The Dodo Problem (Evolution)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Friday, December 03, 2010, 05:02 (5103 days ago) @ dhw

Tony (B_M), presumably in support of David's anthropocentric interpretation of evolution, has again rightly pointed out that humans depend on all other life, which depends on the earth, which depends on the galaxy, which depends on the universe etc. This applied to the dodo just as much as to you and me, and certainly does not mean that humans were the final goal. If you can explain why dodos were a necessary part of God's plan to create humans, I might be able to understand why a specific, perfectly planned project takes precedence over 1) an improvised experiment with no ultimate goal, or 2) a targeted experiment without prior knowledge of how to achieve the goal. 
> 
> As for a baker planning to make a loaf and waiting 45 minutes for the dough to rise, it's a nice analogy, but it doesn't explain why someone who wants to bake a loaf should produce a dozen jam tarts as well, and then throw them away. (My analogy relates to the dodo, not to the obviously essential microbes or plants.)-The baker analogy is more fitting. Does the baker have to plan precisely how much sugar the yeast will consume, or how much they will ferment, or how much gas they will release? No. He simply knows that in 45 min, the yeast will feed on the sugars in the dough and make the bread rise before it is ready to put in the oven. -As for the Dodo, what ate the dodo? What ate the dodo's remains, or droppings, or eggs? What mites festered beneath the dodo's feathers? What did the Dodo eat? Was it something that no other animal at the time ate? Did the Dodo have or develop any unique immunities that it passed on to the creatures that ate it? What about and unique genetic mutations that were passed on to the creatures who ate it? Unless you know absolutely every detail about the Dodo, you can not say that the Dodo was irrelevant to the process of preparing the earth or sustaining the growing life on it.