Chance v. Design (Evolution)

by dhw, Sunday, May 03, 2009, 21:02 (5481 days ago) @ George Jelliss

I fear this discussion is turning into a self-replicating moleculture with few variations, but I can't leave everything to chance. - George: My suspicion is that the first replicating molecule was relatively simple (as compared with modern DNA). - How simple is "relatively simple"? A typewriter is relatively simple compared to a computer, but you'd laugh your head off if I told you chance could build a typewriter. And since brilliant, conscious brains are still engaged in figuring out the nature of that first molecule, I'd say it must have been relatively complex compared to a typewriter. - George: 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 the same every time. - Agreed, but the odds against chance producing one such molecule are colossal. I can't see why the odds should be less colossal against chance producing a whole set of them. - George: 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. - It's a matter of course, then, that mindless, unconscious blobs of matter can be turned by chance into hitherto unheard-of faculties like hearing, vision, taste, smell etc., and can be accidentally jogged into developing sexual reproduction, digestive systems, immune systems, flight, consciousness... OK, maybe not infinite possibilities, but mind-bogglingly huge. My point, though, is that none of these variations could have happened if the original molecules had not been capable of change and development, which increases the degree of their complexity and the odds against chance. - You find chance "a satisfactory explanation". I can't argue against that. Theists find God a satisfactory explanation, and in my state of ignorance I can do no more than explain why I can't share your faith or theirs.