More "miscellany" (General)

by dhw, Monday, January 31, 2022, 13:43 (788 days ago) @ David Turell

Early quark-gluon plasma

DAVID: If God makes new universes, based on the BB, energy/matter must be made anew each time.

dhw: Silly word play. If you make something anew, it simply means you start again, and you can do that with existing materials. It doesn’t mean you have to invent new materials. We should end this discussion, because neither of us knows what Guth was trying to “prove”.

DAVID: What materials exist if a universe has vanished? Guth proved a universe stated with no 'before'. Accept it, even if you don't like it.

Vast sections of the universe we know come and go. Same materials. Our universe could be one of many that still exist (multiverse theory). This sort of speculation is pointless. Your reversion to your original interpretation of Guth’s theory leaves you contradicting yourself to the point of absurdity, since you actually believe that your God existed before our universe and could have made other equally physical universes before ours. Nobody can possibly know what preceded our universe, and you yourself repeatedly reject the very idea that something can come from nothing. “Accept it, even if you don’t like it.”

(We can drop the next two items from last time, since you simply repeat your fixed belief that cells are not intelligent.)

DAVID: God's mutation rates can be calculated whether attributed to Him or nature.

dhw: Yes of course. If everyone agrees that certain mutations took place within 410,000 years, it could mean that your God took 410,000 years to dabble, but it could also mean that intelligent cells took 410,000 years to design the same mutations.

DAVID: The mutations required for any early Cambrian has been calculated by ID into the millions of years. Using the same math Darwinists do. The phenotypic gap survives.

By “mutations” I can only assume you and they mean random mutations. But mutations are not by definition random! If you believe in common descent, then as above even your God has to engineer mutations, and so these wonderful calculations do not take into account the possibility of intelligent design. But oops, they do, because ID-ers like yourself would claim that the brief period (= sudden appearance of new species)can only be explained by an intelligent designer. And that could be your God, or it could be intelligent cells (perhaps originally designed by your God). The next entry might help us:

How proteins find the right DNA spot

QUOTE: The protein production is regulated by DNA-binding proteins that have evolved the ability to turn different genes on or off. Because the environment can change quickly, rapid adaptation is key. The DNA-binding proteins must find the correct DNA code among millions of base pairs, and do so fast.

DAVID: I always point out all reactions occur at high speed. How the molecule knows its target is still not known. But it has to work this way.

Rapid adaptation is key”. Of course speciation is more than adaptation, but if the mechanism exists for rapid adaptation, it may be possible that the same mechanism could lead to rapid innovation. You are so right: “how the molecule knows its target is still not known.” So perhaps at the very least we should reserve judgement on the possibility that it is capable of autonomously and rapidly processing information and taking decisions. As you once wrote: “Those molecules literally act as if they have minds of their own.”]

Faint sun paradox

DAVID: Oh, I fully understand your position. 'Perhaps' use might soften your rigidity against a solution to the cause of our existence.

dhw: The theist says: “I believe God did it”; the atheist says: “I believe chance did it.” The agnostic says: “I don’t know which “solution” to believe.” The latter automatically entails “perhaps” for both solutions. The two fixed beliefs automatically mean there can be no “perhaps”. So which of us three do you reckon is most rigid?

DAVID: Yours. Atheist and theists have solutions.

So "I don’t know, but perhaps…" is more rigid than “I know”? :-D or possibly:-(


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