Evolution and humans: Earth's environmental role (Evolution)

by dhw, Tuesday, May 30, 2017, 19:58 (2732 days ago) @ David Turell

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/a-grand-unified-theory-for-life-on-...

DAVID’S comment: Fits my ideas about God's use of evolutionary processes, in this instance the Earth. And those required calories for humans must cover a brain that demands 15-20% of the caloric consumption. Further it offers strong support for my insistence on the balance of nature as a crucial source of energy as diverse life was able to develop.

dhw: Thank you for this brilliant essay. It most certainly fits the theory that the environment plays a huge role in evolution. And of course, if God exists, it means that God used evolutionary processes. However, I can’t find any mention of God in the essay, so I think the author is only concerned with describing the evolutionary processes, not with your theory of how God used them. Is the balance of nature a crucial source of energy? I’d have thought energy supply was what determined the balance of nature, not the other way round. And according to this brilliant essay it also determines the diversity of life, which suggests that environmental change is the trigger that sets in motion the drive for improvement/complexity which in turn produces new species. I can find no hint in this essay that God creates the new species before he changes the environment.

DAVID: You don't have to point out the author does not give me direct support. I present material for its content and my conclusions. I didn't expect the author to offer direct support for my God concepts. You know that. I find those defensive statements of yours as humorous. I always present material like this, and you alwsys respond the way you do.

I always respond the way I do because you always make the same comment: any confirmation of evolutionary processes confirms your view that God uses evolutionary processes! If you stop making that comment, I will stop responding to it.

DAVID: As for energy, I find your view of the balance of nature supplying energy entirely backward as I think the author demonstrates.
That is YOUR view. You wrote that the balance of nature was the source of energy! The source means that the “balance” is the supplier! No, I suggest that energy supply is what determines the balance of nature, as I think the author demonstrates.

DAVID: Further, note that species change the environment almost as much as the environment changes on its own.

It’s pretty clear from all the current debates on climate change that species change the environment. However, that does not mean that your God creates species before he plonks them in a new environment.

DAVID: And I do not find improvement drive as equivalent to a complexity drive. Do not conflate them.

No, they are not the same, but each of them explains why speciation took place although it was not required, and so I put them together as alternatives. Perhaps I should use “or”.