The Dodo Problem (Evolution)

by David Turell , Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 17:07 (5105 days ago) @ dhw

David and I are enjoying a ding-dong-dodo. This time, I will start with the end of your post:
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> DAVID: What I don't like is chance mutation as the guiding force. 
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> I agree, and it's a crucial point against atheism. However, at the beginning of your post, you also make a crucial point against theism:
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> "And what is the most complex thing in the universe, the UI itself?!. So why shouldn't big-brained primates appear?"
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> If the most complex thing in the universe can simply "appear", then so can the less complex mechanism that brought about life and evolution. George could hardly have put it better.
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> However, we are never going to agree, and so before we both join the dodo, I'm willing to call a truce if you are.-I can't quit at this point. The big brained primate didn't 'appear'. That is you taking my shorthand description for all its worth. Six million years ago a branch appeared that began to enlarge its brain. It wasn't particularly threatened. Preditors weren't overwhelming. The equatorial climate was ok. The other primates didn't develop further, brains the same. What drove Australopithicus to Homo habilis to Homo sapiens? Nothing we absolutely know of. Dumb luck? Road apples!!! We can see no such need for such a driven branch of evolution. Re-read my chapter of my book,"Our Hat Size is Too Big for Darwin". Recent research, I have quoted here, tells us the chimps and bonobos did not advance at all. They had just as many 'threats' as our branch. They have been in stasis. But not the road to H. sapiens. Please explain it, if you can!