Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War (Humans)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Sunday, February 13, 2011, 23:00 (4827 days ago)

David should be thoroughly pleased that I've begun to read his book (though updates here will be infrequent... MUCH on my plate right now. -My replies to this thread will reference particular chapters. -David, I wasn't quite aware how closely I pegged you recently... in your own introduction you said--well--pretty much what I guessed last week in regards to the summary of your position. An exclamation point blinked above my head when I read that!

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Sunday, February 13, 2011, 23:25 (4827 days ago) @ xeno6696

I have only just begun, but right away I wanted to clarify something. On pg 15, where you reference Godel's theorem, I need to correct what it seems Paul Davies was suggesting. Of course I'm correcting him once-removed.-The line is thus: "Godel's Theorem (1931) is proof that not evetything can be explained: he conclusively demonstrated "that mathematical statements existed for which no systematic procedure could determine whether they are true or false." -I don't know Davies, but his generalization here is wrong--and dangerously so. -Godel's incompleteness theorems (there are two, the second makes the first stronger) states that for every set of theorems obtained from an axiomatic system using the natural numbers there will be one theorem that is true, but it will not be derivable from any theorem in the set. -In his own words: "For any formal effectively generated theory T including basic arithmetical truths and also certain truths about formal provability, T includes a statement of its own consistency if and only if T is inconsistent."-In plain terms, no formal axiomatic theory can be both consistent and complete.-Your criticism here applies extremely well to particle physics (I use this criticism myself) but breaks down when you begin to discuss consciousness at the end of the section. -And my response to Chet Raymo is: "Already done 2500 years ago by Buddha." Minus of course, science being the center. -Shermer's point is closer to my own, though I realize that my previous atheism was in some cases a response to the social pressure of being raised in the midwest. "Better to be a prince of hell, than a servant in heaven." However my "fall from grace" was more to do with George Carlin and how he openly exposed religious hypocrisy that initiated the change. (The power of comedy...)-More as I explore...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by David Turell @, Monday, February 14, 2011, 00:58 (4827 days ago) @ xeno6696

I have only just begun, but right away I wanted to clarify something. On pg 15, where you reference Godel's theorem, I need to correct what it seems Paul Davies was suggesting. Of course I'm correcting him once-removed.
> 
> The line is thus: "Godel's Theorem (1931) is proof that not evetything can be explained: he conclusively demonstrated "that mathematical statements existed for which no systematic procedure could determine whether they are true or false." 
> 
> I don't know Davies, but his generalization here is wrong--and dangerously so. 
> 
> Godel's incompleteness theorems (there are two, the second makes the first stronger) states that for every set of theorems obtained from an axiomatic system using the natural numbers there will be one theorem that is true, but it will not be derivable from any theorem in the set. 
> 
> In his own words: "For any formal effectively generated theory T including basic arithmetical truths and also certain truths about formal provability, T includes a statement of its own consistency if and only if T is inconsistent."
> 
> In plain terms, no formal axiomatic theory can be both consistent and complete.-We are dealing with my very incomplete math background. I've recently bought a calculus course to put on my computer and study.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, February 14, 2011, 03:37 (4827 days ago) @ David Turell

I have only just begun, but right away I wanted to clarify something. On pg 15, where you reference Godel's theorem, I need to correct what it seems Paul Davies was suggesting. Of course I'm correcting him once-removed.
> > 
> > The line is thus: "Godel's Theorem (1931) is proof that not evetything can be explained: he conclusively demonstrated "that mathematical statements existed for which no systematic procedure could determine whether they are true or false." 
> > 
> > I don't know Davies, but his generalization here is wrong--and dangerously so. 
> > 
> > Godel's incompleteness theorems (there are two, the second makes the first stronger) states that for every set of theorems obtained from an axiomatic system using the natural numbers there will be one theorem that is true, but it will not be derivable from any theorem in the set. 
> > 
> > In his own words: "For any formal effectively generated theory T including basic arithmetical truths and also certain truths about formal provability, T includes a statement of its own consistency if and only if T is inconsistent."
> > 
> > In plain terms, no formal axiomatic theory can be both consistent and complete.
> 
> We are dealing with my very incomplete math background. I've recently bought a calculus course to put on my computer and study.-David, -Don't be hard on yourself, you were quoting Paul Davies! The only possible error on your part was in taking him at his word; after all, physicists tend to be pretty good at math. This doesn't however, mean they're mathematicians. But I don't consider this a fault of yours.-Hawking for example has long since abandoned the idea of a "theory of everything" after having given much thought about Godel's incompleteness theorem. It is at the centerpiece of my criticism of String Theory. If String Theory is found to be complete, it will necessarily be inconsistent. -Calculus is good--by all means--but in all truth it won't get you to "real" math. (Not that calculus isn't 'real,' only that in most cases a course in calculus is targeted for engineering computations and not for abstract mathematics--ie Godel.) I would suggest this book to build the comprehension needed to tackle more abstract ideas. I can suggest others (and cheap others) beyond that, if it suits you. And if you choose to get that book, get it used... the current list price is atrocious...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by David Turell @, Monday, February 14, 2011, 05:20 (4827 days ago) @ xeno6696

David, 
> 
> Don't be hard on yourself, you were quoting Paul Davies! The only possible error on your part was in taking him at his word; after all, physicists tend to be pretty good at math. This doesn't however, mean they're mathematicians. But I don't consider this a fault of yours.-
Thanks for the math reference. I will look into it. I don't blame myself for Davies and Godel. Others I've read made the same reference to Godel's theorem. I just don't think like you math guys, and what you have told me about Godel makes me all the more muddled.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Friday, February 18, 2011, 03:05 (4823 days ago) @ David Turell

David, 
> > 
> > Don't be hard on yourself, you were quoting Paul Davies! The only possible error on your part was in taking him at his word; after all, physicists tend to be pretty good at math. This doesn't however, mean they're mathematicians. But I don't consider this a fault of yours.
> 
> 
> Thanks for the math reference. I will look into it. I don't blame myself for Davies and Godel. Others I've read made the same reference to Godel's theorem. I just don't think like you math guys, and what you have told me about Godel makes me all the more muddled.-What's troubling you?

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by David Turell @, Friday, February 18, 2011, 05:05 (4823 days ago) @ xeno6696


> What's troubling you?-I have no idea what Godel did, from what you showed me. I though that he proved you can't prove everthing. What did he do in simple language?

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Friday, February 18, 2011, 11:50 (4822 days ago) @ David Turell


> > What's troubling you?
> 
> I have no idea what Godel did, from what you showed me. I though that he proved you can't prove everthing. What did he do in simple language?-Asking a math guy to be imprecise... (!)-I'll try... hopefully I don't make this worse.-The key parts that make the theorem true are these:-The set of theorems must be axiomatic. Meaning, they are formally defined mathematical systems. Chemistry for example, is not axiomatic. Biology especially is not axiomatic. Experimental physics is not axiomatic, however theoretical physics IS. This might seem confusing, only the nature of how the two sciences are conducted serve as how they are delineated. Experimental physics is designed to test theoretical... it doesn't engage in model building for example, it just gives us an idea on how good is our model, or modifies the theoretical if it's close.-Now, you can always argue that all sciences attempt to reduce to physics, but this has proven difficult in practice.-The meat of the theorem says this: In a formally defined system, there will always be one thing about the system that is true, but isn't described by any combinations of the axioms without contradicting one of them. In mathematics, this is why we have more than one field. Typically a new field arises to explain such an inadequacy. So, it may not be provable in ONE system, but that doesn't mean ALL systems.-This did mean however, that a theory of everything in mathematics was abandoned. This should have told physicists something... at least Hawking listened....

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by David Turell @, Friday, February 18, 2011, 14:43 (4822 days ago) @ xeno6696


> > > What's troubling you?
> > 
> > I have no idea what Godel did, from what you showed me. I though that he proved you can't prove everthing. What did he do in simple language?
> 
> The meat of the theorem says this: In a formally defined system, there will always be one thing about the system that is true, but isn't described by any combinations of the axioms without contradicting one of them. In mathematics, this is why we have more than one field. Typically a new field arises to explain such an inadequacy. So, it may not be provable in ONE system, but that doesn't mean ALL systems.-
As I understand you now Godel generalized in his thorem, but it cannot be applied to a very specific set of facts. This is the impression of Godel given to me by the imprecise way it has been presented by various writers: 'Some very specific conjecture, based on fact can never be proven.'-Yes, no, maybe? It sounds like you are saying 'no'. In the mathematical forest I'm like a babe in the woods.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Friday, February 18, 2011, 15:42 (4822 days ago) @ David Turell


> > > > What's troubling you?
> > > 
> > > I have no idea what Godel did, from what you showed me. I though that he proved you can't prove everthing. What did he do in simple language?
> > 
> > The meat of the theorem says this: In a formally defined system, there will always be one thing about the system that is true, but isn't described by any combinations of the axioms without contradicting one of them. In mathematics, this is why we have more than one field. Typically a new field arises to explain such an inadequacy. So, it may not be provable in ONE system, but that doesn't mean ALL systems.
> 
> 
> As I understand you now Godel generalized in his thorem, but it cannot be applied to a very specific set of facts. This is the impression of Godel given to me by the imprecise way it has been presented by various writers: 'Some very specific conjecture, based on fact can never be proven.'
> 
> Yes, no, maybe? It sounds like you are saying 'no'. In the mathematical forest I'm like a babe in the woods.-This is the problem: Godel's proof is for systems that are mathematically formal. Systems that start from axioms (statements asserted or assumed) and follow strict logic.-How many fields do that? Math, theoretical physics. Propositional logic.-In your language, the state of quantum and classical mechanics each explaining aspects of reality but not all is the result of Godel's theorem.-Gravity isn't explainable in quantum mechanics. It is in classical mechanics.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One)

by David Turell @, Friday, February 18, 2011, 16:37 (4822 days ago) @ xeno6696

As I understand you now Godel generalized in his thorem, but it cannot be applied to a very specific set of facts. This is the impression of Godel given to me by the imprecise way it has been presented by various writers: 'Some very specific conjecture, based on fact can never be proven.'
> > 
> > Yes, no, maybe? It sounds like you are saying 'no'. In the mathematical forest I'm like a babe in the woods.
> 
> This is the problem: Godel's proof is for systems that are mathematically formal. Systems that start from axioms (statements asserted or assumed) and follow strict logic.
> 
> How many fields do that? Math, theoretical physics. Propositional logic.
> 
> In your language, the state of quantum and classical mechanics each explaining aspects of reality but not all is the result of Godel's theorem.
> 
> Gravity isn't explainable in quantum mechanics. It is in classical mechanics.-Thank you. That helps.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One) [Blood Clotting]

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 05:19 (4822 days ago) @ xeno6696

David,-We haven't had this discussion before, but you spend a good deal of time on Behe's blood clotting example of "irreducible complexity."-In nature, are there not clotting systems in other animals that are less complex than what we find in humans? -If the answer to this is "yes," then we have a case where complexity can get reduced. -Or is the blood-clotting mechanism something that is clearly the same across all species?

