Animal Minds; how much can we learn about them? (Animals)

by dhw, Saturday, December 12, 2015, 15:06 (3057 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: I agree that the one-toed horse is a modification, and it does not require the inventive intelligence we see in the whale series.... but I wouldn't call a 3.8-billion-year old computer programme for every evolutionary innovation simple either.
DAVID: Remember I don't know either whether the program exists. It is just one of several possibilities if God guides evolution.-The only other possibilities you have come up with so far are divine dabbling or a watered-down version of my autonomous inventive mechanism which is neither autonomous nor inventive.-dhw: I am not an expert in weaverbird psychology, but I can't help wondering why your God would go to such trouble to preprogramme the first cells with weaverbird-nest instructions, .... But then I am not an expert in God psychology either.

DAVID: As above, and before, I have no idea how God guided evolution, but I'm sure he did.-That still doesn't explain why he would “guide” the weaverbird to build its weird nest, or why he would “guide” other organisms extant or extinct to do equally weird and wonderful things. I doubt if even you believe they are/were necessary to balance Nature in such a way that it would provide food for humans. But it is one of the wonders of faith that one can believe in something even if one has no idea how or why...That is not meant ironically. I respect your faith, and I have no answers of my own.