Automatic cell activity (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, April 25, 2013, 14:46 (4231 days ago) @ David Turell

I have covered most of this post in my entry under "Cell response", and what is not covered only repeats the points of possible disagreement between us. However, you have quoted a silly syllogism from the uncommon descent website, which demands to be demolished:-We know the Omega watch exists. Anyone who admits that the Omega watch needs any intelligent design at all should be a believer in Intelligent Design.-Abandon reason all ye who enter here.-Evolution (uppercase E ) is the belief that everything in the world evolved by blind chance.-Evolution is not a belief, but let that pass. It's the theory that describes the process by which living organisms have developed from earlier ancestral forms. It has nothing to do with the creation of man-made objects. How the process works is the subject of ongoing research, but many religious people believe that their god started and even directed it (= design), and Darwin himself emphasized that his theory was compatible with religion (though of course it is incompatible with Creationism).
 -evolution ( lowercase e ) is the belief that some things evolve over time by blind chance.-See above. -Intelligent Design (uppercase ID ) is the belief that the universe was created by a Designer (uppercase D).-OK.-intelligent design (lowercase id ) is the belief that some things in the universe ( like the Omega watch) were created by a designer.-OK.-The interesting thing is that if you are truly honest: 
ID being true allows both e, and id to take place.-It also allows E. unless by ID he means Creationism.-E being true disallows id [ID?] and only allows e.-No it doesn't (see above).-So if E is true, the Omega watch was made by pure chance.-As explained above, the theory of evolution / Theory of Evolution has nothing whatsoever to do with Omega watches or any other man-made design. Nor does it preclude belief in ID or id.
 
The author didn't need any of the in-between stuff. His false definition of E would have sufficed, because any false premise will lead to a false conclusion: if "everything in the world evolved by blind chance", then of course his Omega watch evolved by blind chance. And if God made everything in the world, then God made my supper, so why should I thank my wife?-If these are the intellectual depths to which uncommon descent descends, David, you should cancel your subscription immediately (assuming they have the cheek to charge you). But thanks for the entertainment!-*******-I note your comment on Talbott. He has made a detailed study of the genome, and I presume you cannot find fault with it. You only find fault with his conclusion that the cell is not an "automatism", and with the fact that he does not try to solve one mystery (intricacies of life) by embracing another (your God).
 
*******-You have raised an important point under "Energy from AtP" which I will discuss tomorrow.