Genome complexity: variation within species (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, December 14, 2016, 18:20 (2902 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: That bacteria come with alternative pathways built-in that can be employed when necessary. And that individual variation allows for some individuals to be more immune or resistant to noxious changes that they survive, reproduce and create a group that is more prepared to handle the challenges and changes.

dhw: No question that individuals are different: that has been at the very core of my evolutionary hypothesis – that each adaptation and innovation must take place in individuals, and this means that there is no overall programme, but both processes depend on the ”intelligence” of the individual.

With variation and with alternative pathways, the adaptations may be relatively automatic, relatively if partially resistant organisms have to have several generations to arrive at complete resistance.

dhw: The argument that alternative pathways are “built into” some organisms (though not into others) simply boils down to saying that whenever a problem is solved, that proves there is a solution, and so the potential solution existed before the problem arose. The same would apply to inventions. If something new can be created, the potential for the something new was already there. If you wish to adopt that approach, I would argue that it requires intelligence to find the solution/realize the potential.

Shifting to an alternative pathway can easily be automatic, not intelligent.

dhW: ...That your God provided alternative pathways for the first cells to pass on to bacteria, so that in a million different situations some of them would be able to resist the new threat to their existence by switching onto the correct pathway without knowing what they were doing?
DAVID: The pathways exist. God or not.

dhw: See above. But if you insist that bacteria are programmed to find the right pathway (since you believe they are automatons), what alternative do you have to the claim that your God must have preprogrammed the first cells to pass on solutions to every single problem that bacteria might encounter throughout the history of life?

Generally no alternative except dabbling which we have discussed.