Natures wonders: blind walking cavefish (Introduction)

by David Turell @, Wednesday, March 30, 2016, 15:32 (3158 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: Epigenetic adaptations will not explain evolution. Only innovations can result in new species (broad sense). I don't understand why you (and Denton?) believe your basic patterns are somehow a departure from Darwin. He devotes a whole chapter to them,.....It is these basic patterns that led him to his theory of common descent! -Confusion, my fault. Darwin, Denton and I all agree on the patterns. We all agree on common descent. However Denton has gone back to the theory before Darwin of structuralism and says the patterns are the result of 'laws of nature' as I stated. Denton favors intrinsic properties of emergence to explain the changes in evolution, not the functionalism of Darwin with all of us agreeing that Natural selection is a final arbiter. I agree with you, adaptations to changing environment provide variations, but we are all still at a loss to explain speciation, including Darwin, Denton, et al.-> 
> dhw: I can only respond to what you tell me about his book, so perhaps this response is unfair.-Not unfair.
> 
> dhw: I can't comment on the polymers that assemble into nanotubes, but since Denton is an agnostic, I doubt if he will endorse your own comment: “It is as if God set up the organic chemistry of life to work by automatic emergence.”-It's simple. I use God. He uses structure and emergence. You sit on a high perch.


Complete thread:

 RSS Feed of thread

powered by my little forum