Miscellany (General)

by dhw, Saturday, April 24, 2021, 13:01 (1099 days ago) @ David Turell

Homo luzonensis

This item has ended up repeating muxch of the material discussed under “Back to theodicy and David’s theories”. But perhaps it’s worth repeating my answer to your final point:

DAVID: Of course, your analysis of God's purposes and goals may not fit your human logic, because you are human and He isn't.

It is YOUR analysis of your God’s purposes and goals that do not fit my human logic. Even you have agreed that my alternatives are logical, and you yourself have no idea why your God would have chosen your version of his method (designing 99% of life forms unconnected to humans) in order to achieve your version of his sole purpose (to design humans). You are just as human as I am (I think!), and so I don’t know why you regard your illogical theory as more likely to be the truth than my alternatives.

DAVID: Much easier to look at results, especially our brain that no evolutionary theory assuming the driving force is survivability can really explain. Based on past history there is no reason we should be here.

Based on past history, there is no reason why any multicelleluar organism should be here, since bacteria have survived very nicely. As regards our brain, you yourself have pointed out that early sapiens’ lifestyle did not differ from that of erectus, and I have pointed out that ALL early hominins and homos would have had survival as their Number One priority. For millions and millions of people today, it still is. But I agree that the sapiens brain has advanced way, way beyond preoccupation with survival. I don’t think anyone would disagree. But if past history shows that there is “no reason we should be here”, it also shows that there is no reason why any organisms other than bacteria should be here or should have been here.

Some ant brains shrink and grow
dhw: The one example is enough to show that our brains are not unique in having the ability to RESPOND to different requirements. Do you think that 3.8 billion years ago your God preprogrammed this special ability in a particular form of ant, or that he popped in to do a dabble? Any alternative explanation?

DAVID: Not all ants do this. Using my thoughts about how God does it, dabble.

Wow! I wonder why he specially chose this one species of ant to use its brain in this way. Based on past history, there is no reason why such ants should be here. So are we to conclude that God’s one and only purpose was to produce the Indian jumping ant? Or is the Indian jumping ant’s special brain a vital ingredient of our food supply?

Carbon cycle bacterial contribution

QUOTE: The carbon, prevented from being buried even deeper in Earth, will eventually escape back into the atmosphere—where it could help warm the planet.

DAVID: ninety-nine percent of evolved organisms might be gone, but bacteria are still here because they are important for Earth's continuing warm life-friendly climate. So logical it means a designing mind must be running things. The 99% were not needed and necessarily discarded. Life started with Archaea bacteria and remain to help out in whatever process needs them. dhw can't see the clever planning mind running the show.

This must be one of your wackiest ever conclusions. According to you, your God’s one and only purpose was to specially design H. sapiens. And according to you, your God specially designed every one of the 99% that were not needed. If they were not needed, why did he bother to specially design them?

I find the above quote a little perplexing. I thought that one of the major problems world leaders were currently grappling with was something called “global warming”, and we are all desperate to reduce the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere. If we fail to do so, our planet may eventually become hostile to life. Please tell us what clever plan you think your God is hatching.

Introducing the brain: all human brains don't react the same

DAVID: A new careful study of frontal lobe reactions in a group of folks all watching the same movie:
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/17/eabf7129?utm_campaign=toc_advances_2021-04...

"Abstract
“How we process ongoing experiences is shaped by our personal history, current needs, and future goals.”

DAVID: What this tells me is our oversized brains end up with individual results in complexification as we progress from infanthood to adulthood. This is the real picture we need to recognize. Our brains may be smaller than in our origin form from ongoing complexification, but we still complexify ourselves in very individual free-will fashion. God gave us this arrangement, knowing He wished us to have free will.

My latest application is for a grant to study lots and lots of people in order to prove once and for all that everybody is different, and to write a book explaining why. This may have been done before, but I am as different from everybody else as everybody else, so my analysis will be different from everybody else’s, and that is why I hope you will support my application.