More "miscellany" (General)

by dhw, Monday, April 25, 2022, 10:50 (704 days ago) @ David Turell

STEM CELLS

DAVID: Stem cells follow the new instructions in the new DNA for a new species. That is obvious from all we know. God does not operate. To speciate He recodes DNA.

dhw: This would seem to indicate that the first flippers were designed in an embryo, and did not result from adaptation to a new environment. I know it ties in with your theory that your God speciated in anticipation and not in response to new conditions, so is this your interpretation of his method? How do you imagine your God recoded the DNA without some sort of operation?

DAVID: The operation is changing DNA code. And certainly flippers are an adaptation for water.

So he does operate. Let’s pin it down. Do you think your God changed the DNA code before pre-whales entered the water, or do you think that the interaction between legs and water resulted in a change to the DNA code?

Our rare solar system

DAVID: How do you know the whole universe is not required to produce one life-bearing Earth? […]

dhw: That is only one part of my comment. The main part is the author’s use of the word “INTERVENTION”, the implications of which you seem to have missed. […]

DAVID: Intervention is a word for God at work, I assume. Your answer is a non-answer to the question I posed. Please answer.

dhw: Sorry. The answer of course is I don’t know, and I have not pretended that I do. I simply ask for some kind of explanation, because as with the evolution of life, it seems strange to me that although apparently your God only wants one thing, he designs lots that don’t seem to have any connection with the one he wants. “Intervention” to me suggests changing something that already exists. I don’t see how he can intervene in something if he alone creates and controls it.

DAVID: Sorry, why won't you come to understand I cannot explain God. I can only see His productions and therefore His underlying purposes. I accept His methods. He intervenes to change course.

If God exists, then his productions are the universe, including our solar system, life and the process of evolution. I am not asking you to explain God. I am asking you to explain the logic underlying your theory that your God designed billions of solar systems (method) although he only wanted one (purpose), and countless species plus foods (method) though he only wanted one species plus food (purpose). You can’t find any such logic, and “God makes sense only to Himself”.
If your God “intervenes” to change the course of his own creating, then quite clearly he did not have everything planned right from the start. This would tie in very neatly with two of my alternative theories: he was experimenting in order to achieve the goal you have “guessed” (humans who would admire his work and have a relationship with him), or he kept getting new ideas as he went along.

Comparing suns

DAVID: Just toss out the Big Bang? Chance did all of it. No first cause? Empty theory with no facts.

dhw: The theory does not “toss out” the Big Bang! Something must have caused the Big Bang, and for all we know it was just an incident in the history of first-cause eternal and infinite matter and energy. Yes, empty theory with no facts. Nobody knows the facts. Where is the factual evidence for a sourceless, eternal, conscious mind powerful enough to conjure up universes?

DAVID: Unique irreducibly complex designs. Not by chance!!!

As I keep saying, both theories require a leap of faith.

Modulating synapses

QUOTE: "As with any biological function, it can be just as handy knowing what happens when it doesn't all go according to plan. There are already genetic hints that RIM1 could be involved in conditions such as autism and schizophrenia.”

DAVID: […] free-floating molecules can make mistakes. But this is a classic example of careful design for precise control.

dhw: I’m sorry, I know you want to highlight the wonders of the brain, and I do not wish in any way to minimize them. I just cannot accept that autism and schizophrenia plus all the diseases caused by “mistakes” are “classic examples of careful design for precise control”. We are back to the problem of theodicy!

DAVID: Caused by our living system that works, since we are all alive despite molecular mistakes.

And the mistakes cause untold suffering and death. I just cannot see how “precise control” can include “mistakes”. Sorry.

dhw: Once more my thanks and admiration for all the research that you are doing, though I must admit it's sometimes hard to keep up!

DAVID: Once again, thank you. I appreciate being allowed to use your website to present God's works.

If it were not for your contributions, I would not be able to discuss all the problems that we agnostics have with both theism and atheism. Ours is a symbiotic relationship, even if at times it might seem like war! :-)


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