More Miscellany (General)

by dhw, Monday, May 06, 2024, 11:08 (13 days ago) @ David Turell

Aquatic spiders

DAVID: Each adaptation must be studied for complexity. If very complex God designed it.

dhw: You have just agreed that the changes were NOT major (= very complex). Now you agreement changes to “if”.

DAVID: Degree of complexity dictates the work of a designer.

Agreed. Our exchange was as follows:
dhw:...since the spiders are still spiders, I wouldn’t have thought these changes counted as major.

DAVID: Neither do I.

So I don’t know why you thought these minor changes (= less complexity than major changes) required the work of God. You’ve also forgotten to tell us why it’s a “just-so story” to suggest that organisms might move elsewhere if there is a shortage of food or they are in danger where they are, which I suggest is a major factor in the development of evolution, as organisms must change in order to meet new requirements.

DAVID: The 99.9% extinct are the ancestors of the 0.1%c surviving now.

dhw: I don’t believe it! Having dropped the subject two days ago, you once more return to the same massive contradiction of your own statement, which I have quoted again and again. Here are the comments from two days ago:

dhw: Do you believe that we and our food are directly descended from 99% of all creatures that ever lived?

DAVID: No. From the 0.1% surviving.

dhw: I asked this unequivocal question in order to end the long-drawn-out discussion you are now trying to re-open. You agreed that we and our contemporaries are directly descended from 0.1% of all the creatures that ever lived. We are not descended from 99.9% of all the creatures that ever lived. And yes, we are descended from a line of mammals that co-existed with the dinosaurs, but the vast majority of dinosaurs left no descendants except for birds.

DAVID: Agreed.

Thank you. Once more, I shall note this agreement and remind you of it next time you disagree.

Early barred spiral galaxies

dhw; It is estimated that there are between 2,000,000,000 and 2,000,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe. The “divine” course assumes that there is a purpose for every single one, and your own particular divine course proposes that every single one is/was necessary for the production of us humans and our contemporary species. For some people, the odds that one of those possible two trillion galaxies will happen to produce evolvable life are more favourable than the odds on an unknown divine being who creates two trillion for the sake of just one. It comes down to irrational faith in one or the other – or simply acknowledging that we can’t possibly know.

DAVID: God produces for His purpose. Why trillions of galaxies? God's purpose is enough reason.

So according to you, God’s one and only desire to produce us and our food explains why he had to design trillions of galaxies, just as he had to design and cull 99.9 out of 100 species that had nothing to do with us. And in order to verify your theory, all I have to do is go and ask God.