How children pick up a language: new review of Wolfe (Humans)

by David Turell , Friday, November 11, 2016, 15:30 (2932 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Of course it refutes, if the math never works. It shows a few similar new mutations can't do it.

dhw: Can’t do what? Wistar refutes the claim that random mutations can cause speciation in the time available. It says nothing about a large number of individual organisms being needed to start a new species. If it does, please give me the reference (and the evidence).

Look again at the references in my book. Look up Walter Remine and his discussions of Haldane's dilemma. Math logic: If there is not enough time with some chance mutations, the answer is multiple mutations in many individuals.

DAVID: I did not imply your view is unfair. I use the word fair to confer my feeling that His emotional state is not a fair consideration, since He is such a different personage.

dhw: And once again: I think it is not unreasonable to assume that your God is unlikely to have created something he knew absolutely nothing about, e.g. emotion, let alone to want relations with beings whose nature is totally unfamiliar to him.

dhw: What kind of balance is always present? ... The balance keeps changing. If the human race is wiped out and only bacteria are left on Planet Earth, you will still have a balance. And if Planet Earth disappears, the universe will still have a balance, because it will still exist. The argument is meaningless!

We agree. Balance is always present. We disagree that it is required for life.