Innovation and Speciation: pre-planning (Evolution)

by dhw, Wednesday, May 28, 2014, 17:03 (3831 days ago) @ David Turell

Dhw: I can [...] offer three theistic scenarios: 1) [God] sat back and let evolution follow its own course; 2) he didn't know how to achieve the "purpose" you've assigned to him and had to keep experimenting; 3) he had a great idea a few hundred thousand years ago and popped in to make some adjustments. All three of these (plus the atheistic version) seem to me to fit in far more snugly with the higgledy-piggledy bush of evolutionary comings and goings than the sea anemone's nervous system "antedating the need" and being "pre-planned" to finish up inside you and me a billion years later. But maybe you are not looking for a snug fit. 
 
DAVID: I don't think there is a snug fit. And the development of a nerve cell was a giant leap. A nerve cell is like no other cell. So you don't see purpose and I do.-There are vast numbers of giant leaps between bacteria and us. Are you saying that each one was pre-planned for the sake of producing humans? I've allowed for purpose in 2) and 3), which seem to me to fit in better with the higgledy-piggledy bush of evolutionary comings and goings than "antedating the need" and "pre-planning". May I ask why you think the latter is a more likely alternative?