Evolution: more genomic evidence of pre-planning (Evolution)

by David Turell , Monday, March 08, 2021, 01:11 (1137 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: You apparently cannot recognize over-capacity when it exists in as newly arrived form of a brain. Your stasis discussion is entirely off point and simply descriptive of what happens next after the huge new form of brain arrives on the scene. It is as if you bought a new small car with a 600 hp engine. For what purpose?

dhw: My point is that the brains were NOT oversized. Are you referring here only to H. sapiens, and are you referring to shrinkage? I have explained both ad nauseam. In my theory, the pre-sapiens brain, like all brains beforehand, needed to expand in order to meet unknown new requirements which the smaller brain could not meet. It expanded to the size needed for the new requirements,

You still miss the point. The new sapiens brain is way over expanded for the needs of that time as then proven by much latter massive use. You are totally twisted backwards in your view, which is why I discarded the remainder of your thought.

David's theory of evolution

DAVID: God chose to design/evolve all living forms with humans as His final goal.

dhw: Same deliberate dodge. How does your statement come to mean that every living form in life’s history was “part of the goal of evolving [= designing] humans” when 99% of forms had no connection with humans? (See also “theodicy”).

DAVID: Same weird chopping up of evolution into unrelated segments. Evolution proceeds from bacteria to humans without stopping. Under common descent we are direct results from bacteria.

dhw: You keep agreeing that evolution branches off into countless unrelated segments, or are you saying that lizards, which have no connection with mammals, were “part of the goal of evolving humans”? Please stop restricting evolution to the one line from bacteria to humans.

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Of course massive new branches for food supply.

Symbiosis by bacteria

DAVID: Of course God had to give them flippers if they were to enter a watery environment.

dhw: I’ll skip the question of whether God did it or not, and simply ask you again whether you do or don’t agree that the purpose of the flippers was/is to enable whales to improve their chances of survival in the water. If not, what was their purpose?

God provided survival in all environments is my point.

Immortal bacteria

DAVID: two major points. Some forms are designed to be able to live forever. The need to survive does not drive evolution. That 99% are gone is of no import. And here must be adequate food supply for life to thrive.

dhw: The need to survive did not drive immortal bacteria to change into something else because they are fine as they are! Now please tell us what purpose adaptations serve if not to improve organisms' chances of surviving in new conditions.

My only point is God guaranteed survival

Playing possum

QUOTE: “Playing dead seems to be a very good way to stay alive.'"

DAVID: You have possums conceptualizing necessary time intervals. How very sentient of them! I'll stick with God's help.

dhw: I don’t know about “conceptualizing necessary time intervals”. I don’t think it requires super intelligence for an animal to perceive when the coast is clear. And YES in block capitals, I do believe that our fellow creatures are sentient. What makes you think they are not?

DAVID: Sentient, yes, conceptualizing, no.

dhw: I do not imagine possums dreaming up abstract ideas, if that’s what you mean. And I do not think they would need to. Acting dead and waiting till the danger has passed does not seem to me to require human levels of conceptualization.

How did possums arrive at the conclusion that playing dead would fool predators, when generally running away fast is the reasonable alternative??