Natures Wonders (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, October 30, 2011, 18:35 (4773 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: What protects a woodpecker's brain from concussions?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15458633

I can't think of the itty-bitty Darwin steps to have the bird develop this solution. What made them decide to beat their heads against the hard bark of a tree instead of scooping up worms in the ground?

GEORGE: This is the argument from lack of imagination.

DAVID (quoted by George): "Only epigenetic mechanisms could do this, not Darwin's hunt and peck of chance mutation and natural selection."

GEORGE: Understanding of evolutionary processes has moved on since Darwin wrote 150 years ago, just as physics has moved on since Newton.

Thank you, David, for all these fascinating posts, but I’m with Darwin (and George) in the context of this example. I can well imagine Percy Pecker suddenly having the bright idea of tapping on wood, and being rewarded by a juicy grub. A few more taps and he gets a splitting headache, but the discovery has now been made. He’s found a new source of food (highly advantageous).

I keep presenting these nature's wonders because it raises all these questions of 'how did it happen?'

This is where Darwinian imagination makes no sense. It would have to be very soft bark for the first event to take place. Or why bother, when the ground is so wormy all the time! Perhaps the little pecker tried rotted wood, then why bother to hit the hard stuff? the point is wedon't know why the woodpecker ever started. Or how he got there. This is where Darwin is so weak. We see all the results, and how designed much of it looks. We see all the complexity of animal activity, in it own way as complex as human activities. And we can never see how Darwin did it, if he did. Epigenetics will be a big help, but the truth is evolution is a process that occurred and we don't know how. Designers and non-designers can only pick their own faith.