Natures wonders: ant care for the sick protects well ants (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, April 07, 2018, 16:04 (2420 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: From recent research reported in Nature, viruses have been around since life was very early. Bacteria have their own viruses. Perhaps they are part of the requirement of diversity for diversity sake, a point you seem to love. I cannot tell whether God wanted this or allowed it.
dhw: Your “perhaps” is most welcome. By the same token, you cannot tell if God allowed evolution to follow its own course, as I have suggested, or controlled every innovation, lifestyle and natural wonder. I see a glimmer of hope that you may yet acknowledge the possibility that your God used evolution to create the ever-changing spectacle (including humans) which he watches with interest because he wanted an ever changing spectacle which he could watch with interest, i.e. “diversity for diversity’s sake”.
DAVID: I don't think I will in any way leave my point that humans were the obvious purpose.

dhw: You can’t tell whether my hypothesis is correct or not, but you will stick to your own hypothesis. Perfectly fair. But not a reason for rejecting my hypothesis.

Your humanizing Him is a good enough reason.

DAVID: (under “Genome complexity”): We have one DNA but it can make all sorts of different functioning cells:
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-discovery-cells-identical-genes-unique.html

Scientists have made a significant discovery that explains how and why the billions of different cells in our bodies look and act so differently despite containing identical genes.

dhw: You understandably emphasize the design aspect of this. I would also emphasize the versatility of the cell. This ability to change form and function would be a key element in my hypothesis that the mechanism existed from the very beginning of life for organisms to restructure themselves. In a theistic context, this would mean your God gave them both the mechanism for diversity and the intelligence to use it.
DAVID: I appreciate your interest in the articles I present that point to design. We know that adaptations are due to cellular flexibility, but that dos not explain macro-evolution, speciation. My view is it requires a designer.

dhw: It then becomes a question of where you draw the line between adaptation and speciation. Legs becoming flippers, or vice versa, may be part of speciation through adaptation. If the mechanism exists for flexibility, who knows how far that flexibility may extend? And if we don’t know, we cannot dismiss my hypothesis.

We have no evidence of gradual adaptation leading to speciation. All we see in the fossil record is the gaps of saltation.