More Miscellany: Bechly reappears (General)

by dhw, Friday, May 31, 2024, 12:36 (174 days ago) @ David Turell

Cellular intelligence

DAVID: Accepted. So don't tout brilliant cell committees every chance you get.

dhw: I only tout it because you never stop touting your theory that your God dabbles or preprogrammed every innovation, strategy, lifestyle etc, for the whole history of life, even down to the possum being taught how to feign death!

DAVID: I won't if you won't.

You never stop.

The brain: studies on memory

dhw: An organism which, in your own words, “runs its own show” and “decides what to record” etc. works autonomously. God may have given it this autonomous ability, but that does not mean that its “show” and its decisions are preprogrammed by instructions.

DAVID: That is exactly what it can mean.

dhw: It runs its own show, but God runs it. It decides what to record, but God decides what it should record. Your use of language is bewildering.

DAVID: No, God built in all those plasticity mechanisms to run on their own.

dhw: I have no problem with the theory that your God may have designed autonomous cellular intelligence. It is your refusal to accept the possibility of autonomous cellular intelligence that I object to.

DAVID: I know.

“God built the mechanisms to run on their own” means he gave the cells/cell communities their autonomy. Since the show and the decisions clearly require intelligence, thank you for informing us that your God gave cells autonomous intelligence.

Moths fake out bats

DAVID: You are arguing from the position of natural evolution. I follow God-designed evolution.

dhw: As an agnostic, I don’t have a problem with the theory that there may be a God, and if there is, he designed evolution. My objection is to your invention of your God’s purpose coupled with a method of achieving that purpose which you yourself ridicule as being messy, cumbersome and inefficient.

DAVID: Funny how you defend my God.

Funny how you attack your perfect, omniscient, omnipotent, all-purposeful God as being messy, cumbersome and inefficient. But you have learned to live with all your contradictions, because first you choose the God you wish for, and you can then shut your eyes to anything that doesn’t make sense.

Ferns attract defenders

QUOTES: "Plants and the animals that eat them have evolved together in fascinating ways, creating a dynamic interplay of survival strategies”.
"'Our research highlights a fascinating example of convergent evolution, where ferns and flowering plants independently developed similar strategies to defend themselves against predation by recruiting ant defenders with nectarines.”
'The evolutionary history of fern nectaries not only demonstrates the complex relationships between plants and insects—relationships that have been previously underestimated—but also underscores the ability of ferns to adapt to ecological challenges.”

DAVID: this adaptation shows clear purpose, which suggests design in action.

Yes it does. And by “design” you usually mean God did it. And so I will suggest that the clear purpose is survival, and the design would have been carried out through the intelligence (perhaps God-given) of the cell communities that make up the different organisms, plants as well as insects and animals.