Convergence or divergence? (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, July 25, 2013, 16:50 (4140 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: You skip the same old problem: the intelligence cell/genome did not arise by chance, by your own statement that you do not trust chance to achieve it. -dhw: I have not skipped it. I have mentioned it explicitly, but as always you prefer to focus on your theory of the divine when I am only trying to understand the process by which evolution works.-DAVID: No, you are skipping. You don't believe in chance. Where did the underlying intelligence in the cell come from? Don't give me the pat answer that since energy always existed it conjured up intelligence from amorphous energy. -I have never given you that pat answer. I have offered you three possible answers: your God, chance, and panpsychist evolution, NONE of which I believe in. Nor do I dismiss any of them, since one of them must be close to the truth. That is the nature of agnosticism.-DAVID: I can help you. Kastner pointd out the seething mass of uncertainty at the quantum level. That reduces the odds for chance to fail. First cause is perhaps best conceived as quantum energy.-A "seething mass of uncertainty" sounds like a pretty good description of everything connected with the origin of life and consciousness. I much prefer that term to specific explanations like "God", "chance" and "panpsychist evolution". A seething mass of uncertainty...yep, another excellent justification for agnosticism. Thank you.