God and evolution: weaverbirds (Evolution)

by dhw, Tuesday, April 04, 2017, 12:18 (2788 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

DAVID: Tony said: "In short, my view is that Jehovah designed themes and allowed for variants within constraints". I interpret that as very close to my thoughts. Instructing a bird in how to do it is virtually the same.
dhw: […] There is a world of difference between direct intervention by your God, and your God “allowing” birds to design their own variants, to do which he must have given them the necessary mechanisms.
TONY: I think it is important to distinguish between physical attributes and behaviors. Build a nest is a behavior, and really should not require more than a very basic set of instructions. Physical attributes however require very specific instructions, precise timing, and in some cases cannot vary by more than minute amounts.

Once again, we are talking about a specific nest, because David insists that it is too complicated for the weaverbird to have designed it. Nest-building is behaviour, but the nest itself is a material object. I have deliberately chosen three different types of “variant” (one object, one lifestyle and one physical attribute), but let's stick to the nest, as that to me is the obvious example of the dislocation between David's two hypotheses. So may I be a pain, and ask for a direct response? Do you agree with David that God must have separately designed the weaverbird's nest, as opposed to giving the bird the intelligence to design its own "variant" (a good description, as I would assume the weaverbird was not the first to build a nest). I shan’t ask you whether you agree with David that the nest is related to God’s sole purpose, the production of humans, as I know this is a resounding no!

DAVID: You know my reasoning: balance of nature to supply life's energy for evolution to proceed for millions of years. As for the nest, please note Tony's entry today. God's behavioral instructions.

The complicated knots are not behavioural, but in any case the question is whether God designed the "variant" himself, or the weaverbird designed it. Balance of nature means life continues, whether there are humans or not. Nothing to do with God’s sole purpose being the production of humans and everything else being related to that. See “God and evolution”.
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