beginning, or does he think they came into existence over billions of years? Does he count humans as “original types” or “adaptations”? Does he share your conviction that God's aim in creating life was to create humans?-DAVID: He thinks all the information needed to adapt is contained in DNA from the beginning... -You believe that the IM is capable only of minor adaptations, which have been observed even in our own times. The mystery is innovations. Does he/do you think every innovation was contained in DNA from the beginning, or does he/do you believe God created each one individually?
 
DAVID: Spetner obviously believes there is an inventive mechanism built into DNA probably from the very beginning. And describes his NREH as such.-An inventive (and not merely adaptive) mechanism present from the very beginning sounds precisely like my idea of a Non Random Evolutionary Hypothesis! 
 
DAVID: Of interest to me was his opinion about a balance in nature being absolutely necessary. -I think the balance argument is as tautological as natural selection (whatever is able to survive will survive): i.e. the survival of every organism depends on Nature being balanced in such a way that the organism can survive. This leads to a vast chain of interdependent factors, which you can call balance if you like, but as the factors change, the balance changes. If all the deer in the forest were struck down by a disease, either the wolves would have to find different food or they would also die out. The balance of Nature has constantly shifted throughout the history of life, and if you think Chicxulub was a natural, unplanned catastrophe, I really don't see how you can imagine that God has planned Nature's balance specially for the sake of humans.