An Alternative to Evolution: pt 2 (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, July 15, 2018, 13:00 (2321 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: So if your God dabbles (as opposed to preprogrammes) something completely new, like the knotty nest or the first brain, he does not provide any new “information”?

DAVID: I saying He may not. Tony thinks He may.

So we can now abandon the dogmatic view that all the information was present at the beginning. It may have been. It may not have been. Thank you for the clarification.

TONY: That leaves dabbling, which fits the evidence of the Cambrian explosion and similar events.

dhw: So is "dabbling" your alternative? Unfortunately, nobody has ever observed your hypothetical God dabbling – a “glaring defect”. David’s preprogramming hypothesis and my intelligent cell hypothesis also fit the Cambrian explosion and other events.

DAVID: The Cambrian was an enormous dabble. Was a huge 'Britannica' of genetic information added then? It is well beyond intelligent cell committees abilities.

That is your assumption. The hypothesis still fits in with the Cambrian.

TONY: Could a designer have done it otherwise? Certainly. I just want to see the evidence for it laid out in a logical, falsifiable manner before I jump on board.

dhw: Welcome to the land of the agnostic, which also extends as far as to the existence of a designer.

DAVID: Tony is trying in a scientific way to find God's methods. So am I.

And we all want to see the evidence for the different hypotheses laid out in a logical, falsifiable manner before we jump on board. Except that both of you have already jumped on board.

dhw: Evolution is the very opposite of separate creation, and that is what caused all the furore at the time of Darwin’s book. Either you believe in evolution or you believe in separate creation!

DAVID: I believe God guided an evolutionary process. I've never changed, and it is a third way not in your comment.

Then let us narrow the field: common descent is the opposite of separate creation. When your God dabbled, do you believe he dabbled with existing life forms or that he created them from scratch?