New Miscellany 1 & 2: evolution. brain, intelligence etc. (General)

by David Turell , Thursday, April 17, 2025, 18:48 (1 day, 14 hours, 35 min. ago) @ dhw

Evolution

DAVID: Again your usual distortion of evolution. Of course all go extinct as new forms take over. We are reduced to an ordinary outcome in your senseless view. Sapiens are a marvelous miracle and you remain blind to it.

dhw: Once more you simply ignore the absurd illogicality of the above theories and stoop to equally absurd distortions of my personal views of life. Humans are indeed a miracle, and so are all forms of life, and all the natural wonders you present us with. I love and appreciate life every bit as much as you do. Please stop dodging.

I try to remind you of our specialness, and you dilute it by equating us 'to all forms of life'. Your view is distorted.

The human brain

dhw: Do you, then, think he inserted the cells in order specifically that, for instance, we should be able to send a rocket to Mars 3000 years later, or do you think he left it to us humans to use the new cells and the existing method of complexification to respond to all unknown future requirements/ opportunities/concepts etc. as and when they arose?

As usual, you ignore my question.

DAVID: Isn't this below a sufficient answer??:

dhw: No.

DAVID: The big brain like preceding ones used complexification to handle all new needs. This required a store of functional neurons in excess of original needs to supply the complexification processes.

dhw: Once again you’re telling us the new neurons were not used (excessive) but simply hung around for thousands of years doing nothing.

DAVID: Don't you understand 'functional neurons' are working???

dhw: Don’t you understand that if functional neurons are working, they cannot be called excessive?

dhw:...If your God popped in to insert the non-functioning functional neurons, why didn’t he simply wait till they were needed, as you presumably think he did with all earlier brains? Now please answer my question above.

DAVID: Answered above. My answer infers all preceding new brains were larger than needed for their time of arrival.

dhw: Yes, it infers that the new, “excessive” cells hung around for perhaps thousands of years doing nothing. Now please answer my original question: rockets to Mars, or unknown future requirements? The reason for my asking is that I’d like to know what you think your God saw in his crystal ball.

Exactly what we are doing now.

Logical ordering of bacterial genes

DAVID: God uses de novo developments when needed. Note the Cambrian explosion.

dhw: When needed for what? The article emphasizes the fact that evolution works through changes to existing organisms that will improve their chances of survival. This can only happen through trial and error, but you say it doesn’t. So are you telling us that your God created today’s brands of bacteria “de novo”?

Not answered.

He evolved them.