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One) [Blood Clotting]

by David Turell @, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 05:23 (4822 days ago) @ xeno6696

David,
> 
> We haven't had this discussion before, but you spend a good deal of time on Behe's blood clotting example of "irreducible complexity."
> 
> In nature, are there not clotting systems in other animals that are less complex than what we find in humans? -
Yes, but somewhat different. Note the difference when I discuss the lobster and clotting. Other mammals like us are about the same'

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter One) [Blood Clotting]

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 05:27 (4822 days ago) @ David Turell

David,
> > 
> > We haven't had this discussion before, but you spend a good deal of time on Behe's blood clotting example of "irreducible complexity."
> > 
> > In nature, are there not clotting systems in other animals that are less complex than what we find in humans? 
> 
> 
> Yes, but somewhat different. Note the difference when I discuss the lobster and clotting. Other mammals like us are about the same'-Not that far in just yet... maybe I should read more and yap less? lol...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Blood Clotting: How did it evolve, if it did

by David Turell @, Saturday, November 14, 2015, 06:01 (3093 days ago) @ xeno6696

It could easily be viewed as designed. this article discusses the steps taken when a vessel is damaged:-http://www.evolutionnews.org/2015/11/vasoconstrictio100681.html-"But the body faces another dilemma. A clot in a major vessel like an artery supplying blood to the brain, or the heart, or the lungs, can cause significant damage. In other words, hemostasis and the clots it forms must turn on only when it's actually needed and must turn off and stay off when it's not. It's like the sprinkler system in a factory and an air bag in a car. They must deploy only when needed. Let's consider the first two components of hemostasis: blood vessel vasoconstriction and platelet aggregation. "-Comment: First problem with considering evolution inventing this is the mechanism obviously must have a controlled start and a controlled stop. This cannot be invented by hunt and peck; it must work from the beginning. After this stage the clotting factors appear and there are over 17 of them, all in beautiful coordination. I can't think of anything but design. In organisms with a blood/circulatory system this is a 'must' for life to survive.

Blood Clotting: How did it evolve, if it did

by David Turell @, Thursday, December 03, 2015, 00:49 (3074 days ago) @ David Turell


> David: First problem with considering evolution inventing this is the mechanism obviously must have a controlled start and a controlled stop. This cannot be invented by hunt and peck; it must work from the beginning. After this stage the clotting factors appear and there are over 17 of them, all in beautiful coordination. I can't think of anything but design. In organisms with a blood/circulatory system this is a 'must' for life to survive.- Another article further describing the mechanism. It is this sort of complex arrangement that leads to my belief in God:-http://www.evolutionnews.org/2015/11/clotting_contro101231.html-"To prevent serious injury or death, the body had to come up with a mechanism that could apply a substance strong enough to stop the blood loss. -"This innovation is called hemostasis and involves three actions; vasoconstriction, platelet aggregation, and activation of the clotting factors. Hemostasis ultimately forms a fibrin clot, stops the bleeding, and allows healing to take place. However, since heart attacks and strokes occur due to clotting, the body must be able to control hemostasis so that it only turns on when it's needed and turns off and stays off when it's not. In other words, controlled hemostasis is a delicate balance between the forces that promote and prevent clotting. -***-"So, in summary, the clottingfactors in the blood remain inactive until blood vessel injury takes place to turn on the coagulation cascade. Meanwhile, the liver and the endothelium combine to produce anti-clotting factors that together work to turn off hemostasis and allow it to stay off when it's not needed. It is this delicate balance of clotting and anti-clotting factors that allows the body to normally be able to stop bleeding when injured, while at the same time allowing blood to flow freely to the tissues. Moreover, the total absence of fibrinogen, or prothrombin, or Tissue Factor, or Factor V, or Factor VII, or Factor VIII, or Factor IX, or Factor X, or Factor XI, or Factor XIII, or antithrombin, or protein C or TFPI would have made it impossible for our earliest ancestors to live long enough to reproduce. -"Michael Behe has described a system where the absence of any one part renders it non-functional as being irreducibly complex. It certainly looks like hemostasis is irreducibly complex, because if any one of the many clotting or anti-clotting factors were absent life would be impossible."-Comment: If you kept count there are 17 or so various factors acting to promote and to stop clotting. I can't think of a Darwinian just-so story to make this happen by chance or by itty-bitty steps by innovation.

Blood Clotting: shrinking scabs

by David Turell @, Friday, November 10, 2017, 00:50 (2366 days ago) @ David Turell

If you have ever cut your skin you know about scabbing which forms a rigid blood stopping protective layer after about an hour. Healing occurs under it. Clotting is an amazing process of over 17 blood factors triggering one after the other in a cascade reaction. It must be controlled to stop after the wound is covered. If internal it must be stopped before the whole body is clotted (!):

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-11-blood-clots.html

"Blood clotting is the "Jekyll and Hyde" of biological processes. It's a lifesaver when you're bleeding, but gone awry, it causes heart attacks, strokes and other serious medical problems.

"If a clot grows too big, pieces dislodged by blood flow (emboli) can block downstream blood vessels in the lungs or brain, leading to life-threatening complications such as pulmonary embolism or ischemic stroke. Therefore, once a clot forms, even for beneficial reasons, it must shrink and disappear after wound healing starts to maintain normal blood flow.

"While scientists know a lot about how blood clots form, relatively little was known about how they contract—a slow process that takes an hour to complete.

***

"As a result of injury or inflammation, platelets in blood get activated, become sticky, and bind together and with a stringy protein called fibrin to form a mesh-like plug (the blood clot) that stops bleeding into tissue. Platelets play a central role in clot contraction, but, until now, scientists haven't been able to show exactly how they accomplish this.

"As described in the paper, clot shrinkage occurs when platelets form hand-like protrusions called filopodia. These filopodia then attach to fibrin fibers and reel them in using the same hand-over-hand action used by a person pulling on a rope. The platelets retain the fibrin in tiny, tightly wound bundles, therefore remodeling the fibrin mesh to make it more dense and stiff. The reeling action also brings platelets and clusters of platelets closer together, reducing the overall volume of the clot followed by complete dissolution by fibrinolytic enzymes.

***

"Alber said the findings highlight a new role for filopodia, which were previously thought to help cells move around and sense their environment.

"'Until now, we knew very little about how individual platelets or small clusters of platelets exert a contractile force on fibrin fibers and how this tension collapses a clot's structure and reduces its size," Alber said. "Through this research, we have revealed a novel function for filopodia, which is their ability to re-arrange the fibrin matrix to cause clot shrinkage."

Comment: Multicellular Life could not continue to survive, unless a protective mechanism was present from the beginning to protect the circulatory blood system from leaks. This is the sort of system hat is so complex it had to begin in tact all at once, again implying design by God. No way to develop it step by step through multiple coordinated mutations.

Blood Clotting: shrinking scabs

by David Turell @, Tuesday, June 08, 2021, 19:11 (1059 days ago) @ David Turell

More study on why scabs shrink:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210607202208.htm

"Blood clotting is actually a physics-based phenomenon that must occur to stem bleeding after an injury," said Wilbur A. Lam, W. Paul Bowers Research Chair in the Department of Pediatrics and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory. "The biology is known. The biochemistry is known. But how this ultimately translates into physics is an untapped area."

And that's a problem, argues Lam and his research colleagues, since blood clotting is ultimately about "how good of a seal can the body make on this damaged blood vessel to stop bleeding, or when this goes wrong, how does the body accidentally make clots in our heart vessels or in our brain?"

The workhorses to stem bleeding are platelets -- tiny 2-micrometer cells in the blood in charge of making the initial plug. The clot that forms is called fibrin, which acts as a glue scaffold that the platelets attach to and pull against. Blood clot contraction arises when these platelets interact with the fibrin scaffold. To demonstrate the contraction, researchers embedded a 3-millimeter mold with millions of platelets and fibrin to recreate a simplified version of a blood clot.

"What we don't know is, 'How does that work?' 'What's the timing of it so all these cells work together -- do they all pull at the same time?' Those are the fundamental questions that we worked together to answer," Lam said.

***

"The simulations showed that the platelets work best when they're not in total sync with each other," Lam said. "These platelets are actually pulling at different times and by doing that they're increasing the efficiency (of the clot)."

This phenomenon, dubbed by the team asynchronous mechanical amplification, is most pronounced "when we have the right concentration of the platelets corresponding to that of healthy patients," Alexeev said.

Comment: Clotting is a cascade of about 20 steps starting with platelets. we are still trying to understand it fully. Obviously the clot must be confined to the region it is needed and never massive. Activation in brain or coronary vessels is thought to be the result of leaking chemicals from cracked arteriosclerotic plaques. My question is how did unguided evolution invent such a critical but totally controlled process?

Blood Clotting: monster cascade of reactions

by David Turell @, Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 20:08 (246 days ago) @ David Turell

Irreducibly complex and under tight controls:

https://evolutionnews.org/2023/08/the-incredible-design-of-vertebrate-blood-clotting/

"Thus, the formation of this platelet plug (and the injury itself) initiates the coagulation cascade.

***

"Vertebrate blood coagulation is best understood by focusing first on the ultimate objective of the cascade, which is the formation of a fibrin gel that reinforces the initial platelet plug, thereby strengthening the clot. The clot itself is made of fibers composed of the protein fibrin, which circulates in an inactive form (fibrinogen) in the blood plasma.

