Remember there is an error rate of... (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, March 16, 2015, 21:28 (3540 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID (15 March): That is why my thought about evolution is that God guided it. Did He personally create each species or just guided a process He set in motion? I don't know. But it is one or the other. -DAVID (in The Atheist Delusion): "I am not arguing, however, that God engineered all these intricate processes separately (Dawkins loves to equate design with biblical Creationism, so that he can ignore all other aspects of the argument.) My point is that living organisms have been provided with mechanisms that enable them to adapt and invent. It is the astonishing versatility of these mechanisms that makes chance so unlikely a provider.”-Dhw: So you actually got there before me: the (theistic version of) the autonomous inventive mechanism. Sounds good to me!-DAVID: Remember I don't know how God guided evolution, and I've agreed an onboard IM may really exist in most species. Where you and I disagree is whether it is autonomous vs. semi-autonomous, and I favor semi, so God stays in control. He is not fully in control with semi-autonomous.-I remain surprised at your sudden willingness to abandon evolution altogether and accept the possibility that God personally created each species. You now appear to be torn between four (not necessarily mutually exclusive) options: 1) God preprogrammed evolution; 2) God dabbled in the evolutionary process; 3) God gave organisms an inventive mechanism with which to drive evol- while he drove -ution; 4) evolution never happened, and God did it all (= Creationism). I must say I prefer the clear version in your book, in which the astonishingly versatile mechanisms enable organisms to adapt and invent. Ah, the good old days!