Evolution (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 02:39 (5497 days ago) @ George Jelliss

http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=46882
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> The main fallacies consist in 1} assuming that there is only one possible evolutionary line that will do the trick, 2) ignoring the way multiple events can occur simultaneously and 3) ignoring the determinate nature of many of the processes involved. - George has thrown out challenges which are straw men. 1) I have never said there was one line of evolution. All of you will remember my quoting Simon Conway Morris, his discussion of convergence: six types of eyes. 2) the Dawkins' stuff is more fluff. There is a discussion of the "serial trials fallacy", like elephants trunk to tail in a line, claiming that folks like me believe that only one trial at a time can go on. The best way to defeat a debate opponent is to infer a line of reasoning on his part that is obviously wrong. - In the 'primordial soup' all sorts of inorganic and some organic molecules were bouncing all over each other. Nothing was living. As I've noted before only 8 essential amino acids have been found in meteorites. Getting from bouncing molecules to a left-handed amino acid is an enormous job for chance, and they can be only left handed. Then get them to cooperate and form chains that contain a code for life. This is where the improbable odds are, not the stuff in Dawkins' blog. - 3) George's 'determinate nature'? What happened to purposeless chance? Yes, complex organic molecules when organized can have 'emergent' properties that develop in a determinate way. Getting there from bouncing molecules is an enormous jump. - And the final issue which Dawkins and George ignore and do not understand. To have living organization of organic molecules they have to be directed by a code filled with information. Where did the information come from? If you read the following let me warn you it is filled with jargon, but it makes the point I just raised about information and its need by life. http://mdpi.com/1422-0067/10/1/247