***

'The cleavage of fibrinopeptides exposes new binding sites on the fibrin molecule, allowing the individual fibrin molecules to polymerize into a clot.8 The fibrin molecules further aggregate and form a mesh-like network, which is stabilized by the enzyme factor XIIIa.9 Factor XIIIa catalyzes the crosslinking of fibrin molecules through the formation of covalent bonds between specific amino acid residues, creating a stable fibrin clot. The resulting fibrin clot, together with the platelets, provides a physical barrier at the site of injury, preventing further blood loss. It also serves as a scaffold for other components of the clotting process, which aggregate on the fibrin network to form a stable blood clot.

"If the pathway consisted only of fibrinogen and thrombin, thrombin would constantly cleave fibrinogen, and the consequence would be uncontrolled and excessive clotting throughout the bloodstream. To avoid this, it is essential that the process be carefully regulated. Blood clotting involves the use of proenzymes, which are enzymes that are retained in an inactive state and need to be converted into active enzymes through specific cleavage by proteases such as thrombin.

***

"Once activated, factor Va plays a critical role in the amplification of the coagulation process by enhancing the activity of factor X and promoting the production of more thrombin. This makes the coagulation cascade autocatalytic, since the activation of clotting factors leads to the activation of more of the same proteins.

***

"To prevent excess clotting and ensure that the clotting cascade remains localized to the site of injury, there are several regulatory mechanisms.16 Antithrombin III (ATIII) is a natural anticoagulant that inhibits the activity of thrombin and several other coagulation factors, including factor Xa and factor IXa. It achieves its anticoagulant effects through a mechanism called “serpin” inhibition.17 Serpins (serine protease inhibitors) are a class of proteins that regulate the activity of proteases, including those involved in blood clotting. ATIII binds to Thrombin’s active site, effectively blocking its ability to cleave fibrinogen into fibrin. By inhibiting thrombin, antithrombin III indirectly helps regulate the activation of factor V and thereby prevents excessive clotting.

***

"To prevent excess clotting and ensure that the clotting cascade remains localized to the site of injury, there are several regulatory mechanisms.16 Antithrombin III (ATIII) is a natural anticoagulant that inhibits the activity of thrombin and several other coagulation factors, including factor Xa and factor IXa. It achieves its anticoagulant effects through a mechanism called “serpin” inhibition.17 Serpins (serine protease inhibitors) are a class of proteins that regulate the activity of proteases, including those involved in blood clotting. ATIII binds to Thrombin’s active site, effectively blocking its ability to cleave fibrinogen into fibrin. By inhibiting thrombin, antithrombin III indirectly helps regulate the activation of factor V and thereby prevents excessive clotting.

***

"After the clot is formed, it undergoes retraction, which involves the contraction of fibrin by platelets within the clot, resulting in the clot becoming denser.21 This process helps to reduce the size of the clot and brings the edges of the wound closer together. Eventually, as the wound heals, the clot needs to be dissolved to restore normal blood flow. Plasmin, a proteolytic enzyme, breaks down the fibrin meshwork into soluble fragments, leading to the dissolution of the clot.22 Plasmin is generated from plasminogen by tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) or urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-Pa), among other molecules.

***

"Several of the proteins discussed here depend upon vitamin K for their synthesis — these are prothrombin, factors VII, IX, and X, as well as proteins C and S (i.e., the anticoagulant proteins that serve to inhibit excessive clot formation). Vitamin K is essential for the post-translational modification of these clotting factors. Without adequate vitamin K, these proteins cannot undergo the necessary chemical changes, which would impair their ability to function properly in the coagulation process."

comment: this enormous process contains more than 25-6 steps. (see diagram) I've boiled down an enormous article which discusses every intricacy in detail. Earlier forms before vertebrates on land had simpler systems from which this developed, but the jump to this sophistication was enormous, irreducibly complex and not explained by Darwinism. Designer always fits.

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War

by David Turell @, Monday, February 14, 2011, 00:48 (4827 days ago) @ xeno6696


> David, I wasn't quite aware how closely I pegged you recently... in your own introduction you said--well--pretty much what I guessed last week in regards to the summary of your position. An exclamation point blinked above my head when I read that!-I am pleased you started reading it. And I'm sure light bulbs appear over your head on a regular basis, or with your brilliant thoughts, spotlights.;-))

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, February 14, 2011, 03:38 (4827 days ago) @ David Turell


> > David, I wasn't quite aware how closely I pegged you recently... in your own introduction you said--well--pretty much what I guessed last week in regards to the summary of your position. An exclamation point blinked above my head when I read that!
> 
> I am pleased you started reading it. And I'm sure light bulbs appear over your head on a regular basis, or with your brilliant thoughts, spotlights.;-))-Come now... my test scores suggest I have nothing but more work to do, lol!

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Friday, February 18, 2011, 03:16 (4823 days ago) @ xeno6696

David,-On page 20 you mention that you think God is "partially knowable..."-Covered in Theodicy later?

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War

by David Turell @, Friday, February 18, 2011, 04:56 (4823 days ago) @ xeno6696

David,
> 
> On page 20 you mention that you think God is "partially knowable..."
> 
> Covered in Theodicy later?-Basically, yes. I guess that He is a tough-love God, and explain that concept, which I think helps solve the theodicy problem, better than other explanations i'v e seen.

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Friday, February 18, 2011, 03:49 (4823 days ago) @ xeno6696

David,-What is your understanding of Hinduism? As far as what I've learned, there's a strong argument that at its core it's monotheistic as well. (All gods are manifestations of a single entity: Brahman.) -Also... the age of Zorastrianism makes it a contender with Judaism for age of monotheistic thought. (Some scholars place Zoroaster as being born between 1100BCE and 1750BCE making it slightly to extremely older than Judaism.) Clearly, 2nd Temple Judaism (especially the Enochic literature) relied heavily upon Zoroastrian mythology. -I... realize I'm criticizing well after the book has been published. But at the same time these are questions I would ask any other author.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War

by David Turell @, Friday, February 18, 2011, 05:03 (4823 days ago) @ xeno6696

David,
> 
> What is your understanding of Hinduism? As far as what I've learned, there's a strong argument that at its core it's monotheistic as well. (All gods are manifestations of a single entity: Brahman.) -About what I thought might be the case without confirming it. The Indians I met in India made it sound a bit like your concept.
> 
> Also... the age of Zorastrianism makes it a contender with Judaism for age of monotheistic thought. (Some scholars place Zoroaster as being born between 1100BCE and 1750BCE making it slightly to extremely older than Judaism.) Clearly, 2nd Temple Judaism (especially the Enochic literature) relied heavily upon Zoroastrian mythology.-I had read that there were possibly other groups that entertained montheistic thought, but I didnot pursue it. I'm not sure how far back Judaism goes but the calendar is taken from the estimated age of the Garden of Eden 
> 
> I... realize I'm criticizing well after the book has been published. But at the same time these are questions I would ask any other author. -You are commenting, not criticising in my view.

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War (Flood Treatment)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 01:11 (4822 days ago) @ xeno6696

How I wish I had done those calculations for Balance back when you wrote this, lol. -
Still... comparative religion studies date Noah's Ark as a Jewish retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Yeah... the only reason I know this stuff is for writing that blasted novel...-I know one of your points in the first chapter overall is that some work should be done to reconcile science and religion, as you critique Miller's offhand dismissal of YEC. -Yet speaking from the mind I have now, it is very difficult to take their position seriously. It's... Quixotic devotion is uniquely Western, and... well, cartoonish. -My ideal for the two to get along better is to encourage more people like Francis Collins, or my old biochem professor to encourage kids into science. The unfortunate issue is that Creationists at large are only going to take the claims of other religious people seriously. Collins deeply undermines the Creationist paradigm of "anti-evolution." -In terms of materialists... there isn't much you can really do there. They have to learn to play nice with theists. Perhaps we should encourage more Indian and Muslim professorships. Typically they bring some brand of theism to the table. -In either case, it's not going to be easy.-As for the relationship between Religion and Science, I still maintain that the true nature of religion is how man deals with man on earth. This necessarily puts it in a different box than science in the first place. 2 of how many chapters in the Hebrew Bible are devoted to creation? How many deal with the dealings of men?

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War (Flood Treatment)

by David Turell @, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 01:39 (4822 days ago) @ xeno6696


> As for the relationship between Religion and Science, I still maintain that the true nature of religion is how man deals with man on earth. This necessarily puts it in a different box than science in the first place. 2 of how many chapters in the Hebrew Bible are devoted to creation? How many deal with the dealings of men?-You make an excellent point. There are two creation stories in Genesis, and the rerst of the Torah is do unto others, as Rabi Hillel preached 100 years before Jesus.

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War (Flood Treatment)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 02:55 (4822 days ago) @ David Turell


> > As for the relationship between Religion and Science, I still maintain that the true nature of religion is how man deals with man on earth. This necessarily puts it in a different box than science in the first place. 2 of how many chapters in the Hebrew Bible are devoted to creation? How many deal with the dealings of men?
> 
> You make an excellent point. There are two creation stories in Genesis, and the rerst of the Torah is do unto others, as Rabi Hillel preached 100 years before Jesus.-I thought Hillel was a contemporary? I'm reading an older book "A History of the Jewish Experience" by Rabbi Leo Trepp. I could have sworn I read that he was an opponent of King Herod.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: The 500-year War (Flood Treatment)

by David Turell @, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 05:18 (4822 days ago) @ xeno6696
edited by unknown, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 05:26


> I thought Hillel was a contemporary? I'm reading an older book "A History of the Jewish Experience" by Rabbi Leo Trepp. I could have sworn I read that he was an opponent of King Herod.-I'll have to re-check, but I've always thought about 100 years before.-Just did a wiki check, Hillel 60 BC to 20 A.D., Jesus 3-5 BC to about 29-30 AD. They overlap and Jesus was considered part of the Hillel group of teachers. I've learned something new.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 22:53 (4821 days ago) @ xeno6696

