DILEMMAS (Evolution)

by David Turell , Sunday, November 02, 2014, 19:50 (3672 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: You have shifted from monarch to all butterflies. My question concerned the special programme for the monarch, so I'll repeat it. Did God preprogramme the four generation cycle and migration, did he dabble, or did the monarch work it out? Please remember I am trying establish borderlines from these examples.-The monarch did not work it out by itself. God did it either way you mention.-> 
> dhw: I know nothing about Andreas Wagner, and can't find out about his religious background, but there is no mention of faith here. ... The book apparently talks of: “a set of laws that allow nature to discover new molecules and mechanisms in a fraction of the time that random mutations would take.” I would point out that nature and sets of laws can hardly make discoveries on their own. The discoveries have to be made by organisms. And I would suggest that the “laws” which enable organisms to make those discoveries are none other than what you call the “information” which constitutes an inventive mechanism within their own genome.-From what I have read about Wagner, he is an atheist scientist. The laws are patterns of activity in the universe and in life. Humans discover them by observation and the issue is where did they come from. They require planning and information as you note. Again, information cannot come from a Big Bang or a origin of life from inorganic matter, or by chance. What else can you think of?