Virus evolution; complex organisms but not fully alive (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, February 28, 2016, 13:38 (2998 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: And since you believe that God is in full control of everything, why do you think he specifically preprogrammed or personally dabbled these obligate parasites?

DAVID: We also have dangerous bacteria that cause disease, all as a part of the balance of nature. You are correct. Tough to understand if God is simply benign.My proposal from my fist book is this represents a challenge from God to solve the problem. And we have ways: bacteriophages are viral enemies of bacteria. Research has been ongoing to enlist those guys to attack dangerous bacteria. Perhaps God feels life should present challenges to make it more interesting than simply boring in the Garden of Eden. Now I sound like you and what you imagine to explain things, but just as reasonable to me as your imaginations are to you. - I think these questions should be asked, and yours is a great answer. Thank you. In dealing with such problems, we have to try and read the mind of your God, and so what you call “anthropomorphization” is inevitable. I do not see it as a problem: if your God did create our advanced degree of consciousness, it is not unreasonable to suppose that it might reflect his own. And so I “imagine” that perhaps God feels evolution should present unpredictable varieties to make it more interesting than simply boring robots producing whatever he has preprogrammed them to produce. This is “just as reasonable to me as your imaginings are to you”.