EVOLUTION AND PURPOSE (Evolution)

by David Turell , Saturday, November 28, 2015, 15:21 (3281 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: You have repeated my own point about adaptations and innovations, and your ‘onboard drive to complexity' is no different from the ‘inventive mechanism' we have agreed must be present. -I agree. But I see a degree of difference. In 'drive to complexity' I see a specific intent to make organisms more progressively complex arriving at humans and their brain. An arrow of purpose. To me the IM doesn't seem to imply that purpose. The invention need not be more complex, but just a useful adaptation for an immediate purpose.-> dhw:I have never understood what you mean by “partial” or “semi” other than as a reference to the restrictions imposed by the environment and the organism's own nature, which do not explain inventiveness.-In my guesses as to how it works, I can't give you any exactitude about God's limits to inventiveness. I am not even thinking about environment or the organism's nature, but construction of new useful parts. Obviously two heads are not allowed. This is where pattern planning fits into my thinking, Pentadactyl appendages as examples. Use Ediacaran to Cambrian as a guideline. A mighty jump sets the basis for what we see today. This implies planning and guidance. Epigenetics is more the IM I think of, small necessary adaptations, not necessarily leading to new species. -> dhw: I have proposed an alternative to preprogramming and dabbling which would cover your “partial” - namely that your God has given organisms free rein, but intervenes if he doesn't like what is going on, or wants to guide evolution in a different direction. This would cover the anomaly of all the species, lifestyles and natural wonders that do not seem to fit in with your anthropocentrism. -I don't think the bush of life is from free rein, but a required balance of nature, no matter how weird some the outcomes happen to be. We've discussed this before. You are the guy who wants a reason for everything, and I've given you one.