Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4) (Humans)

by David Turell , Sunday, July 10, 2011, 02:13 (4681 days ago) @ xeno6696


> but each geological age is marked by some huge environmental change; and environmental changes also create new areas for creatures to expand into.-We are somewhat talking past each other. Environmental changes of any type are stressors. The organisms present at that time compete with environment for survival. They change if they can. They also compete with each other. Those that survive either by an appropriate change, or by the fact that they are previously arranged to be superior, are the select that survive. The main thrust as stress is environmental change, a little with species competition. Environmental change is a chance mechanism. Mutation is a chance mechanism. Natural selection is the endpoint, that is, who survives. Survival of the fitest is a tautology. Natural Selection is the tape at the end of the race. You can define natural selection as including all the chance stressors and the chance mutations, but I have always viewed it as the end result. It drives nothing by itself; it is the result of which active process is driving events. And there are many: temperature, volcanism, continental drift, etc., all at chance.-> the burden of your argument thus far is to demonstrate that evolution happens for no reason at all. THAT is the only way to dislodge Natural Selection. We need to see speciation happening without a selective pressure for your argument to stick. Selective pressure is what ramps up change, not the passive "wait for mutations" I've seen you argue thus far. -We actually are in much agreement, except I think evolution is coded to proceed from simple to complex. What is happening to me is the book is really 9-10 years old in my prevous thinking and as epigenetics has taken such an important role in current research, I've been changing my views.