Universal Intelligence (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by dhw, Saturday, September 26, 2009, 22:19 (5324 days ago) @ David Turell

In response to my request, David has commented on Zara's RNA World entry on the Dawkins website. -Many thanks for your very clear and concise critique. I'm in no position to judge the scientific arguments, but Zara's conclusion had set the alarm bells ringing: "If the RNA World model is the right one, abiogenesis IS evolution: digitally replicating molecules are the origin of life." -At least he formulates the claim with an "if", unlike Dawkins who states without any qualification at all that Darwinian evolution is the creator of life. But it's interesting that apart from Lipsitz, none of the comments George has reproduced for us (again, thank for you doing so) actually pursue the criticism. They all go off at a tangent rather than confront their master. Even George, who is usually pretty forthright when he disagrees with something, calls Dawkins' pronouncement "redefining Darwinian evolution to include abiogenesis". Have a look at this, then: "There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one." This is Darwin in a later edition of The Origin of Species (not the first edition ... an item of knowledge which again I owe to George), redefining Darwinian evolution to include God. But what did poor old Darwin know about Darwinian evolution?