Biological complexity: more cell pore complexity (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, May 09, 2016, 19:12 (3120 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: But the only purpose you offer us is the creation of humans. When pressed, you dare to conjecture that the purpose of creating humans might have been for your God to have some sort of relationship with them - which I pointed out is not much of a relationship if he insists on remaining hidden.-Have you offered a 'purpose' for reality: yes, just start things up and have fun watching what happens. Light-hearted, but not a serious approach. -> dhw: Meanwhile, the human-related purpose of the weaverbird's nest plus the other billions of organisms, lifestyles and natural wonders extant and extinct is apparently not to be questioned, but is somehow connected with the “balance of nature”. -Yes, 'balanced' is my reasonable answer. Everyone has to eat.-> 
> dhw: Yes, all animals have them, because the history of evolution is one of organisms finding ways to improve as well as survive. Why would God specially plan a particular kind of vision for the crocodile in order to produce and/or feed humans?-Bacteria have not bothered to improve. And all improvement led to humans! Hard to get around that fact. I've covered balance of nature above.
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> dhw: The other driver of evolution, I keep suggesting, is improvement. Even if your theistic interpretation of evolution was correct, the pattern would still be the same, from bacteria to humans. You think all the improvements were “guided”, and I suggest he may have given organisms the intelligence to work out their own. Why, then, do you not find improvement “very persuasive” as the other driving force of evolution?-Improvement is another way of saying increased complexity, which may not necessarily be an improvement. Dinosaurs didn't last but bacteria have. Note, not improvement, just complexity. Whales are an increase in complexity to survive as sea creatures. Not much of an improvement with very complex anatomical changes. This is why I identified a 'drive to complexity' in my first book. You are still following Darwin and his thoughts about survival by improvement. Structuralism is the other early thought, development by an increase in structural complexity. Which is what our brain happens to be!