In the grand scheme of things, the question over design or not comes down to whether or not you feel a non-empirical inference is valid. A problem I have with a design inference is also this kind of reasoning. I haven't read your chapter yet on odds, but you discuss many of them in Chapter 2, and I chuckle a bit as I recall our first discussions. How can anyone offer valid statistics when we don't have a complete picture? We have a good model (Standard Model) but an incomplete picture. -As a mathematician I think all the physicists you quote shoot themselves in the foot when we still have a great deal of work to go before we really have a grand picture of everything. Many of the whys you bring up aren't really resolvable unless gravity can be reconciled with quantum mechanics. -Speaking of which, you seem to doubt quantum mechanics here. You make mention that the only way we've known anything here is in terms of calculating probabilities. -That's exactly the point; at that level determinism doesn't exist. A quantum system is always in a state of both wave and particle until some interaction causes it to take one form or another. This isn't an inadequacy of science, it's simply how reality works. On the quantum level, information can literally be created from nothing at all--hence Seth Lloyd's book "Programming the Universe." -You make several comments about us gaining a good "how" about the universe but not the "why." -Personally, I don't understand the seduction of "why" questions. It must be something uniquely Western that I simply managed to miss altogether while growing up. -Why are we here? 
"What does it matter?"
Why is the universe the way it is?
"Why does it matter?" 
Why something rather than nothing?
"Nothing is something itself. False dichotomy. An answer from physics."-I fail to see the relevancy of these questions. Especially in the discussion of evolution. These questions are fallaciously loaded so that man needs an outside explanation to justify his place in the cosmos, that we're somehow so important that we need our own special explanation as to why we exist as opposed to not exist. Man's hubris. -An odd observation I have about Man is that he is never good enough for himself; it's not enough to have free will and be the master of your own destiny, you need to have higher justifications. This inferiority complex is one of many reasons that I believe causes the creation of religions.-But then... "Why free will...?" I swear we suffer a seduction to words...-We don't know, and we never can know the answers to these questions.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two)

by David Turell @, Monday, February 21, 2011, 01:39 (4820 days ago) @ xeno6696

You make several comments about us gaining a good "how" about the universe but not the "why." 
> 
> Personally, I don't understand the seduction of "why" questions. It must be something uniquely Western that I simply managed to miss altogether while growing up. -
I've thought about this comment for a day or so. My book is semi- autobiograhical, and is meant to show doubters, atheists, or kids asking questions, whether there might be scientific evidence for a greater power. I use the word God because it is familiar usage. UI is a foreign term until some discussion is presented. The style and content of the writing is an attempt to stay at an upper high school, lower college level. One problem is that when I went to school, all those levels were much higher than today. My high school was considered among the top 20 in the country. My college is now ranked (by US Report, however valuable that is) as 15th, varying a little year by year. I tried to pass on my thoughts as simply as I could. The 'why' issue is central to my attempt. And in my thinking as you know, the amazing 'hows' point to a 'why'.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, February 21, 2011, 03:04 (4820 days ago) @ David Turell

You make several comments about us gaining a good "how" about the universe but not the "why." 
> > 
> > Personally, I don't understand the seduction of "why" questions. It must be something uniquely Western that I simply managed to miss altogether while growing up. 
> 
> 
> I've thought about this comment for a day or so. My book is semi- autobiograhical, and is meant to show doubters, atheists, or kids asking questions, whether there might be scientific evidence for a greater power. I use the word God because it is familiar usage. UI is a foreign term until some discussion is presented. The style and content of the writing is an attempt to stay at an upper high school, lower college level. One problem is that when I went to school, all those levels were much higher than today. My high school was considered among the top 20 in the country. My college is now ranked (by US Report, however valuable that is) as 15th, varying a little year by year. I tried to pass on my thoughts as simply as I could. The 'why' issue is central to my attempt. And in my thinking as you know, the amazing 'hows' point to a 'why'.-Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily against asking the questions, but they're also necessarily subjective. In my case, keep in mind, growing up as an only child in a single-parent household, you gain a "moving" perspective. Meaning, that which does not move you forward in some way, is something that you necessarily subsume to a higher imperative--be it survival or whatever. So for me, how questions are always much more important than why questions; if you know the how, you don't really need to know the why. Generally in all things it's much better for everyone involved that things just get done. I think I need to treat this a little further. Why questions generally don't have an answer. Therefore--they don't move you forward. -In a grander perspective... probably by about the age of 20 I started mellowing from a militaristic atheist perspective because I started realizing that the question of the existence of God was utterly an inconsequential dilemma. Even if someone was able to prove tomorrow that yes, there really is a God, it wasn't going to affect me on a day-to-day level. I learned how to make my path, I learned how to live my life--psychologically the existence of God isn't going to do anything to enhance me or my human condition.-It's common for atheists to look at theism and call it 'weak.' I used to share that perspective but that too mellowed; to me, whatever a person needs to get through the day is fine by me. In my case, I began the process of self-reliance at the age of 11. I had to cook for myself, do my own laundry--all that. (This would affect me very negatively after the age of 15.) The author Chuck Palaniuk (wrote Fight Club) said that one thing he was toying with in that book/movie was the idea of growing up fatherless. All the atheists he knew, were coincidentally only children to single mothers. That observation chilled me to the core; learning how to live life without a model, forces you to find your own way. Thankfully, the power of myth is a very powerful teacher. And the convenient store scene by itself underlines the majority of my viewpoint on life. -So again, it's not that I don't think 'why' questions are silly, but simply that if you ask one and the answer is "don't know," shelve it. It's not going to do anything for you. Learn the 'how,' come back to the 'why' later. -PS, The education system didn't fail me--I failed IT. Many teachers tried to set me on the right path, but you can't change the path of someone who is determined to move through life in their own way--no matter reality.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two)

by David Turell @, Monday, February 21, 2011, 05:01 (4820 days ago) @ xeno6696

In my case, keep in mind, growing up as an only child in a single-parent household, you gain a "moving" perspective. Meaning, that which does not move you forward in some way, is something that you necessarily subsume to a higher imperative--be it survival or whatever. 
> In a grander perspective... probably by about the age of 20 I started mellowing from a militaristic atheist perspective because I started realizing that the question of the existence of God was utterly an inconsequential dilemma. -> The author Chuck Palaniuk (wrote Fight Club) said that one thing he was toying with in that book/movie was the idea of growing up fatherless. All the atheists he knew, were coincidentally only children to single mothers. That observation chilled me to the core; learning how to live life without a model, forces you to find your own way. -You and I come from very different backgrounds. With full loving family, economically very comfortable,I planned on being a doctor at age three, and went straight thru without any detours. In a way that is why I retired so young. There were too many other things that needed to be done, and a huge pile of money was never a goal. As I have noted before, I feel as if my enire life was guided. As a kid I always wanted to be a Texas cowboy, and I am one totally by accident, not planned. Just as your background has colored your current thinking and attitudes, so has mine, but I don't think I am as complex as you. I've never had to be. But I did have to settle my agnosticism, while at the same time expanding my experiences in life. I want you to image me on a Grand Canyon Oar raft trip, with a book on particle physics for reading matter. I haven't read a novel in years, as I've studied the issues of particles and cosmology. I was convinced of a UI by the mid 80's, but couldn't convince my wife as she died of lung cancer in 1992. That in part is why I did the book, and in part pushed by the publisher of my first book. He pushed me to read Adleer, and take a close look at Darwin. I'd never had, and accepted the theory without thought. It is an unprovable tautology, filled with hole, upon reasoned discovery. Yes, evolution is real, the current 'how' research is still under discovery. Lewonton's thoughts are right on the mark.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, February 21, 2011, 14:20 (4819 days ago) @ David Turell

David,
> You and I come from very different backgrounds. ...-Since I'm already dumping, lol, I might as well fill in some extra details. -Besides being introduced to George Carlin at the age of 14, the other 'shocking' discovery was a sudden thought is that faith is largely deterministic for humans. Religion is governed by geography. As humans we of course have no control over where we're born. Had I been born in India, I would likely be Hindu, maybe Jain or Sikh. Saudi Arabia, Muslim. Japan, Buddhism or Shinto. Italy, Catholic. Africa... you get the picture. The strength of the customs and culture is the next semi-deterministic factor in terms of what religion you are born into. And as is well-documented, generally speaking it is pretty rare for a person to completely reject the religion they were raised into. An exception to that is if you're a practitioner of a minority religion; if all your friends follow a different path, the determining factor here is how much you revere your parents. But the key question is, "How much of this is man-made?"-So... due to a considerable amount of random chances, (none of these factors is predictable on a grand scale) religion and your thoughts on God are predetermined to some extent. (At some point free will takes over as we grow up--but social forces are powerful!)-The key driving value I have is in answering the question "How certain can we be?" This question is what prevents me from making persuasive arguments. (Because nothing persuades me?) For you, your drive is clearly "why" questions, but for people like me, there's a time and place to ask those questions, and the proper place isn't until we have an adequate understanding of the "how." But I understand very well the compulsion to understand, and can appreciate the need for people to answer that within their lifetimes. -You mention feeling guided in your life; I can safely say that I've never felt that. I've felt lucky: There are two key people in my life that set me on the path I'm on now, my wife and pharmacist I worked with as an overnight supervisor of a drug store. But every choice has been my own, and I've never felt "guided" to anything.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two)

by David Turell @, Monday, February 21, 2011, 17:33 (4819 days ago) @ xeno6696


> You mention feeling guided in your life; I can safely say that I've never felt that. I've felt lucky: There are two key people in my life that set me on the path I'm on now, my wife and pharmacist I worked with as an overnight supervisor of a drug store. But every choice has been my own, and I've never felt "guided" to anything.-My guidance is in a way strange: the doctor who delivered me in Brooklyn was a Southern gentleman who trained in N.Y. His grandfather was Lt. Gen.James Longstreet who was basically (if not officially) second in command to Robert E. Lee. Dr. Longstreet stoked my desire to be like him at age 3. I never looked back, only forward, for a career decision. As a young kid in Queens I read books about cowboys and the Alamo and dreamt of being a Texas cowboy. I was admitted to Syracuse Med school based on very high scholastic marks, at a time when there were quotas against Jewish candidates. There I met my wife, and the way I ended up in Texas was after I was in the Army (required)as a physician, we followed my wife's physician brother to Texas. He had met his wife in Chicago, visiting her physician uncle. She was from Houston and so my brother-in-law asked the Air Force to station him there for his service. With family in Houston, and we had no place we wanted to live, we followed them to Houston, where I was in practice for over 30 years. I planned an early retirement, before I knew my wife would die of cancer at an early age. -I set my retirement for age 62, 41 years after I entered med school. Not wildly wealthy, but enough to do what I wanted. I could not talk my wife into leaving Houston for a ranch. Lunches with girl friends and shopping were too important, but we had fun helping out at a daughter's ranch. Ironicaly my wife died of cancer, freeing me to have my ranch. A good friend, a farm and ranch Realtor, who had found our danghter's ranch for her, found a ranch for she and I, as we had quickly fallen in love, and later married.-That marraige was pre-destined. Like my Mother's father, I married a much younger woman, in a sense never looking back by never stopping and moving on. The comparison with Grandpa Mike is amazingly complete, and would take another long entry to explain. One of many points: Susan's birthday and Mathilda's birthday are the same! There is a whole list of these coincidences. -I know you will say I made many decisions, but as I look at it, I 'was going with the flow' as it presented itself, for whatever reason or force it came about.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two)

