Different in degree or kind: our hands (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, March 14, 2016, 13:23 (3176 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: I think you are really agreeing with me. If God's intelligence is within the birds, He is showing them how to do it through that mechanism. They are not doing it independently.-dhw: BBella will no doubt answer for herself, but I really can't see how you can interpret “making every living thing innovative in their own way” and “the inventive nature of nature itself to create whatever is created” as meaning preprogrammed 3.8 billion years ago or personally instructed by the individual mind you call God. There is a stark theistic choice here: either God gave organisms the intelligence to do their own inventing, or he did it for them.-DAVID: If you have looked at the knots, which I have supplied, I cannot believe the birds invented them. Yes an argument from incredulity. It involved complex knots using beak and feet in coordination. The authors of Nature's IQ agree with me, so I have backing from those who see purpose and guidance in evolution.-I have looked at them, just as I have looked at pictures of termites' nests and beavers' dams, and have learned about the astonishing feats of other birds, animals and insects, so many of which you have described to us on your marvellous thread of Nature's Wonders. They truly are wonderful, and I can only admire the intelligence of all these creatures that use whatever means they have at their disposal to devise such intricate structures and lifestyles. I see purpose in all of this, as each organism finds its own way to survive and to make life as comfortable as possible for itself. And just like you, I can find no reason why their feats should be tied to the creation or feeding of humans. As for guidance, it wouldn't be necessary if they had the intelligence (perhaps God-given) and the tools (like beaks and feet) with which to do their own inventing.