Genome complexity: new review of epigenetics studies (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, May 13, 2017, 09:24 (2540 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: The primary purpose of evolution is humans. You are reverting to pure Darwin. Speciation can occur without environmental changes.
dhw: So are you backtracking on your insistence that only God could have designed all the lifestyles and natural wonders, and did so in order to keep life going until he could produce humans? We have no idea how speciation takes place, but I would draw your attention to your own comment: “The evolution of the conditions on Earth and the evolution of life obviously co-evolved.” Yes, it’s obvious. However, according to you God creates new species, lifestyles and natural wonders, and afterwards creates the conditions in which they are able to live, as opposed to new environments triggering structural changes.
DAVID: My point is my ape/human comparison. They both lived in exactly the same environment, but only humans involved to something much more complex and improved.

There are lots of species that live in the same environment, and they all find their “niche” as you call it. We don’t know how they evolved from their common ancestors, but it can only have been through individuals that diverged while others remained the same. Not all fish came out onto dry land. Not all ape ancestors evolved into humans. Once a life form diverges (perhaps through the drive for improvement) and is successful, it survives. If its contemporaries are still OK in their niche, they will also survive. Meanwhile, once again: are you backtracking on your theory that God designed all lifestyles and natural wonders to provide the energy for life to continue until he designed humans, and are you still sticking to your theory that when environmental change was involved, your God designed them (along with innovations) before he changed their environment?

DAVID: We continue to disagree on the reasons for the bush of life, but you do keep agreeing that energy is needed for a long term evolutionary process, and then that agreement disappears when you face the issue of humans as the goal. Darwin theory does not predict the arrival of humans. Apes are still apes.

And bacteria are still bacteria. See above re apes. I have never disagreed that energy is needed for life and evolution, long term or short term, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with your insistence that your God’s purpose in creating life and evolution was the production of humans. Darwin’s theory could hardly predict the arrival of humans since humans had already arrived! His contribution was to tell us that we and apes sprang from a common ancestor, and that all species sprang from a few forms or just one. I don’t know why you keep bringing Darwin into it when what is under the microscope is your own attempt to impose your anthropocentrism on the entire history of life.