Innovation and Speciation: whale changes (Evolution)

by David Turell , Tuesday, May 16, 2017, 15:15 (2529 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: You tell me that nobody can explain speciation and then bring up your mindless cell committees to explain the huge gaps in form between species evolutionary changes.

dhw: My hypothesis is the exact opposite: that cell communities are not mindless, even if they do not have human brains. Your ironic switch from my “communities” to your “committees” shows that you are only willing to think of intelligence in human terms. Organisms ARE cell communities, and I don’t know why you should find it so difficult to believe that they might want to survive and might possibly look for new ways of doing so.

I agree that simple adaptations can occur from cellular input, epigenetic changes. It is when you want to jump the fossil gaps that I object logically. The gaps require foresight of the future design and planning. Logical.

dhw: All you are telling us now is that the whale evolved in eight stages and is part of the bush of life. The answer to how this fits in with the rest of your theory is the above string of “don’t knows”!

Have you looked at each stage? Can you explain the gaps? I can't, but what I can do is analyze the need for planning, design and the ability to imagine the changes required in the next form. That requires mental work, doesn't it. Cells logically can't do that, only minor adaptations. The whale plays a large role in the econiches of ocean life.