Evolution took a long time (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, January 07, 2017, 18:45 (2660 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: Nobody is saying that organisms do not have instincts. We have instincts too. That has nothing to do with intelligence.

Isn't intelligence stored somewhere? We know single-celled animals almost molecule by molecule. Where is the storage point?

dhw: I am leaning quite heavily towards intelligence, but I do not reject the possibility of “automaticity”. You, however, insist – despite your 50/50 – that organisms CANNOT be intelligent because they do not have a brain, and that I regard as pure prejudice.

The intelligence we see in single-celled organisms is in their reactions to stimuli which chemically appear to be automatic. Where does the decision making take place if it not automatic?

dhw: You do not follow “all religions”, do you? What is your objection to the theoretical proposal that his goal was to produce a creature resembling himself, but he didn’t know how to do it and spent a few billion years experimenting? That gives you your evolutionary goal, and also explains the higgledy-piggledy history which is not covered by your own theory.

DAVID: My version of God, based on the complexity in the living beings He created, is that He certainly knew what He was doing.

c dhw: If he was experimenting to create a being like himself, he would have known he was experimenting to create a being like himself. So once again, what is your objection?

But you stated above: " What is your objection to the theoretical proposal that his goal was to produce a creature resembling himself, but he didn’t know how to do it and spent a few billion years experimenting?" I'm confused by your thinking.