by dhw, Friday, February 25, 2011, 12:55 (4815 days ago) @ xeno6696

MATT: [...] the other 'shocking' discovery was a sudden thought that faith is largely deterministic for humans. Religion is governed by geography. [...] Had I been born in India, I would likely be Hindu, maybe Jain or Sikh [...] Generally speaking it is pretty rare for a person to completely reject the religion they were born into. [...] But the key question is, "How much of this is man-made?"-Like you, I made this 'shocking' discovery in my early teens, when I became an atheist, but I made another discovery in my late teens, when I became an agnostic. This was the fact that most religions had a common core. Indeed the three main monotheistic religions actually shared the same God, and many religions contained similar ideas (creation myths, great floods, personifications of good and evil, death leading to a new life). I also realized that although different people have different languages and social customs, there are certain fundamental human needs (apart from the obvious physical ones) that we all have in common, love being an obvious example. Humour and music may be others. I once read an account of a journey through the Amazon jungle, and the explorers played some Mozart to tribesmen who were entranced. (I don't know if they were laughing as they then prepared the pot!) There seems to be something "spiritual" within all of us, and the different religions are an attempt to systematize it, understand it, make it accessible to us with our limited capacity.-Yes, it's all man-made, but then you can argue that language, maths, science are all man-made, in the sense that we make up terms to describe the real world around us. "God", "Yahweh", "Allah", "Brahma" are just names for an unknown power, just as "1" (one) is a symbol for a single unit, and "legs" for the lumps of bone, flesh and muscle that carry us around, and "sun" for the great burning mass up there in the heavens. The discovery of the common core happened at more or less the same time as my discovery through Darwin that all of us members of the animal kingdom also had a common core: we shared antecedents! And the more I read about the animal kingdom, the more features I found we had in common with other animals. And when I put all of this together, I realized that just as our links with animals were NOT anthropomorphic, it might be possible that religions are NOT anthropomorphizations of whatever force it was that brought us into being, and that their common core might be an ultimate truth: that we ourselves are reflections of that force. It MIGHT be a truth. That's as far as I got then, and I've stayed in the same place ever since. Perhaps you could say I've evolved from being a clever teenager to being an ignorant elderly gentleman!

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two) [David vs. Guth et al]

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, February 19, 2011, 23:30 (4821 days ago) @ xeno6696

I would really like to know--why you think you "have to choose." Part of it is pressure, as you said in your introduction, but forgive me for being blunt, isn't it weak to give in to pressure of this kind? There's more here, you're not by any stretch a weak man. -You ask some powerful questions, sure. "What exists before the Big Bang." Your criticism of the ideas of the "quantum froth" that I was discussing before are salient. At the time before the bang, we had the singularity, and any equations we're aware of cease to be--theoretically including the froth. -However I question the underlying validity of this question. What reason do we have to believe that this is the only bang? I ask this because if we step outside of science, there are plenty of people who have experienced deja vu. In my own case I've dreamt things, and when the event happened (always something inane, unfortunately) I was instantly reminded that this exact scene came from a dream. In fact in my old age it even gets so bad that in the dream I recognize that it's a 'deja vu' dream and my exact thoughts carry over when the dream becomes reality. The only two propositions that make sense is 1) the universe really does follow long cycles of repetition or 2) that perhaps consciousness really is some kind of fundamental part of the universe. In both cases I am without an actual explanation beyond the fact that I've experienced something that terribly strange.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two) [David vs. Guth et al]

by David Turell @, Sunday, February 20, 2011, 15:46 (4820 days ago) @ xeno6696

However I question the underlying validity of this question. What reason do we have to believe that this is the only bang? I ask this because if we step outside of science, there are plenty of people who have experienced deja vu. In my own case I've dreamt things, and when the event happened (always something inane, unfortunately) I was instantly reminded that this exact scene came from a dream. In fact in my old age it even gets so bad that in the dream I recognize that it's a 'deja vu' dream and my exact thoughts carry over when the dream becomes reality. The only two propositions that make sense is 1) the universe really does follow long cycles of repetition or 2) that perhaps consciousness really is some kind of fundamental part of the universe. In both cases I am without an actual explanation beyond the fact that I've experienced something that terribly strange.-Your complaint about your dreams, and I consider the complaint the fact that they puzzle you, you should read more Feynman if you haven't. He could recognize he was dreaming and could then control the dream and steer it in directions he prefered. That consciousness is a fundamental part of reality I have no doubt: my wife dreams of things that happen, not perfectly, not all the time but enough to disturb her, She also 'sees' events at a distance when they occur, as I have mentioned before. She also can tell me where something is that I have misplaced, even if it is up in the barn, under something so that it is currently not visible.-As for cycling, that rings of your Buddhist experiences. If I remember correctly, a Buddhist estimate of the universal cycle is about 4 billion years, but science says we are at 13.7 byo and counting. As for cyclilng within current universal time, which you seem to be applying, again circles witin circles, if consciousness is part of reality, why not. We repeat our thoughts, and I firmly believe that our minds are a small indication of that counsciousness.
.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two) [David vs. Guth et al]

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Sunday, February 20, 2011, 16:46 (4820 days ago) @ David Turell

David,
> Your complaint about your dreams, and I consider the complaint the fact that they puzzle you, you should read more Feynman if you haven't. He could recognize he was dreaming and could then control the dream and steer it in directions he prefered. That consciousness is a fundamental part of reality I have no doubt: my wife dreams of things that happen, not perfectly, not all the time but enough to disturb her, She also 'sees' events at a distance when they occur, as I have mentioned before. She also can tell me where something is that I have misplaced, even if it is up in the barn, under something so that it is currently not visible.
> -Yes, the technique is called 'lucid dreaming' and this is something that I myself have been able to do. The difficult part is finding that balance of asserting too much control. Too much and you wake up. But these dreams are slightly different. They feel different. But even a universal consciousness doesn't explain how a future event--however inane--can be viewed.-> As for cycling, that rings of your Buddhist experiences. If I remember correctly, a Buddhist estimate of the universal cycle is about 4 billion years, but science says we are at 13.7 byo and counting. As for cyclilng within current universal time, which you seem to be applying, again circles witin circles, if consciousness is part of reality, why not. We repeat our thoughts, and I firmly believe that our minds are a small indication of that counsciousness.
> .-The tradition I followed was Soto Zen; and Zen traditions by far are different from your textbook versions of Buddhism. First, a bit of historical context. The cycles really are an artifact of Hinduism, and in a very real way, Buddhism was a social rebellion against the caste system. Nirvana is seen as a release from the cycles of birth/rebirth, and the shattering part for Hinduism was that this was possible even for the untouchables in the caste system. Traditional Hinduism reserved leaving the cycle only for your Brahmans or upper-caste. -But even back then, the Buddha's teaching was more radical than that. It is generally agreed that one of the experiential tenets of Buddhism is that death doesn't happen. Which sounds laughable, but they do hold that the part of us that is not our mind--our consciousness--is the same entity for all people, and that it is not tied to the body. The 'soul' if you will.-While many Buddhist traditions still hold to the old tenet of the Hindu cycle of death/rebirth, Zen traditions view that teaching as historical, needed only to get people that want an afterlife into Buddhism. The Buddha often spoke of his teachings as only a "raft" to get to the other shore. Death/rebirth being such a "raft." Zen views the cycles as part of Buddhist Psychology--that death and rebirth are terms that happen in our life now. Same thing with Karma.-One final thought... the afterlife in Zen is taught as something that is a kind of clinging that causes suffering. A true Buddhist is able to be light enough of spirit that the need for an afterlife goes away. I learned that this is the same for all Buddhist traditions, but I'm not so sure--it might be a tenet of the monastics, but not necessarily the lay people.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two) [David vs. Guth et al]

by David Turell @, Sunday, February 20, 2011, 20:04 (4820 days ago) @ xeno6696

But even a universal consciousness doesn't explain how a future event--however inane--can be viewed. -Unless time can really go back and forth, asthe math suggests.
> 
> But even back then, the Buddha's teaching was more radical than that. It is generally agreed that one of the experiential tenets of Buddhism is that death doesn't happen. Which sounds laughable, but they do hold that the part of us that is not our mind--our consciousness--is the same entity for all people, and that it is not tied to the body. The 'soul' if you will.-
This gets into Sheldrake's human consciousness experiments, and also my idea that our consciousness is part of the UI. The tree of life is really a bush of life, but when we get to the primate level, the human branch is more tree like than bush like, with the rather rapid six million year advance of our brain and consciousness.-I have really enjoyed your teaching us more about Eastern Theology. I have had a smattering so far on my own.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two) [David vs. Guth et al]

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Sunday, February 20, 2011, 20:38 (4820 days ago) @ David Turell

