More Denton: A new book (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, March 02, 2016, 15:38 (3188 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: And you still miss my point, which is that an autonomous organism by definition does not “use” anyone's wishes except its own and is not guided. Your self-navigating car was invented by humans so that it could navigate “without human input”, and my inventive mechanism was (or rather, may have been) invented by God so that it could invent without God's input. If you really want an analogy, it is one that I have already given you before. You believe humans have free will. That means, in theistic terms, your God gave humans the ability and the mechanism with which to make their own decisions, independently of his wishes and without any “guidance software on board”. - But God also gave humans consciousness which means they can plan for any complex advances they wish. - 
> dhw: Do you believe God programmed Beethoven to write his symphonies? If you don't, then the analogy can be applied to all organisms: your God gave them the ability and the mechanism with which to make their own decisions. That is autonomy. You may not believe organisms have such a mechanism, but please do not define autonomous as being guided by God to obey what you believe to be his wishes. - Your definition of autonomy assumes the IM can plan for complex advances in evolution. There is our difference in interpretation. Evolutionary advances require intricate planning. How does your IM do that without consciousness? Thus my auto analogy fits my concept of an autonomous IM which must have onboard instructions or be given consciousness.