Natures wonders: making spider silk (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, August 17, 2014, 16:07 (3749 days ago) @ dhw


> DAVID: Each cell controlled by the universal consciousness which can then be used to advance evolution. The emphasis is NOT on the cell but on the overall planning agent. Individual soldiers on the battlefield do not plan the battle. They participate in the battle as directed by thier leaders.
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> dhw: Well, YOUR emphasis is on the overall planning agent, if there is one. But let me try to follow your logic. Your God is in every cell controlling evolution but he is outside every cell telling it what to do. And your preferred explanation of evolution is that God preprogrammed every step of the way. If we put the two together, this presumably means that the little bit of God in every cell is the programme he implanted right from the start.-I have constantly said that, since I cannot know how God did it, I preferred pre-programming as a concept. You keep asking for exact mechanisms for God, but if I have no idea how it is done, I can't fully answer. All I do know is, cells operate on information, which in my view must be supplied by intelligence.-> dhw: If so, the idea that God programmed the very first cells to pass on intricate plans for spider silk, fire ant rafting, eyes, kidneys plus zillions of other “Nature's Wonders” and innovations, all to be implemented billions of years later after billions of other programmes had been implemented, seems to me to require a great deal more faith than the idea that he invented a mechanism that would do its own inventing as and when conditions demanded or allowed.-Your latter suggestion makes more sense. He used a self-inventing mechanism is a great idea. Your help in proposing a most reasonable explanation for a God-guided evolution process is much appreciated.-> dhw: Your alternative, of course, is your God dabbling - i.e. inserting new programmes as he goes along - but that's a problem too, because you are an evolutionist and not a Creationist. -Yes, I believe in theistic evolution, but that really falls under the umbrella of a form of Creationism. And yes, dabbling has always bothered me. I like your self-inventing built into the mechanism.