Evolution and human: having proper feet (Evolution)

by dhw, Tuesday, January 26, 2016, 18:28 (3222 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: So you agree that it is possible for other organisms to engineer their own mutations. We are making progress!
DAVID: We don't know how far epigenetic changes can/will make new species, since we don't know how new species are created. We've had this discussion before about inventive mechanisms, with no conclusion except there might exist like it.
dhw: That is what I call progress. I have fought long and hard for the concession that this hypothesis is possible! Since none of the facts are known, only the faithful can draw clear conclusions.-DAVID: I don't view it as progress, because we had a long discussion in which both of us discussed the possibility. Certainly a possibility as we keep opening up layers of DNA control and expression, there might be a speciation layer pre-programmed to allow for giant leaps in phenotypes.-Not for the first time, I am very uncertain about your use of language. A “speciation layer preprogrammed for giant leaps in phenotypes” does not sound quite the same as my hypothesis. The lead-in to these comments was as follows:
YOU: Chance or advanced planning? If God guided evolution this shows how He might have engineered it.
ME: It also shows how the cell communities that comprise every organism “might have engineered it”. Not advance planning, but improvement as they cooperate in response to environmental conditions....-So once more, let us clarify. Your hypothesis is giant leaps preprogrammed by your God; my hypothesis is giant leaps engineered by the autonomous inventive intelligence of the organisms themselves. The “compromise” is that this autonomous intelligence may have been invented by your God, which is far, far away from your God preprogramming a layer of DNA with the giant leaps! I remain hopeful that you are indeed prepared to accept the possibility of my hypothesis as phrased by me.