The Intelligent Cell (Origins)

by dhw, Thursday, March 29, 2012, 14:32 (4620 days ago) @ David Turell

http://www.thebestschools.org/bestschoolsblog/2012/03/25/all-dawkinss-straw-men/-DAVID: I love how he reduces natural selection to expose the true weakness of the concept. For example, our ancestors left the trees: Darwinist says, had to learn to be upright to move faster, travel more, be safer. NS to the rescue, and makes us upright. How about, vertebrae change allowing upright posture, then we leave trees. Old passive NS appreciates the change as we move on of our own power.-The article you've referred us to (thank you) sums up all that is wrong with Dawkins' irrational evasion of serious scientific questions in favour of demolishing straw men. The writer has expertly summed up what some of us have been saying for years on this website: the real question is how one accounts for the MECHANISMS that make adaptation and innovation possible.-May I suggest an alternative scenario to your apparently random mutation: ancestors (probably in isolated locations) forced to leave trees by environmental changes; intelligent cells respond by adapting and even innovating in order to cope with new conditions. NS, as usual, creates nothing, but favours survival and hence reproduction of those individuals that are best able to cope.