Magic embryology: requires exact timing for every tissue (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, February 07, 2020, 13:09 (1540 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Pure automaticity following a planned development. New cells respond to total controls. If this happens in embryos, as it must, it is easy to conclude all cells in fully developed organisms are are constantly following those overall instructions. No magical cell mental activity, making lone decisions by themselves when the cells turn from development to the regular activities of simply conducting the duties of living.

dhw: As usual, you leap in with your automaticity once the species is established. Of course everything has to be repeated automatically if the new species is to survive. But this does not explain how speciation – i.e. all the differences between the species – arose in the first place. Similarly, it does not explain how cells adapt to changing conditions in order that the species can remain the same. You always focus on the established “routine” and then ignore every aspect of life’s history when the routine is somehow broken (origin of species, adaptation to new conditions, and innovation – when existing cell communities produce something new).

DAVID: Once again I agree with the statement that we do not know how speciation happens. I'm surprised that you do not recognize epigenetics as art of the adaptive mechanism. As for cell committees, no evidence, and extremely unlikely. I'll stick with design.

Intelligent cell communities ARE a theory of “design”. Where is your evidence for divine dabbling and/or preprogramming? What on earth makes you think I don’t recognize epigenetics as part of the adaptive system? How is this supposed to invalidate the concept of intelligent cells responding to the needs and opportunities of the environment by changing their structures? As for your “cell committees” (your term, not mine), do you deny the existence of cell communities, and do you deny that those communities are in constant contact with one another in all multicellular organisms?

Nature’s Wonders: Ants
QUOTE: “'Put another way, ants, which have some of the most sophisticated and successful social structures in biology, do not practice a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ social policy.'”

DAVID: Note this is very tightly controlled automatic response, no thought involved, and indicates most animal responses are quite automatic.

dhw: And again as usual, you focus on the modes of perception rather than the mental processes that follow on from the perception. How do you imagine ants created their sophisticated and successful social structures and policies in the first place? Most human responses are also quite automatic. It’s what we and our fellow animals do with the information that suggests we are intelligent.

DAVID: All we know is the wrong smell makes an enemy. Since odorous compounds are complicated proteins, making them requires design, which I assume were given to the ants.

That is not all we know. We know that they have created sophisticated and successful social structures and policies and strategies to deal with both friends and enemies once their automatically operating senses have perceived who is who. Just like humans in fact. But apparently God had to preprogramme all this 3.8 billion years ago or come and do a dabble, because you know ants are automatons and only seem to be intelligent.