David's theory of evolution: James A. Shapiro's view (Evolution)

by David Turell , Friday, November 29, 2019, 19:55 (1819 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: I can agree that environmental change can cause extinction (Raup) as with the dinosaurs allowing other existing species to slowly evolve. We appeared 64 million years later. Lack of intermediate fossils? The Cambrian gap gets bigger. Gould's gaps haven't gone away. All we see is adaptation of existing species, so we cannot easily explain speciation.

dhw: Nobody can explain speciation, and that is why we have different theories. Do you disagree that speciation may have been local, and that environmental change may have triggered not only adaptation for survival but also innovation to exploit new opportunities? As for the gaps, either we haven’t found fossils, or the structures of cell communities changed relatively quickly. You believe the changes came through your God’s dabbling/preprogramming, and Shapiro proposes (as do I) that it was through cellular intelligence.

DAVID: Intelligence is immaterial. Tell me where the cells got it.

dhw: You are asking me to solve one of the many mysteries that no human has yet managed to solve: the source of life, of consciousness, of speciation [...] Your own answer is that immaterial intelligence comes from immaterial intelligence. Not very helpful, is it?

My suggestion as always is that consciousness came first. It is the same breed of cat as immaterial intelligence and it can design whatever is needed.

DAVID: The reason I explained his field is to show how he developed his theory, and I do not know if it can be applied to multicellular evolution. However his research is an important addition to all the research. Note it also helped to destroy most of the Darwin theory.

dhw: He obviously developed his theory from his own research into bacterial behaviour and other people’s research into cellular intelligence, but yes, it is a theory and not a fact. I would say it is an important addition to all the other theories. It doesn’t “destroy” common descent or natural selection (though we all agree this is not a creative force), which constitute “most of Darwin’s theory”, so why yet another silly and irrelevant snipe at poor old Charles?

DAVID: I've admitted poor old Charles didn't know what he didn't know. I'm really sniping at the dumb folks who still believe parts of his theories that are obviously wrong.

dhw: Then do please say so rather than pretend that one particular argument has “helped to destroy most of the Darwin theory”. There are major parts of Darwin’s theory that you think are obviously right, and I really hate to see you making such general statements, as they put you on the same blinkered level as the dumb folks who believe those parts you think are obviously wrong.

The only part of Darwin's theory that is left is common descent. None of his supposed methodology is supported.