Practical Consequences (Humans)

by dhw, Friday, November 13, 2009, 19:16 (5280 days ago) @ George Jelliss

George: You are unable to decide despite the evidence being heavily on one side rather than the other.-This evidence no doubt includes the unproven theory of abiogenesis, the unexplained mystery of consciousness, and the puzzle of innovation in evolution, while presumably also entailing the belief that folk like David Turell, BBella and Frank are even more "obstinate" than me! -dhw: ...how does she know the intentions of the designer? Maybe he meant it to go wrong, so that individuals wouldn't live for ever, or maybe [...] he's not perfect, or [...] he's not all-powerful.
GEORGE: That's three distinctly separate theologies there! All with different extraordinary assumptions!
dhw: First of all, they are not assumptions. They are "maybes".
GEORGE: Just a quibble. Assumptions, suppositions,...call it what you like.-"Maybe" = a possibility. Assumption = belief. All too frequently in these discussions my maybes have been distorted into beliefs. 
Here I have offered three different possible scenarios, each of which shows the flaw in GC's reasoning. My apologies for turning Christina into Christian. Carelessness, or unconscious irony? Anyway, thanks for the correction.-GEORGE: The idea that a designer would design life so that it looked as if it wasn't designed is still a contortion of logic.-It would be, if one knew what designed life would look like. Some folk might say that the cell is an astonishingly intricate design, but some folk think they know what a designed cell should look like, and it would look different. When you have designed a cell that works, George, let us know.-GEORGE: The only form of consciousness known is that evidenced by life-forms with brains and nervous systems.-Agreed. But no-one knows how consciousness arises out of the brains and nervous systems. The fact that you "don't think it's as weird as so many people seem to want to think" may be a sign that you know more than them, or it may be a sign that Greta Christina and "so many people" know more than you.-GEORGE: I admire your fortitude. It is almost worthy of Simon Stylites.
And George, I admire your commitment. It is almost worthy of St Sebastian.-The remainder of your entertaining post is a repetition of your unshakable faith in the evidence we do not yet have.