Darwinist ignorance, confusion & epigenetics (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, June 14, 2018, 20:01 (2137 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID’s comment: The whole article reviews the history of the efforts to get epigenetics recognized. Neo-Darwinists fight tooth and nail against a change in approach to evolution. They want to study only external influences, not internal changes originated by organisms themselves.

dhw: Your comment is as significant as the article. Whether your God devised the whole system or not, it is becoming increasingly clear that evolution is a process in which organisms themselves originate change, and they do so at least partly (I would say mainly) through intelligent organismal responses to the challenges or opportunities presented by external influences. The external influences may well be governed by chance, but the responses are not.

DAVID: The key is recognizing the importance of internal responses. Darwin only noted the external and competition, only a small part of the story.

The key is recognizing the importance of all the factors involved. The aim is not to denigrate Darwin but to try and get as near as we can to a convincing explanation of how evolution happened. Your recognition that internal changes are “originated by organisms themselves” offers very gratifying support to the proposal I have summarized above. Thank you.

DAVID:A new paper by a Darwin scientist appears in Nature and is commented upon by the author in this entry. It estimates the new genes required for a Cambrian jump:
https://theconversation.com/we-reconstructed-the-genome-of-the-first-animal-95900

DAVID’s comment: this fits our discussion. The genes appeared within the animals to create the Cambrian gap. The Darwin scientist is puzzled because this is a jump without chance and without action by natural selection. Direction by God fits. Be sure to look at the ladder diagram to fully appreciate this.

dhw: Is anyone really surprised that new species contain new genes? We all know that the Cambrian is a puzzle – Darwin also recognized it – but I see no reason why it should not fit the scenario outlined above, in which organisms themselves respond to environmental change by originating their own changes. Your God may have invented the mechanisms that enabled them to do so. He may even have directed the environmental changes that offered these new opportunities. Who knows?

Agreed.