Information; origin of translation (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, July 29, 2017, 08:20 (2673 days ago) @ David Turell

QUOTE: "Organization (rules of behaviour as opposed to physico-chemical constraints) is only possible via intelligence external to the system being organized. Since intelligence is the only empirically warranted cause of organization, it must have been the cause of biological organization as well. There is no other option."(David’s bold)
[…]

dhw: While I am also sceptical of chance as the originator of intelligent life, I don’t know why the author should assume that rules of behaviour are only possible through an external intelligence. It is possible that the reorganization of existing systems comes about through an internal intelligence, e.g. intelligent cells/cell communities as organizers of their own evolution. Just trying to restore the balance here.

DAVID: No balance at all. The author is discussing pre-cell pre-life origination. You are countering with post-life existing functional cells! Nice leap of an illogic sequitor.

The paragraph I quoted is a generalization. I used the example (e.g. means for example) of evolution to challenge the generalization, but the claim that only an EXTERNAL intelligence is capable of pre-life biological organization is no more valid than reblak’s claim that unconscious Nature did it, that chance did it, or that some kind of internal panpsychist intelligence did it. It is the usual ID assumption with no scientific backing. I find all these hypotheses difficult to believe, and that is why I try to restore the balance when I see theists and atheists setting out to tip the scales with their assumptions.