Chance v. Design (Evolution)

by George Jelliss , Crewe, Saturday, May 02, 2009, 19:05 (5482 days ago) @ dhw

DT speaks of "a planned design". Is it possible to have an unplanned design? - dhw says that the first replicating molecule "was so complex that not only could it reproduce itself, but it was also capable of infinite variations triggered by more chance events such as mutations, collisions and environmental changes". - My suspicion is that the first replicating molecule was relatively simple (as compared with modern DNA). It needn't have been just one molecule, but could be one of a set of similarly structured molecules that produce similarly structured molecules, not necessarily exactly the same every time. This of course is just speculation on my part, but seems quite plausible. - The variations then follow as a matter of course, triggered by chance events. The possibilities however are not infinite. There are only a limited number of different types of atoms and of ways they can combine. - Since I find this a satisfactory explanation I have no need for the other hypotheses that dhw lists concerning designers of various different designs.

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GPJ