Miscellany (General)

by David Turell , Monday, February 22, 2021, 19:05 (1157 days ago) @ dhw

Evolution: always advancing or not?

DAVID: It is not a dodge. You don't accept my logic just as I don't accept the illogic of your complaint.

dhw: What logic? You have agreed that you have no idea why a God with a single purpose (H. sapiens plus food supply) would directly create millions of now extinct life forms and food supplies, 99% of which had no connection with humans.

Why can't you accept the logic that God chose td evolve us from bacteria?

DAVID: Of course move on as we will never agree on the points in question.

dhw: Done – until the next time you raise the issue!

Fine

Extreme extremophiles

dhw: And what is the continuance of life if it’s not survival?

DAVID: Of course life will survive, but I see a difference of approach. Life is built to survive but evolution does not depend upon survival to drive it, which you imply.

dhw: What do you think is the purpose of adaptation, if it is not to survive? What do you think is the purpose of innovations if it is not to improve chances of survival?

I differ in a nuance you avoid. God created life so it would always survive, so of course it adapts, but as above, I do not see adaptation as driving evolution.

Physical change in speciation

DAVID: My point is most of us die of wearing out, not mistakes.

dhw: I’m sure that will provide great consolation for those who do die because of mistakes (i.e. the list of horrendous diseases). My point is that there ARE mistakes, so there is no point in dismissing the cellular theory just because it would make mistakes.

DAVID: Organisms make minor adaptations by using information in their cell's DNA. That is all we know. You want cell committees to do the work to avoid direct actions by God. We will always differ on the point.

dhw: You dismissed the theory of cellular intelligence because it would make mistakes, and I have pointed out to you that what you believe is your God’s direct handiwork has resulted in the mistakes that cause horrendous diseases etc. etc. Hence theodicy. Your scepticism concerning the autonomous ability of cells to design innovations is a separate subject. Please stick to the point.

My response to God's creation of life and the inherent mistakes that occur are unavoidable from the model of biochemistry that life must use in actively living.

Neanderthal contributions

QUOTES: "It was recently shown that the major genetic risk factor associated with becoming severely ill with COVID-19 when infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is inherited from Neandertals.
In contrast to the previously described Neandertal haplotype that increases the risk for severe COVID-19, this Neandertal haplotype is protective against severe disease.

DAVID: More evidence that interbreeding of human types aided in our overall immunities. Since different environments had different viruses the different disease experiences were combined in sapiens as as final product of evolution.

dhw: It would appear that we have inherited good and bad genetic factors from our ancestors, which is hardly surprising.

Agreed.