Miscellany (General)

by dhw, Saturday, October 09, 2021, 08:56 (931 days ago) @ David Turell

Survival
DAVID: It is your circles. I've agreed survival is required.

dhw: So why do you keep telling us that survival has nothing to do with the appearance of new species?

DAVID: Because God speciates, and in one case from no survivors (precursors) in the Cambrian

I asked if you thought your God changed pre-whale legs into flippers in order to improve their chances of survival. You said he did. This means you think your God does his dabbles (speciation) in order to improve an organism’s chances of survival. It does not mean that survival has nothing to do with the appearance of new species.

Brain cells
QUOTE: “We’re going to have to learn what all these cell types are and try to figure out how they all work together.”

dhw: This statement typifies what for me is becoming more and more obvious: we are a community of cell communities, and as in all communities, individuals and groups must work together if they are to function properly. This observation can be extended from the cells of the brain to ants in their colonies and to whole nations of humans. Without efficient cooperation you have illness in the body and war between nations. Our cell communities provide an admirable example of how well things CAN work, but also of how any breakdown in cooperation, or any interference from outside, can result in catastrophe. I would also apply these observations to the problem of theodicy which is so troubling to believers. From cells to nations, your God has provided the same formula: “I’ve given you the means. Now it’s up to you how you use them.”

DAVID: And we've done that, and cells carefully follow His instructions.

What instructions do they carefully follow when they fall ill or die?

Crocodiles change skull forms
DAVID: Actually fascinating in that crocs and their relatives are cycling back and forth between certain parameters and forms. But to call this evolution is ridiculous. It is the same species adapting epigenetically as time and environment require. Just another example of having to interpret the constant propaganda protecting the Darwin paradigm.

For a change, I agree with you. This is where Darwin himself and his followers play around with the term “species”. Such minor adaptations only lead to variations, not to completely different life forms. Where you and I disagree is on the potential of the mechanism that produces variations: if the cells can reorganize themselves autonomously in this minor manner (I presume you agree they are not preprogrammed to do so and your God does not do a dabble), then perhaps they are also capable of major reorganization when required or allowed to do so by major changes in the environment.