Does evolution have a purpose? (Evolution)

by dhw, Thursday, October 23, 2014, 15:34 (3682 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Once the basic group of organs is in place and functioning to provide an efficient living organism, I can image that modified lifestyles could be developed by an IM invented by God and given God's guidelines. -In the hope that this discussion may clarify both your thoughts and mine, what sort of guidelines do you have in mind, apart from those we agreed on earlier, namely the natural limitations to what any organism can do, and the constraints imposed by the environment? In order to keep things as concrete as possible, do you believe that the complex changes in the myrmecophilous beetle's body were planned 3.7 billion years ago, were the result of a dabble, or were designed entirely by itself? If not “entirely”, what "guidelines" would God have provided? -dhw: You write: “God is in control of evolution. All outcomes are within his guidelines. Major issues to make advanced life possible are planned by Him.” And you have made it clear that the plans are geared to the ultimate arrival of the human brain, which may have been preprogrammed or may be the result of a dabble...... You have said that this scenario creates a dilemma for you. Question 1) What exactly is this dilemma? Question 2) How does the concept of a semi-autonomous inventive mechanism in the genome resolve your dilemma?-DAVID: The dilemma has simply been an indecision on my part as to whether God could program it all of evolution from the very beginning, or had to step in and dabble when evolution wasn't following exactly the path He wanted. In other words, just how powerful is God and did He have to second-guess Himself because His powers are not perfect. The IM, as a third way, allows Him to set it up from the beginning and run on its own, with the IM substituted for the necessity of the dabble. Thus God is all powerful from the beginning with the IM scenario.-I don't think so, judging by the limitations you have imposed on the IM. If all the major innovations/patterns were preprogrammed 3.7 billion years ago, a dabble would only be “necessary” if things went wrong (i.e. didn't follow the path he wanted). This means the IM has the capability to correct errors in God's programme for major changes, which hardly squares with your contention that it can only make minor adjustments. A dabble would not be “necessary” just to change one species of dog or whale to another, and that seems to be the limit of your IM's capacities.