Intelligence & Evolution (Evolution)

by dhw, Saturday, November 09, 2013, 14:13 (4031 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: You always make it seem that somehow DNA is not part of the cell! -DAVID: You forget that each type of cell has its own form of DNA adapted from the original DNA of the stem cells. DNA runs each cell.-As Albrecht-Buehler points out, each cell has its own control centre (centrosome), just as each ant is an individual with its own brain. So are you saying his "centrosome" is part of the DNA? That's fine with me. -dhw: Again you talk as if DNA were not part of the cell (see above). We do not have a clue how these plans are formed. We only know that cells cooperate in producing adaptation and innovation. 
DAVID: We only know that groups of cells perform different functions. Cells cooperate with each other according the way they are planned to cooperate.-The only slight problem here is your use of the passive voice, which is your sneaky way of saying "God planned it all". The alternative is that the control centres in each cell cooperate with one another in precisely the same way as individual ants cooperate with one another (see the ant thread) to produce a single unified outcome. This does not shut out your God ... it allows for him to be the inventor of the mechanism, as opposed to him having inserted billions of programmes into the first automatons. Remember, I'm only concerned here with how evolution works.-dhw: The strange thing is that, just like Darwin's theory, the one I'm offering is perfectly compatible with faith in God. It requires an intelligent mechanism within the cells that is flexible enough to cope with different environments and to produce an almost infinite number of combinations to invent new forms. (Precisely what we have, of course.)
DAVID: Yes, but the way you reach your theory doesn't fit the reality of biochemistry as I see it.-And yet you admit that no-one understands how the biochemistry works! The scientists who have observed the behaviour of cells and concluded that they have their own form of intelligence don't seem to have any particular religious or non-religious standpoint. They have simply published their conclusions. And you reject them because the reality of biochemistry as they see it doesn't fit in with your concept of how God works. I'm not asking you to believe this alternative hypothesis ... I'm only asking for a degree of open-mindedness on the subject.