Natures wonders: 13, 17-year cicadas (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, June 02, 2013, 12:14 (4190 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: I guess the same would apply to turtles. What a weird branch of the bush they are! I think they were put on Earth to show that Darwinism doesn't work as an explanation for evolution.-dhw: Maybe they evolved on Earth to show that the Turellist Theory of Anthropocentric Evolution has turned turtle.-DAVID: I look at a turtle and feel sorry for them. Like medieval knights lugging around their armor, can't get right when they on their backs. I think God created them so we can see how lucky we are. My evolutionary bush is teleological. Purpose everywhere.-Speaking of turtles, a bit of autobiography: my birth surname was Turkeltaub, a slavic version of the German, Turteltaube, or turtledove in English. Why a bird mentioned in the OT got co-mingled with turtles is beyond me...-The German turteln means to bill and coo, or to whisper sweet nothings ... which I think is wonderfully appropriate when applied to your teleology. As far as I can see, it has nothing to do with the German for turtle, which is Schildkröte, though in British English we distinguish between turtle (German: Wasserschildkröte) and tortoise (German: Landschildkröte). And so, dear David, you are a turtle dove, a whisperer of sweet nothings, and not a medieval knight in shining armour.