autonomy v. automaticity (Evolution)

by David Turell , Saturday, February 03, 2018, 18:53 (2274 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: However, you think the weaverbird’s nest plus every other natural wonder you have treated us to is beyond the design ability of the various organisms concerned. I have more respect for their abilities than you do, and I have no doubt that if God exists he would be perfectly capable of endowing them with the intelligence to work out their own methods of coping with the environment. And you still haven’t told us why your God would specially select the weaverbird for classes in knot-tying, leaving all the other birds to use their autonomous intelligence.

Stop kidding yourself. The balance of nature does not require the existence of ANY particular species. According to your logic, then, the balance of nature does not require the duck-billed platypus, and so the duck-billed platypus must be the goal of God’s evolution! We know that life needs energy, and evolution takes time. That proves nothing except that life needs energy and evolution takes time. The argument that our brain is the latest important step to arrive proves nothing except that our brain is the latest important step to arrive. (I prefer "latest” to “last”, since unlike you I have no idea what will develop in the next two or three thousand million years.) It does not prove that your God designed the weaverbird’s nest so that he could produce the human brain.

Your lack of appreciation of the balance of nature is something I have pointed out to you many times by bringing up many instances where humans (think of Australia and New Zealand especially) have introduced foreign species to an active balance and totally upset it. Balance is balance and requires a top predator, as shown when wolves were taken out of Yellowstone. For some reason weavers required special protection in their ecosystem. The reasearch to show it is not done, so I can 't quote anything but I fully believe that. I see the reason for the weaver knots. You don't with yhour blinkers on.