Different in degree or kind: animal minds (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, December 31, 2015, 20:10 (3033 days ago) @ dhw


> I don't know why you insist on ”planning”. Adaptation is not planned. Why can't improvements take place without prior planning? An organism can have an idea and if it works, it is retained. You seem to exclude trial and success from your evolutionary thinking.-How do minimally conscious organisms like a weaver bird have an idea and try it out? Do we see animals doing that now? All bird nests are static and the same for each species as far as we know.-> 
> dhw: This is what I find so confusing. If God personally designed the weaverbird's nest, it is clearly absurd to say that humans were “THE goal”, unless you think God personally designed all of nature's wonders in his sleep, or they were all geared to THE goal. The balance of nature “for everyone” is also clearly absurd, because 99% of species have disappeared, so the balance of nature didn't work for “everyone”, did it? -More than likely God guided the weaver. As for the balance, as organisms disappear, the balance always adjusts and is present.