Natures wonders: bacteria control insect reproduction (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, March 04, 2017, 13:04 (2603 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw:You wrote: “what has happened is that the Wolbachia have found a comfortable home in most insects to continue their lifestyle.” That is their purpose, just as it is the purpose of the weaverbird to build itself a comfortable home (difficult to connect with the arrival of humans and their giant brain), and the purpose of carnivorous plants and frogs and parasitic wasps to find ways of ensuring their survival or continuing their lifestyle. According to you, only God could devise the methods and apparatus they use, whereas I propose that they work it all out for themselves. I see very little difference between the parasitism of the wasps and that of the Wolbachia. So please tell me: if your God is not involved, how do you think the bacteria devised this particular lifestyle?

DAVID: You apparently did not read this sentence of mine: Since infections occur, it may have happened by chance. we don't know if God has a role, since we don't understand the process or see if purpose might be inferred. The Wolbachia simply infected the Crustaceans and the rest followed.

I dealt with purpose above. I agree with you that it is perfectly possible for organisms to discover new lifestyles by chance, and indeed I suspect that may well be the origin of many parasitic and symbiotic systems. The next step, of course (glossed over by the expression “the rest followed”) concerns those twin pillars of intelligent education, observation and communication, both of which bacteria are obviously perfectly capable of. And so, theistic version, once your God has given them the powers of observation and communication and the ability to use the information obtained and communicated, who knows what discoveries bacteria and other organisms might make, whether by chance or by experimentation, and entirely without your God having to play any further role at all?