Logic and evolution: the giraffe problem (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, January 17, 2019, 20:01 (2138 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: So you choose to ignore their opinion and impose your own.
“Reacting passively” refers to the following:
“...the amoeba doesn’t have to calculate every individual path like most computer algorithms do. Instead, the amoeba just reacts passively to the conditions and figures out the best possible arrangement by itself. What this means is that for the amoeba, adding more cities doesn’t increase the amount of time it takes to solve the problem.” I take this to mean that the amoeba ignores the on-and-off lights (remember it is the FURTHEST that goes on and off most frequently), i.e. does NOT automatically do what you would expect it to do, but instead works out the shortest route by itself.

DAVID: What don't you understand about 'reacts passively', while they also say it reacts automatically to the two stimuli, and I agree one at a time. ?

dhw: It’s you who don’t understand “reacts passively”. They do NOT say the amoeba reacts automatically to the two stimuli! It takes no notice of the lights (unexpectedly, it reacts passively to one stimulus) but somehow finds the shortest route to the food (the other stimulus). How does it do that? You say your God preprogrammed it to do so 3.8 billion years ago. The researchers say it “figures out” the route by itself (= intelligence). Once more I suggest we leave it at that. If you’re prepared to dismiss McClintock, Margulis, Shapiro and Buehler, there’s not much point in dragging this discussion out. Its only real relevance is the fact that clearly there are other scientists who share the concept of cellular intelligence.

Agreed