Different in degree or kind: Egnor's take (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, October 06, 2016, 15:56 (2758 days ago) @ dhw

Agreed. We have no idea how long it took or how many other saltations and species may have occurred before legs were legs as we know them and land animals finally diverged totally from fish. However, I quoted this to demonstrate that fins became legs, which leads to the question you are so keen to avoid:
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> dhw: So did God change the pelvic fins into the tetrapod hind limb, and THEN fish found they could walk, or did fish attempt to walk and the RESULT was the hind limb? 
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> DAVID: All reasoning from an assumption of gradual change, not found in the fossil records.
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> dhw:So in your opinion a) did God change fins into legs before fish stepped onto dry land, or b) did fins turn into legs as a result of fish trying to walk on dry land? Please answer a) or b).-Sorry, not a 'gotcha' question: I keep pointing to gaps in the fossil records. We know fins became legs. The comparative anatomy of bones tells us that. Because of the gaps we have no idea how or when the changes occur. For God dabbling or pre-planning.
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> DAVID: Organisms can only use what they have to work with. New forms appear and they learn to use them.
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> dhw: But I am suggesting that they can change what they have. You say they can't - God must do it for them beforehand. That is why I keep repeating the above question about fins and legs.-Saying 'they can change' is your figment of imagination, providing no substance to your hypothesis. My 'gap' approach requires a recognition of the need for complex planning to jump each gap. I know you recognize the gaps.
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> dhw: You are telling me what I keep telling you. The hypothesis (not an assumption - a theory, a suggestion) is that the (perhaps God-given) intelligence observed by some scientists in single-celled organisms might also be the driving force that enables complex multicellular organisms to do the “planning” necessary to produce new structures in response to new conditions (or, just as you say, to “stretch” their already known ability to adapt existing structures to new conditions). I offer this as an alternative to random mutations, and to a divine 3.7-billion-year computer programme plus divine dabbling. There is no evidence for any of these hypotheses.-Answered above.