Natures wonders: walking fish have not evolved (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, January 28, 2020, 15:23 (1759 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID:: An environmental change may invite change in organisms or adaptation, but no response is required as shown by the ancient scorpion fossils from 437 mya that show virtually no change until now. (Saturday, January 18, 2020, 20:15).

dhw: Of course it’s not required if the organism can already cope! We are not trying to explain why organisms remain the same! We are trying to explain why they do change when they change! Proposal: some must change if they are to survive; others may make use of new conditions to improve their chances of survival. Hence both adaptation and innovation. Why do you object to this?

DAVID: The bold is your problem. It is not the threatened ones that are at issue (see my statements above), it is the ones that that are changed for no good reason. What pushes them, if anything? God, yes!

dhw: I have just given you a good reason: they use the opportunity to improve their chances of survival! Obviously this is your problem: you refuse to accept the importance of survival as a drive for evolution.

I don't refuse to accept that organisms when challenged need to adapt or go extinct. With no stress, why should any change? You have again insisted organisms can foresee future needs or abilities they currently do not have and create advances..

dhw: I keep telling you that my theory does NOT involve advance changes or foreseeing trouble ahead. I’ve bolded it for you, and next time I’ll capitalize it AND bold it. It is you who have your God gazing into a crystal ball, foreseeing trouble (or possibly organizing it himself). I know you don’t accept the theory of “natural genetic engineering” by which cells may do their own designing, but please stop pretending that this involves advance planning. Yes, “survival” is Darwin-speak. Do you honestly think organisms are not motivated by the drive for survival?

DAVID: Wow! Don't you realize 'motivation' requires a thinking mind?

dhw: Of course it does (though not a human-type mind). Haven’t you realized that for years now I have been proposing the theory of cellular intelligence (possibly invented by your God) as the driving force behind innovation – as also advocated by James A. Shapiro with his theory of “natural genetic engineering”?

I know. Bacteria can do it without becoming new species. and God gave them the abilities.