cellular intelligence (Evolution)

by dhw, Sunday, October 25, 2020, 13:16 (1488 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: We all do not differ except I believe God provided the intelligent instructions.

dhw: Then we are poles apart. Talbott and I are arguing for the autonomous intelligence of cells, not for robots obeying God’s instructions.

DAVID: Talbott is not you. He has only raised the issue of how come cells act so intelligently, without answering the question!! He wants answers. I like to follow him because he so clearly defines what is missing. I fill it with God as designer.

Talbott argues the case for cellular intelligence. So do I. He doesn’t know the source of that intelligence. Nor do I. And so where do Talbott and I differ?

DAVID: [..] Grudgingly you offer God as possibly the cause because you have no other answer.

dhw: …maybe the cause of life would be the same cause of cellular intelligence: 1) God, 2) chance, 3) some form of panpsychism – all equally difficult to believe in. That is why some of us are agnostics. I may have said this before.

DAVID: I think chance is an unreasonable theory, considering the complexity of biochemical life. As for panpsychism, it is a blown up concept only because we do have the mental capacity to invent all sorts of idiotic suggestions. Minds at invention play. Why not try on multiverses for size?

You said I had no other answer. I gave you two other answers. I also told you that I find both of them difficult to believe in, so why do you have to tell me that they are difficult to believe in? I find your own theory equally difficult to believe in, which is why I am an agnostic. This discussion is a cul de sac.