Evolution v Creationism: guided evolution? dhw? (Evolution)

by dhw, Thursday, March 26, 2015, 18:52 (3528 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: You are now making a basic assumption that we have not agreed on: namely, your God's purpose in starting evolution. I am thinking on two levels here: 1) the IM explains the course of evolution, whether God designed the mechanism or not; 2) if he designed it, he MAY have had the creation of humans in mind, or his purpose might simply have been to set it in motion and see where it led. That is a different subject. My point here is that once the mechanism is in place (whether God designed it or not), we can dispense with the theory of random mutations. The only chance element is changes in the environment. The rest is purpose-driven: to adapt or innovate, in accordance with those changes.-DAVID: We know that animals and plants can use epigenetic mechanisms to adapt to changes in environment. We know there are a few random mutations that are beneficial, so I don't think we can rely on an IM to do the whole job. So I don't think your point really works in a complete sense. As for the first comment humans are such an unexpected unusual result, it certainly smells of purpose.-My IM doesn't need random mutations. In the theistic version, I see no reason why we should not allow for dabbling. But for me that would mean that either God knew what he wanted and had to intervene because his experiments weren't working, or he didn't know what he wanted and fiddled around with new ideas as he went along. -dhw: It is also perfectly feasible that one day we shall be wiped out, and other forms of life will become dominant. In the end, maybe evolution will come full circle, and there will be nothing left except bacteria. We have no idea what form life will have taken in a billion years‘ time!
DAVID: Bacteria will never leave, and the sun explodes (under current theory) in 5 billion years, so we are always a limited lifetime group.-That was why I offered Tony a Last Judgement scenario in 5,000,000,014! (Russell forecast the end of the world in 1914. Ah, my little joke was wasted!) Figures like this are meaningless - but the limited lifetime of all materials does create a problem if someone believes in a paradise on earth that will last forever.
 
To be honest, would anybody really like to live forever? BBella once offered us a nice solution to that dilemma - you can opt out at any time, or choose to take on a new identity.