Miscellany (General)

by David Turell , Friday, April 23, 2021, 20:06 (1100 days ago) @ dhw

Homo luzonensis
DAVID: our evolution is convoluted and obviously our ancestors wandered all over the place, even across oceans. But the main line is still erectus to sapiens.

dhw: And this compounds the problem I have with your fixed beliefs. Why all the different lines, not only of the millions of organisms and lifestyles and econiches and natural wonders that had nothing to do with humans, but even of hominins and homos? Could all of them really have been necessary for God to specially design before he specially designed H. sapiens?

DAVID: Look at the example of evolution, a huge bush, all branches and twigs in every direction.

Well done for at last recognizing that evolution is not one straight line leading from bacteria to H. sapiens.

DAVID: Why not hominins? We arrived as the sole survivor in the end. You love to an analyze God's methods and criticize. Remember, God never thinks exactly like you think He does your continuous mistake about Him.

dhw: It is not God’s methods, purpose, nature etc. but your interpretation of them that I analyze and criticize, and since another human quality you attribute to your God is logic, I keep challenging you to explain the logic behind your image of him as all-powerful, always in control, knowing precisely what he wanted and how to get it, and designing every extinct life form plus food supply, including every extinct hominin and homo plus food supply, because the only thing he wanted to design was H. sapiens plus food supply.

Of course, your analysis of God's purposes and goals may not fit your human logic, because you are human and He isn't. Much easier to look at results, especially our brain that no evolutionary theory assuming the driving force is survivability can really explain. Based on past history there is no reason we should be here.

Some ant brains shrink and grow
QUOTE: "It tells us that brains are a lot more plastic and have a lot more abilities to change back and forth between their size than we knew,” Penick says. "And ants, their brains have some shared traits with humans, believe it or not.”

DAVID: Some branches in evolution have strange results, but this is a logical result as a tradeoff. Brains take lots daily energy requirements (20% in humans), and egg production is very energy demanding. It doesn't mean any other species brain can learn to do it.

dhw: The one example is enough to show that our brains are not unique in having the ability to RESPOND to different requirements. Do you think that 3.8 billion years ago your God preprogrammed this special ability in a particular form of ant, or that he popped in to do a dabble? Any alternative explanation?

Not all ants do this. Using my thoughts about how God does it, dabble.