Biological complexity: teaching bacteria new tricks (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, April 29, 2016, 01:47 (3131 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: My hypothesis: conditions changed, and some intelligent bacteria - with their intelligence possibly God-given - worked out the internal engineering for themselves (perhaps horizontal gene transfer plays a role here?). These hypotheses must apply to all innovations throughout the history of evolution. They produce the same results, though there is no evidence for any of them, and nobody knows how any of them would actually work. -I just don't see how your hypothesis would work, since proper results require planning, unless God given guidelines are present. 
> 
> dhw: Finally, your response still doesn't explain how the researcher's manipulation of the genome, enabling bacteria to swim, supports your contention that bacteria can't think for themselves (take their own decisions, work out their own solutions to problems). If your God intervened and changed my legs into flippers, would that mean I couldn't think for myself? I see no connection between the two processes.-For me it is simple. Put in proper genes and automatically swimming begins, without lessons or thought!.