But even a universal consciousness doesn't explain how a future event--however inane--can be viewed. 
> 
> Unless time can really go back and forth, as the math suggests.-My understanding of the math isn't that we can somehow move time forwards/backwards, but that the model itself allows us to rewind time to study past states. I've said before that I prefer the "collapsing histories" view of quantum theory, which dictates that when an observation is made on a quantum system that the system has become deterministic and you don't get to go back in time. Considering that a common definition of a chemical reaction is "something that is not directly reversible" this view is almost necessary. -> > 
> > But even back then, the Buddha's teaching was more radical than that. It is generally agreed that one of the experiential tenets of Buddhism is that death doesn't happen. Which sounds laughable, but they do hold that the part of us that is not our mind--our consciousness--is the same entity for all people, and that it is not tied to the body. The 'soul' if you will.
> 
> 
> This gets into Sheldrake's human consciousness experiments, and also my idea that our consciousness is part of the UI. The tree of life is really a bush of life, but when we get to the primate level, the human branch is more tree like than bush like, with the rather rapid six million year advance of our brain and consciousness.
> -The tree of life (as a religious concept) is also a very pervasive concept across early religion at large. I think its another concept that predates today's religions. In Nordic mythology, the tree of life is unique in that it exists separate from men and gods, and it even sustained life to both. From a mystic's perspective this tale provides a very deep current of wisdom--if you're familiar with Kabbalah, this should ring parallels for you. -Allfather Odin hung from the tree and sacrificed an eye at the well of urd in order to gain the runes--the source of both writing and magic to pre-Christian Nords. -> I have really enjoyed your teaching us more about Eastern Theology. I have had a smattering so far on my own.-You'll get more. I recently made the decision to pick it back up again. I've noticed that all the strong mental gains I had made were when I was meditating regularly... but I had no idea that mental formations would go away just as surely as muscle mass disappears if you don't exercise it regularly. The intervening years have seen me nearly incapable of going to the gym, unable to concentrate properly on my studies, all the self-control I learned has since disappeared. Then there's the somewhat imminent (and separate) question of how to raise my kids in a nation of dogmatists... I won't be able to be good teacher if I'm not practicing what I'm preaching.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two) [In Conclusion]

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Sunday, February 20, 2011, 06:50 (4821 days ago) @ xeno6696

First off; I haven't said this yet. This particular chapter is actually very well written. And if you hadn't pieced together my own thinking yet, the comparative mysticism you engage in by comparing Kabbalah, Hindu, and Buddhism is dangerously close to how I approach the world. -I know a decent amount of textbook material on Kabbalah, and from writings such as the Zohar, they meditate just as surely as Indian/Buddhist mystics did (and do.) -The worst thing that ever happened to Western civilization was its loss of mysticism for Dogma. We lost the ability to be able to cut deeply into mystery. -But the discussion you have at the end of this chapter puts an exclamation point here; two highly disparate traditions arrive at the same universal answer. -In the end, I don't really have anything to say about this chapter. Your direct quote of Adler however would have done me so much more service back when I joined this group... I might have been hard on you at first. Thank God you're patient! ;-) Still... the fact that one "needs" persuasion tends to tell me that the case isn't as strong as one thinks--in these matters persuasion shouldn't play a part.-You hit the nail on the head; you show Strings as another religion. (Pythagoreans used math too, and they were just as wrong...)-You probe quite a bit here in dealing with people scrambling to try and not tackle a creator, and I suspect this chapter was one you were very interested in me reading as I'm sure you've pegged me as someone who's "afraid of God" at all costs. -Before I continue the book, I will write out a few things that you're implicitly challenging me on and give some better answers. I'm sure when you read "Why is the question 'Why am I here?' valid?" you were thinking, "Then why is he here?"

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion (Chapter 3)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Sunday, June 05, 2011, 15:09 (4715 days ago) @ xeno6696

Chapter 3 is a concise synopsis of many of the debates David, dhw, and I have engaged in over the last few years. So my discussions here will be brief.-First: a bit of praise. Dembski's chance arguments I found wanting. Many of the individual chance arguments David has previously presented (taken alone, as they always have been) have also been found wanting--however, in this particular chapter David weaves a coherent tapestry to support his overall thesis. It is balanced, and accessible. -Had I read this book in the brief window I was still a conscious theist, I have no doubt that I would have traveled a different path. However, I have gone down the path of radical skepticism and doubt. (Who knows... maybe I was destined to be in this spot anyway!) But my story explains exactly why David's book fills a void: When I was growing up, I really only had two choices. Pursue science and abandon theology in its entirety. Or, pursue theology, and completely abandon science. The important thing about your book David, is that (much moreso than Behe or Dembski) you don't misdirect. You don't presuppose more than is needed--Behe does that as much as our traditional scientists. You state the facts and really, do a good job of keeping God out of the science. (Thus far you've clearly got an opinion in the book, but you're not doing the talking.)-Now a critique can't be all praise. So here's the negatives:-On the nature of chance vs. design, we're in a disagreement about what all the mathematical evidence in this chapter means: My take is that we're clearly in a state of ignorance. And me being me, I don't make decisions when I've found myself in a state of ignorance. -On page 72 of my copy, you discuss that scientists are actively trying to refute God. My margin note asks the question, "Where is this refutation in the scientific literature?" You seem to (accidently?) make the insinuation that science and scientists really are against theology of any kind. While this makes sense in the public sphere, your words here shift blame in the wrong place. I would have preferred a more firm discussion characterizing the nature of how science *really* works, and then discussing the interpretive nature that leads people (with different thought frameworks) down to differing conclusions. You and I are both fully aware of the state of abiogenesis research, yet clearly we're of two different interpretations on the same data. (There's no right or wrong here--at least, not yet.)-I still haven't seen reference to Francis Collins (though it has been some months since I read chapters 1 & 2.) -The other major criticism is the implicit assumption (and I've pointed this out before) that a fully-functioning cell had to appear fully complete out of the ether. The only reason your argument about DNA holds any weight, is that we only have current life to study. We have no idea what lesser forms may have existed prior to that first cell. (Ignorance again.) We're applying what we know about life now, assuming these assumptions must hold at all points of time. Unless this has changed, you actually told me before that this was a "very good point." Where could we go here, if we got creative?-A relatively newer criticism I might have, is that clearly there had to be some kind of selection going on. Yet, we know that at least once life appears, there's no need for direct intervention. (Though the bigger jump as dhw has often pointed out, is the jump from bacterial to multicellular, so the question of abiogenesis has two main prongs.) But we know that life as it is now evolves based on autonomous selection. Life uses what it has available to make changes under stress. This is a big "if," but this can be applied to before life as well. You still wouldn't know if a designer was involved, but there still has to be a physical explanation. God may fill the gap as you say, but it still doesn't explain the "how," an ultimately more satisfying question. -Towards the end of the chapter, you discuss that conditions on earth had to be the same everywhere else in the universe. Really? What grounds do we have to make this claim? I know you appeal to the "apparent uniformity of conditions in the universe" but this is highly debatable.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion (Chapter 3)

by David Turell @, Monday, June 06, 2011, 15:23 (4714 days ago) @ xeno6696

Chapter 3 is a concise synopsis of many of the debates David, dhw, and I have engaged in over the last few years. So my discussions here will be brief.
> 
> First: a bit of praise. It is balanced, and accessible. 
> You state the facts and really, do a good job of keeping God out of the science. (Thus far you've clearly got an opinion in the book, but you're not doing the talking.)-Thank you. I was trying to do exactly that.
> 
> Now a critique can't be all praise. So here's the negatives:
> 
> On the nature of chance vs. design, we're in a disagreement about what all the mathematical evidence in this chapter means: My take is that we're clearly in a state of ignorance. And me being me, I don't make decisions when I've found myself in a state of ignorance. -You seem to have a very specific point of view re math evidence. I've pointed out math professors and others who are perfectly happy to attempt odds for chance Darwinism. 
> 
> On page 72 of my copy, you discuss that scientists are actively trying to refute God. My margin note asks the question, "Where is this refutation in the scientific literature?" You seem to (accidently?) make the insinuation that science and scientists really are against theology of any kind. -Chapter Two is where much of the material is presented. Scientists and atheism are discussed, and many of them quoted. Not accidental. I think it affects their thinking.-> I would have preferred a more firm discussion characterizing the nature of how science *really* works, and then discussing the interpretive nature that leads people (with different thought frameworks) down to differing conclusions. -Fair enough, but I think that is beside the point for my book.- 
> I still haven't seen reference to Francis Collins (though it has been some months since I read chapters 1 & 2.)-He never made a great impression with me until recently. These Chapters were written in late 2001. 
> 
> The other major criticism is the implicit assumption (and I've pointed this out before) that a fully-functioning cell had to appear fully complete out of the ether. The only reason your argument about DNA holds any weight, is that we only have current life to study. We have no idea what lesser forms may have existed prior to that first cell. (Ignorance again.) We're applying what we know about life now, assuming these assumptions must hold at all points of time. Unless this has changed, you actually told me before that this was a "very good point." Where could we go here, if we got creative?-Frankly, I don't know. I don't have any idea why RNAzymes would form on their own. What would drive it? Robert Shapiro is my hero. Inorganic energy cycles, his latest thought? Again, why or how?
> 
> A relatively newer criticism I might have, is that clearly there had to be some kind of selection going on. Yet, we know that at least once life appears, there's no need for direct intervention. (Though the bigger jump as dhw has often pointed out, is the jump from bacterial to multicellular, so the question of abiogenesis has two main prongs.) But we know that life as it is now evolves based on autonomous selection. Life uses what it has available to make changes under stress. This is a big "if," but this can be applied to before life as well. You still wouldn't know if a designer was involved, but there still has to be a physical explanation. God may fill the gap as you say, but it still doesn't explain the "how," an ultimately more satisfying question. -I left all of your comment. I view it as a purely atheistic position. My theory is as before, God coded evolution into the genome. God (the UI) started life as a very simple working cell with its many thousands of various protein molecules working in concert 
> 
> Towards the end of the chapter, you discuss that conditions on earth had to be the same everywhere else in the universe. Really? What grounds do we have to make this claim? I know you appeal to the "apparent uniformity of conditions in the universe" but this is highly debatable.-The sentence needed some expansion. What I implied is that 'other Earths' would look much like ours. I really don't think that is debatable if you read "Real Earth" or "Privileged Planet". Life really requires "Earth conditions".-Thank you for a very thorough and thoughtful review. I wish I had known you before and had both you and dhw as editors. I was my own editor, and dhw has spotted misspellings to my chagrin. ;-)

Science vs. Religion (Chapter 3)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, June 06, 2011, 17:48 (4714 days ago) @ David Turell

