Different in degree or kind: more Denton: (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, February 16, 2016, 16:18 (2986 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: Darwin's mechanisms are random mutations followed by natural selection. You and I have long since rejected random mutations, and have agreed that natural selection only preserves changes that have already taken place. I'll be very interested to know what new ideas he brings to the table.-DAVID: Denton in my current reading points out that Darwin's theory requires that natural stress is required for tiny adaptations to appear, so natural selection can act on them. I'm not to new ideas yet as he is simply picking Darwin apart, and quoting others (i.e. Gould) who have done the same. Macroevolution is a huge problem for Darwin.-Macroevolution is a huge problem for all of us! Thank you for the latest post on Denton's thinking. It begins with the following:-“Cosmological fine-tuning has long been a staple of the argument for intelligent design. It is, perhaps, not a mere coincidence that the laws of physics must be exactly as they are for life to exist in the cosmos and that, if they were different, life would be impossible. But there is another application of this argument that strongly supports the structuralist understanding of biology that says life is a natural part of the world order.”-You have also quoted: ”If the laws of nature are, for whatever reason, fine-tuned to generate environmental conditions ideally suited to the forms of life that exist on earth....etc.)-I can see why the ID folk love Denton, but these quotes sound alarm bells for me. The moment someone starts talking about the laws of nature, we have fudge. So far, all the argument amounts to is: we have life; we wouldn't have life if we didn't have conditions suitable for life; therefore it all looks designed; therefore God (your view)/natural laws (the atheist view) produced the conditions suitable for life and then produced life. That's fudge. But this may be grossly unfair and my misgivings may be unfounded, so let's wait and see what else he comes up with. Thank you for keeping us posted.