Smart animals (Animals)

by dhw, Saturday, September 24, 2016, 12:29 (2981 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: The claim that your God taught the weaverbird to make its nest in order to balance nature in order to leave time for humans to evolve strikes me as considerably more “just-so” (fictional) than my Darwinian-type suggestion that an avian tap-dance originated as a way of impressing the female of the species, and survived because it worked. - DAVID: My point is that the weaver nest construction is so complex it cannot be explained by a just-so story, most of which are feeble attempts to explain evolution.
 - What feeble just-so story are you talking about? What is “feeble” about the hypothesis that organisms work out their own ways of building nests, surviving different weather conditions, defending themselves against predators - as opposed to your God having to provide each and every one of them with instructions so that life can go on in order for humans to arrive?
 
DAVID: I like the way you use your agnostic position to blithely drag God in when you need him!
dhw: The issue is whether evolution is run by divine preprogramming/dabbling, or by the intelligence of organisms. .... And once more, I have never claimed that early life or cells invented intelligence. - DAVID: So how did they develop the intelligence you claim they have. - Nobody knows the origin of intelligence or consciousness, but it may have been provided by your God. However, the issue is whether evolution is run by divine preprogramming/dabbling or by the possibly God-given intelligence of organisms…I may have said that before!