On the nature of chance vs. design, we're in a disagreement about what all the mathematical evidence in this chapter means: My take is that we're clearly in a state of ignorance. And me being me, I don't make decisions when I've found myself in a state of ignorance. 
> 
> You seem to have a very specific point of view re math evidence. I've pointed out math professors and others who are perfectly happy to attempt odds for chance Darwinism. 
> > -Its in.your interpretation: yes the odds are astronomical. But they are odds based upon systems that we clearly don't understand. -> > On page 72 of my copy, you discuss that scientists are actively trying to refute God. My margin note asks the question, "Where is this refutation in the scientific literature?" You seem to (accidently?) make the insinuation that science and scientists really are against theology of any kind. 
> 
> Chapter Two is where much of the material is presented. Scientists and atheism are discussed, and many of them quoted. Not accidental. I think it affects their thinking.
> 
> > I would have preferred a more firm discussion characterizing the nature of how science *really* works, and then discussing the interpretive nature that leads people (with different thought frameworks) down to differing conclusions. 
> 
> Fair enough, but I think that is beside the point for my book.-No... its fundamental. If you're arguing that theists should accept science as well as your arguments, it needs to be underlined that what you're doing is evaluating evidence in a philosophically different way that what atheists are doing, and that the science itself is unaffected by either argument. Science in the end is a tool, and the mental framework you bring while using that tool will shape your interpretation of what that tool provides you.-> > 
> > A relatively newer criticism I might have, is that clearly there had to be some kind
 of selection going on. Yet, we know that at least once life appears, there's no need for direct intervention. (Though the bigger jump as dhw has often pointed out, is the jump from bacterial to multicellular, so the question of abiogenesis has two main prongs.) But we know that life as it is now evolves based on autonomous selection. Life uses what it has available to make changes under stress. This is a big "if," but this can be applied to before life as well. You still wouldn't know if a designer was involved, but there still has to be a physical explanation. God may fill the gap as you say, but it still doesn't explain the "how," an ultimately more satisfying question. 
> 
> I left all of your comment. I view it as a purely atheistic position. My theory is as before, God coded evolution into the genome. God (the UI) started life as a very simple working cell with its many thousands of various protein molecules working in concert 
> > -See, and it's not purely atheistic at all. If you're already accepting a creator with limits, physical limits are a natural place to begin. Therefore there's no reason to assert that life started ex nihilo. -> > Towards the end of the chapter, you discuss that conditions on earth had to be the same everywhere else in the universe. Really? What grounds do we have to make this claim? I know you appeal to the "apparent uniformity of conditions in the universe" but this is highly debatable.
> 
> The sentence needed some expansion. What I implied is that 'other Earths' would look much like ours. I really don't think that is debatable if you read "Real Earth" or "Privileged Planet". Life really requires "Earth conditions".
> -I'm not convinced that we can be sure about things when we haven't set upon those places for study, though I will gladly add those books to the queue.
 
> Thank you for a very thorough and thoughtful review. I wish I had known you before and had both you and dhw as editors. I was my own editor, and dhw has spotted misspellings to my chagrin. ;-)

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion (Chapter 3)

by David Turell @, Monday, June 06, 2011, 18:44 (4714 days ago) @ xeno6696


> > > I would have preferred a more firm discussion characterizing the nature of how science *really* works, and then discussing the interpretive nature that leads people (with different thought frameworks) down to differing conclusions. 
> > 
> > Fair enough, but I think that is beside the point for my book.-Actually the fact that I use different interpretations and conclusions from the same science is in the book. I haven''t taken the time to find it, but that is a necessary statement.
> 
> No... its fundamental. 
> > > 
> > > A relatively newer criticism I might have, is that clearly there had to be some kind
> of selection going on. Yet, we know that at least once life appears, there's no need for direct intervention. (Though the bigger jump as dhw has often pointed out, is the jump from bacterial to multicellular, so the question of abiogenesis has two main prongs.) But we know that life as it is now evolves based on autonomous selection. Life uses what it has available to make changes under stress. This is a big "if," but this can be applied to before life as well. -We don't know if selection occurred 'before' life started. That is a guess and implies atheism.
> God may fill the gap as you say, but it still doesn't explain the "how," an ultimately more satisfying question. -Agree
 
> 
> See, and it's not purely atheistic at all. If you're already accepting a creator with limits, physical limits are a natural place to begin. Therefore there's no reason to assert that life started ex nihilo. -And no reason to believe it did not.
 
> I really don't think that is debatable if you read "Real Earth" or "Privileged Planet". Life really requires "Earth conditions".
> > 
> 
> I'm not convinced that we can be sure about things when we haven't set upon those places for study, though I will gladly add those books to the queue.
> 
> > Thank you for a very thorough and thoughtful review. I wish I had known you before and had both you and dhw as editors. I was my own editor, and dhw has spotted misspellings to my chagrin. ;-)

Science vs. Religion (Chapter 3)

by David Turell @, Monday, June 06, 2011, 18:53 (4714 days ago) @ David Turell


> > > > I would have preferred a more firm discussion characterizing the nature of how science *really* works, and then discussing the interpretive nature that leads people (with different thought frameworks) down to differing conclusions. 
> > > 
> > > Fair enough, but I think that is beside the point for my book.
> 
> Actually the fact that I use different interpretations and conclusions from the same science is in the book. I haven''t taken the time to find it, but that is a necessary statement.- (Add: Just looked for the thought. Page 23 covers the issue as I discussed scientific findings very simply and indicated different interpretations were warrented.)
> > 
> > No... its fundamental. 
> > > > 
> > > > A relatively newer criticism I might have, is that clearly there had to be some kind
> > of selection going on. Yet, we know that at least once life appears, there's no need for direct intervention. (Though the bigger jump as dhw has often pointed out, is the jump from bacterial to multicellular, so the question of abiogenesis has two main prongs.) But we know that life as it is now evolves based on autonomous selection. Life uses what it has available to make changes under stress. This is a big "if," but this can be applied to before life as well. 
> 
> We don't know if selection occurred 'before' life started. That is a guess and implies atheism.
> > God may fill the gap as you say, but it still doesn't explain the "how," an ultimately more satisfying question. 
> 
> Agree
> 
> > 
> > See, and it's not purely atheistic at all. If you're already accepting a creator with limits, physical limits are a natural place to begin. Therefore there's no reason to assert that life started ex nihilo. 
> 
> And no reason to believe it did not.
> 
> > I really don't think that is debatable if you read "Real Earth" or "Privileged Planet". Life really requires "Earth conditions".
> > > 
> > 
> > I'm not convinced that we can be sure about things when we haven't set upon those places for study, though I will gladly add those books to the queue.
> > 
> > > Thank you for a very thorough and thoughtful review. I wish I had known you before and had both you and dhw as editors. I was my own editor, and dhw has spotted misspellings to my chagrin. ;-)

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, July 04, 2011, 04:44 (4687 days ago) @ xeno6696

I just started chapter four... and...-David, your definition of "Intelligent Design" is absolutely different from Dembski, Behe, et al that I really hate that you don't seem to care to be lumped in there. -MUCH confusion over the years is summed up on page 88. You describe the 3 forms of design (purposeless, ID, and supernaturally mediated.) -YOU DO NOT ARGUE LIKE BEHE or DEMBSKI!!! Sorry for shouting. ID as I have understood it is ONLY your definition 3. Considering that I learned in college that organisms actively alter their own genome, when you call yourself a proponent of ID, I feel you are lumping yourself in with the wrong crowd. Of course, I haven't felt you belonged with those guys for some time, as you are not an inflammatory speaker...-Sorry... I'll actually read the rest of the chapter now...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, July 04, 2011, 06:53 (4687 days ago) @ xeno6696

Okay, I take part of that back... maybe it would have been useful to know me back when you wrote this. -On page 93... you write "I have presented this digression on evolution to clearly indicate to you that evolution is a theory, not fact, and there are all sorts of holes and inconsistencies in what is generally presented in schools and to the public."-However, in the next paragraph you write "... I believe the process of evolution actually happened,[emphasis added] while proposing that the mechanisms theorized by Darwin are not the way evolution has occurred."-So...-Which is it? To me, it seems like you stopped at the end of the paragraph where the first quote lives, probably after reading a nasty comment about religious people being stupid by Dawkins, then took a day or two off and then sat down to write the second. -Evolution IS a fact; we started with simple bacteria and ended up to where we're at today. In your own book you have already stated several times an implicit belief that evolution happened... simple to more complex.-So its a fact. -Later in paragraph 2, "It is the interpretation of the causes of events that should be under debate." -So its an open and shut case for you. Evolution happened. In your own words, evolution is a fact.-However, that first quote... is careless. It IS Behe and Dembski and even Hovind all over again...-You seem caught in two worlds with these quotes (on the same page.) -I can say more, but I think I'll wait until you can talk about this more formally.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, July 04, 2011, 13:27 (4686 days ago) @ xeno6696

Bah... one more thing I forgot to add. -You also perpetuate the public's use of the word "theory" which really means "hypothesis." A scientific theory is a theory that has been repeatedly verified by experiment, where scientific laws are taken often taken as axioms. -Now... this isn't to say that theories are by any means incomplete, but it's a pet peeve of mine when people use the word "theory" when they should have used "hypothesis."

