More "miscellany" PART TWO (General)

by dhw, Friday, March 17, 2023, 11:24 (12 days ago) @ dhw

PART TWO

Egnor on Free will

dhw: My point is that anyone who wishes to discuss the subject should make it clear what they mean by “free will”. Without a definition, discussions like Egnor’s lead nowhere.

DAVID: Discussions of free will should never bring in how neurons provide it. That is it at the level of what is consciousness.

Discussions of free will should begin with a definition of what the term means. Since free will directly concerns decisions that are consciously taken, there is no reason at all why the source of consciousness should not be included. Indeed, this becomes a vital factor in a court of law, when someone’s behaviour is blamed on factors related to the state of the brain at the time of the crime.

Neutrinos still confusing

DAVID: Why do you denigrate new research when it will bring us an understanding of your 'bigness' problem.

dhw: Where have you found me denigrating new research? You said it might help me, but you are the one with a problem, because you have a theory that you are desperate to prove: God had to create trillions of stars and solar systems in order to design us and our food.

DAVID: My desperate approach is simplicity itself: the size is required.

Just as the 99% of speciation blunders are “required”, and you don’t know why, and we should ask God because you haven’t got a clue why we should believe your theory.

Giraffe plumbing

dhw:I just can’t help wondering why, if your God exists and his purpose was to produce us and our food, he would have gone to all the trouble of designing the long gone Mamenchisaurus’s neck. Just another of his “mistakes”? Having a bit of fun? Hoping that a long neck might bring his design closer to himself and heaven? Or the common theory that both long necks evolved as a means of surviving by gaining access to foods other animals couldn’t reach?

DAVID: Recent giraffe research notes they don't try to reach the highest branch. They even graze.

If the food is available lower down, then of course they will “graze”! But it is not unreasonable to suppose that at one time, food on the ground was sufficiently scarce, and competition was sufficiently fierce, for it to be an advantage to reach food that other animals couldn’t reach. Please tell us why you think your God would have designed the long necks of the extinct Mamenchisaurus and the giraffe.