Cambrian Explosion: not from Ediacarans (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, August 14, 2014, 02:04 (3755 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: Simon Conway Morris establishes a clear link between the changes in the environment, the arrival of new species, and the extinction of the hitherto flourishing rangeomorph. The implication is unmistakable: new conditions lead to new modes of survival, and existing organisms must either adapt, innovate, or perish. Here are the four explanations we have considered, the last three of which advocate intelligent design:
> 
> 1) Darwin's random mutations, which we both reject. 
> 2) Your God preprogrammed both the changes in the environment and the innovations right from the beginning of life. (= Automatized evolution)
> 3) Your God stepped in to change the environment and to implant all the innovations. (= Creationism)
> 4) The environment changed, and some organisms had the ability to change their structure in order to survive in and/or exploit the new conditions. (= Evolution)
> 
> In 2), since you insist that the innovations were all part of your God's “intricate planning”, and since they depend on environmental change, I am assuming the environmental changes must have been incorporated into his plans. 
> In 3), I am assuming that your God's plans were not at the mercy of environmental changes outside his control 
> In 4), the source of the ability of organisms to change is unknown, but it may have been your God.
> 
> dhw: Of course we are going over the same ground, but there has to be an explanation for the jump. Anyone like to make a choice? Or offer a different explanation?-It is a huge gap with complex organs and organisms appearing out of no serously complex ancestor. You reject chance mutations in (1). 2,3, & 4 all seem to lead to God. Are you no longer an agnostic? Point to a scientifically acceptable way to explain the gap. The answer is no one can. All the ancestors are very simple, and Darwin's hope that the fossil gap would be filled is shrinking away year by year. The gap is real. Face it. The only conclusion is design.