Miscellany (General)

by dhw, Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 11:27 (1018 days ago) @ David Turell

Dying cells protect living ones

We can drop this item, since it simply repeats matters dealt with under "A possible God..."

BACTERIAS’ ROLE IN HUMAN BIOMES
QUOTE: "Because the research also showed the significant impact of environment on the gut microbiomes in baboons, their findings agreed with previous studies showing that environmental effects on the variation in the gut microbiome play a larger role than additive genetic effects."

DAVID: More evidence that bacteria must be here and have a strong role to play, even if some act badly at times.

dhw: I’m interested in the role of the environment, since in my view it is a key to why organisms (including bacteria) make changes to themselves. As regards your own comment, no one would deny the importance of bacteria. The problem you refuse to face up to is why your God would specially design the sort of “bad” bacteria mentioned below:

DAVID: My point is the 'bad' bacteria is our human interpretation and God may have designed them as 'good'.

So who would the murderous ones have been “good” for? See “bad bacteria seen differently” for a full discussion. (We can drop “Role in human therapy” as it deals with the same subject.)

Proper Big Bang view
DAVID: If we are sure the universe had a beginning, therefore we have absolute proof of God. The space-time we live in had to have a cause. God's proof then relies upon whether one believe the Big Bang really happened, We all know the BB is not proven, but what if it is? Combined with the designed complexity of living biochemistry, the probability of His existence becomes very strong.

dhw: Lots of word games here. The issue itself doesn’t need all this messing about. We don’t know if the Big Bang happened, and we don’t know what preceded it if it did happen. If it did, I have no idea how you can possibly claim it provides absolute proof of God. You are then claiming that the cause of the bang was a conscious mind which had no source. It could just as well have been a non-conscious, sourceless combination of matter and energy, constantly changing forms and big-banging for ever and ever throughout past eternity. Why do you think a sourceless conscious before is possible but a sourceless unconscious before is impossible? But yes, the complexity of biochemistry is indeed a good argument for the existence of a designing mind or minds.

DAVID: Note the bold. The issue is the problem of accepting the idea something cannot come from nothing. So you wish before the Big Bang there was something. I believe it was God. At least we both think the BB must have had a cause.

Not “wish”! We both agree that something cannot come from nothing, and it is you who should note the bold because it is an alternative to your God. Now perhaps you will answer the question (also bolded) which follows my alternative to your theory.