Panpsychism Makes a Comeback (General)

by dhw, Tuesday, January 27, 2015, 20:38 (3586 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: ... it is not unreasonable to speculate that the SAME mechanism [i.e. for adaptation] is responsible when conditions allow for or demand even greater changes.
DAVID: Still sounds to me you are stickling with Darwin's itty-bity theory. We have large jumps to explain: neurons, multicellularity, the Cambrian, the human brain. Minor variations and adaptations are certainly possible with an IM in organisms.-It sounds that way to you because despite your awareness of your own “dilemma”, you can't accept that it might indicate a flaw in your beliefs. For instance, you can accept autonomy from fin to flipper to leg, but not from paw to hand. And if the human brain is a large jump, are you saying the IM was able autonomously to develop, say, worm brains to bird brains to chimpanzee brains, but then God had to step in to change the chimp brain to the human brain?
 
dhw: We are talking about an ongoing process whereby intelligent cell communities form an endless variety of combinations, with new generations building on the developments of their predecessors. That is how evolution has proceeded...
DAVID: You don't really know that is how evolution works. We have agreed that life looks as though it evolved. Beyond that supposition is all we have. I like God-guided, and you don't.-You left out the rest of my sentence, which was: “...whether it is powered by random mutations, your God's preprogramming or dabbling, or my intelligent inventive mechanism”. I have problems with all these scenarios, but what I don't have a problem with is the fact that all organisms consist of cells/cell communities in different combinations. You claim to believe that evolution happened, so how else could it have happened, if not through an accumulation of innovations and variations within cell communities? 

dhw: If you don't know how it works, how can you claim you know how it DOESN'T work?
DAVID: Because specified complexity requires planning, and does not arise by chance. It takes an intellect.-Why “an” intellect? Why not the billions of intellects or intelligences contained within the billions of organisms that extend from bacteria to humans? Please don't revert to first cause, because this discussion concerns Chapter 2 - how evolution might work - and allows for the possibility that your God started it all off.-DAVID: I do accept the possibility of an IM as long as it is viewed as semiautonomous. I'm as stubborn as you are.-Ah, how true! But I am stubborn in my appeal for open-mindedness, whereas you are stubborn in your defence of your opinions, regardless of the dilemmas they cause you! I would like to think the clash is good for both of us, though if your God or anyone else is listening in, I suspect the response will be a loud yawn!