More Denton: Reply to David (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, August 04, 2015, 17:38 (3190 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: the whole point of the inventive mechanism is that intelligent beings (from bacteria to humans) target their activities. They are not preprogrammed or directed, but do their own thing - and that is the cause of evolution's diversity. This may appear scattershot to you, because the diversity clearly contradicts your reiterated belief that humans were the goal. It is also an explanation for the Cambrian: there are no gaps, because each innovation would have been produced (it is a hypothesis) by the intelligent inventiveness of the organisms themselves. Please do not twist my proposal, and please do not pretend that I have excluded God when all along I have emphasized that it is meant to explain the course of evolution, whether initiated by God or not. -In my view the inventive mechanism is represented by the epigenetic changes we are seeing in current research, that is, adaptations to specific challenges in nature. It can never produce new species by itself. And it can never explain the Cambrian under my interpretation. The 'gap' in the Cambrian is that there is no fossil bridge between the simple pre-Cambrian organisms and the complexity that abruptly appears. The utter complexity of each organ system is mindboggling. Each system has thermostatic, hydrostatic, electrolytic limitations, and is intimately connected with neurologic and hormonal control systems. And with mammals even to the point of milk production. In my view only God can do this, because of the complex planning to create and coordinate each part so they work together to create life.-> 
> dhw:The fact that these limitations (which are not guidelines, because they do not guide the organism - they only impose restrictions) are broad and you believe humans were the goal does not answer my question.-It does answer the question in my context that only God can create new species. The same either/or result: on onboard mechanism with full instructions or direct intervention. My guidelines come with full instructions. Where they are limitations is in the area of epigenetic alterations within species that maintain species identity. Whether epigenetic changes can create new species is unknown at this time but I doubt it.