Convergence; Simon Conway Morris Teleology (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, June 10, 2016, 19:01 (3088 days ago) @ dhw

David's comment: He [Conway Morris] is committed to Darwin, but enthralled by convergence and I think convergence implies teleology as does the author of the article. A resemblance to Denton's patterns is also at play here. It certainly seems as though advances are patterned in advance within the genome.
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> dhw: Since there seems to be a consensus here on the truth of common descent, patterns are inevitable. If we also accept that organisms look for ways to survive and to improve (me) or complexify (you), we have teleology in the sense of individual purpose - as opposed to the sense of divine design.-Living creatures always try to survive. It seems built-in (epigenetics). To me that is the main purpose of life. We have not explained scientifically saltations of new species.-> dhw: Convergence is then the result of different intelligences coming up with similar solutions to similar problems. If the inventive or complexification mechanism is autonomous, advances are not “patterned in advance” but occur as and when conditions force the mechanism to adapt or allow it to innovate.-IF different 'intelligences' exist. So far it is a supposition based on external observations only.