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by David Turell @, Monday, July 04, 2011, 18:20 (4686 days ago) @ xeno6696

On page 93... you write "I have presented this digression on evolution to clearly indicate to you that evolution is a theory, not fact, and there are all sorts of holes and inconsistencies in what is generally presented in schools and to the public."
> 
> However, in the next paragraph you write "... I believe the process of evolution actually happened,[emphasis added] while proposing that the mechanisms theorized by Darwin are not the way evolution has occurred."
> 
> So...
> 
> Which is it? To me, it seems like you stopped at the end of the paragraph where the first quote lives, probably after reading a nasty comment about religious people being stupid by Dawkins, then took a day or two off and then sat down to write the second. 
> 
> Evolution IS a fact; we started with simple bacteria and ended up to where we're at today. In your own book you have already stated several times an implicit belief that evolution happened... simple to more complex.
> 
> So its a fact. 
> 
> Later in paragraph 2, "It is the interpretation of the causes of events that should be under debate." 
> 
> So its an open and shut case for you. Evolution happened. In your own words, evolution is a fact.
> 
> However, that first quote... is careless. It IS Behe and Dembski and even Hovind all over again...
> 
> You seem caught in two worlds with these quotes (on the same page.) -
I have re-read the section yhou are discussing, and we are not of the same interpretive mind. Your math/programmer background makes you extremely precise in your thought patterns. If you had been my editor, we could have made the area of writing a little more precise. To my mind, even currently, evolution is a theory, which I accept as fact. But I don't know of any studies that absolutely prove that we evolved as we think we did from the fossil evidence, etc. Punctuated equilibrium casts some doubts, as does the Cambrian Explosion, even more so with all of the Australian and Chinese findings. These large sudden enormous changes do cast doubt that something or some one may be monkeying with the mechanisms, to paraphrase Fred Hoyle. And Hoyle, an atheist, became a believer when he saw how the monkey-works worked.-So in a sense, I am caught between two worlds. Remember, I have stated many times, I think complexification is part of the genome code, and God may have directed evolution to produce us, either by initial coding or fiddling along the way. Gerald Schroeder believes in the fiddling (he is orthodox)as with the Chicxulub asteroid, which he mentions. -Further, early on, I tried to approach my agnosticism with an open slate of a mind. I was convinced from cosmology alone, along with particle physics that there was a superior intelligence at work, John Leslie having convinced me early on. When my first book editor suggested Adler and to study Darwin for a second book, I did just that, and was amazed at how poor Darwism was in explaining evolution. I never doubted evolution from the beginning. In my mind it was always mechanism. That is why I have pounced on epigenetics. Reznick's guppies are discussed right close to the page we are debating. I could sense Lemarkism returning in full glory.-And so my blank slate is not so blank anymore, and I keep on reading, currently a Jesuit's book. And he is aiming for a classical God of pure simplicity, and that is not going to work for my own theories, if that is the way his 'proof' turns out to be.-So Matt, read on. Let's continue to debate, even though our min-sets differ.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, July 04, 2011, 22:03 (4686 days ago) @ David Turell

David,
> I have re-read the section yhou are discussing, and we are not of the same interpretive mind. Your math/programmer background makes you extremely precise in your thought patterns. If you had been my editor, we could have made the area of writing a little more precise. To my mind, even currently, evolution is a theory, which I accept as fact. But I don't know of any studies that absolutely prove that we evolved as we think we did from the fossil evidence, etc. Punctuated equilibrium casts some doubts, as does the Cambrian Explosion, even more so with all of the Australian and Chinese findings. These large sudden enormous changes do cast doubt that something or some one may be monkeying with the mechanisms, to paraphrase Fred Hoyle. And Hoyle, an atheist, became a believer when he saw how the monkey-works worked.
> -No... but science isn't about absolute proof either. Like I said before, its about working models, and making the best inference available. My opposition from design has always been from an epistemological perspective; I just don't feel that it's justifiable to make unprovable claims. My experience with PE is weak--it's typically a graduate school topic. We'll see what happens as we continue. -> So in a sense, I am caught between two worlds. Remember, I have stated many times, I think complexification is part of the genome code, and God may have directed evolution to produce us, either by initial coding or fiddling along the way. Gerald Schroeder believes in the fiddling (he is orthodox)as with the Chicxulub asteroid, which he mentions. 
> 
> Further, early on, I tried to approach my agnosticism with an open slate of a mind. I was convinced from cosmology alone, along with particle physics that there was a superior intelligence at work, John Leslie having convinced me early on. When my first book editor suggested Adler and to study Darwin for a second book, I did just that, and was amazed at how poor Darwism was in explaining evolution. I never doubted evolution from the beginning. In my mind it was always mechanism. That is why I have pounced on epigenetics. Reznick's guppies are discussed right close to the page we are debating. I could sense Lemarkism returning in full glory.
> -I'm a big fan of Shapiro already and am interested in that new book he's putting out. I hope we get to some hardcore mechanisms such as what I critiqued a few days prior--where the article discussed genetic transfer that didn't happen through sex cells. (I want the how.. not just a an explanation, give me dirt...)-My experience with mathematics (and especially statistics) has made me an incredible skeptic; it is SO EASY to misread statistics (like the article I showed you previously) that one teeny tiny assumption can completely alter the meaning. Statistics is about asking "the perfect question," not probability...-A proper, epistemologically sound statistical analysis would proceed exactly as I outlined a couple years back. -> And so my blank slate is not so blank anymore, and I keep on reading, currently a Jesuit's book. And he is aiming for a classical God of pure simplicity, and that is not going to work for my own theories, if that is the way his 'proof' turns out to be.
> 
> So Matt, read on. Let's continue to debate, even though our min-sets differ.-They do. But I don't think it would be interesting any other way...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by David Turell @, Tuesday, July 05, 2011, 00:28 (4686 days ago) @ xeno6696


> I'm a big fan of Shapiro already and am interested in that new book he's putting out. I hope we get to some hardcore mechanisms such as what I critiqued a few days prior--where the article discussed genetic transfer that didn't happen through sex cells. (I want the how.. not just a an explanation, give me dirt...)-
Shapiro arrived Friday. As soon as I finish Spitzer, S.J., I'll get to him and issue a review.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by dhw, Monday, July 11, 2011, 23:07 (4679 days ago) @ xeno6696

Although this discussion is strictly between Matt and David in relation to David's book, I hope you won't mind my joining in, as there are some extremely provocative statements here that I think are of interest to us all.-MATT (to David): You also perpetuate the public's use of the word "theory" which really means "hypothesis". A scientific theory is a theory that has been repeatedly verified by experiment, where scientific laws are taken often as axioms.-And this is a source of confusion. Why should scientists use terms in a manner contrary to "public" use? The term "theory" as used in relation to evolution seems to me a fine example of the ambivalence of this distinction, as illustrated by the following observation in your earlier post:-"Evolution IS a fact; we started with simple bacteria and ended up to where we're at today."-A fact is incontrovertible. It is as near to knowledge as we can get, and I myself would not wish to dispute the second part of your sentence. But this is only part of what most of us understand by The Theory of Evolution, because it is a theory composed of many different hypotheses, very few of which HAVE been verified by experiment, including the claim that humans can evolve from bacteria! The hypothesis that changes in the environment can produce totally new species is also unproven by experiment. (We know that such changes can produce adaptation and variation, but these enable existing species to survive.)-So what do our atheist scientists fall back on? Natural Selection. You wrote: "I have always understood NS as the entire system [....] The entire theory is called "evolution by natural selection" and this holistic view encompasses the entire process from stimulus to action." David has explained that he sees NS as "the endpoint, that is, who survives", and has always stressed that NS is passive. This is worth repeating a dozen times. Natural Selection does nothing more than decide which organs and organisms survive. It makes absolutely no contribution to the origins, adaptations or innovations without which there could be no evolution. If we are descended from bacteria, and bacteria have survived every environmental change that's ever happened, what on earth was the need for legs, eyes, brains, hearts, penises etc.? And how did they come about? Without these colossal changes, there would still be nothing but bacteria on earth, and there would be nothing to select from! -Darwin's theory, and the theory subscribed to by Dawkins et al, is a collection of hypotheses, and by focusing on the two that seem most convincing ... common ancestry and natural selection ... apologists claim that evolution is as close to knowledge as we can hope to get. But the hypotheses concerning how and why new organs and species came into existence (this is not a metaphysical why, but a biological why) remain far from factual, and these innovations ... not natural selection ... and the mechanisms that enabled them to take place are the crucial driving force without which there could have been no evolution, and life would have remained on the level of bacteria. Thus the claim that the Theory of Evolution is a fact, i.e. has been repeatedly verified by experiment, is highly misleading, and many aspects of it conform to the despised public use of the term "theory" and not the scientific use.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, July 11, 2011, 23:24 (4679 days ago) @ dhw

dhw,-I uh...-Well I have nothing really to add here. If you don't accept Natural Selection as I discussed it here, I can't really say anything about the subject. The only way to dislodge NS as the lynchpin is to demonstrate (as I said earlier) that creatures evolve without need of a stimuli. That's it. That's all you need to do.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by Balance_Maintained @, U.S.A., Monday, July 11, 2011, 23:40 (4679 days ago) @ xeno6696

dhw,
> 
> I uh...
> 
> Well I have nothing really to add here. If you don't accept Natural Selection as I discussed it here, I can't really say anything about the subject. The only way to dislodge NS as the lynchpin is to demonstrate (as I said earlier) that creatures evolve without need of a stimuli. That's it. That's all you need to do.--No. You are still using NS as an active force in the stimulation of transformation. A change in environment is an stimulus. A dietary change is an stimulus. A lack of available breeding mates is a stimulus. NS is the results. It does not change or influence anything in anyway.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by dhw, Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 22:37 (4678 days ago) @ xeno6696

MATT: dhw,
I uh...
Well I have nothing really to add here. If you don't accept Natural Selection as I discussed it here, I can't really say anything about the subject. The only way to dislodge NS as the lynchpin is to demonstrate (as I said earlier) that creatures evolve without need of a stimuli. That's it. That's all you need to do.-Innovation through (chance) mutations is an integral feature of Darwin's theory, and without this there would be no evolution, but even if you insist that innovations are always caused by stimuli, you still have to face the fact that NS creates absolutely nothing. David, Tony and I keep hammering at this point (to which you consistently fail to respond) as follows:-TONY: No. You are still using NS as an active force in the stimulation of transformation. A change in environment is an stimulus. A dietary change is an stimulus. A lack of available breeding mates is a stimulus. NS is the results. It does not change or influence anything in anyway.-I have half a dozen dictionaries, all of which offer very similar definitions of NS. Here is the Encarta one: "The process, according to Darwin, by which organisms best suited to survival in a particular environment achieve greater reproductive success, thereby passing advantageous genetic characteristics on to future generations."-If you can demonstrate that evolution could function without these advantageous genetic characteristics, and that these advantageous genetic characteristics are PRODUCED by NS (as opposed to being passed on), you will convince me that NS is the lynchpin. That's it. That's all you need to do. -You have also ignored my response to your attack on David's "public" use of the word "theory", as opposed to the scientific use, which = "a theory that has been repeatedly verified by experiment". May I ask what experiments have repeatedly verified that humans can evolve from bacteria, or that changes in the environment can produce totally new species (as opposed to existing species adapting themselves)?-(N.B. Like David, I believe that evolution happened, but I'm not convinced by certain aspects of the theory. My challenge to you here is to defend your scientific use of the word "theory" in relation to evolution.)

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 23:51 (4678 days ago) @ dhw
edited by unknown, Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 23:57

MATT: dhw,
> I uh...
> Well I have nothing really to add here. If you don't accept Natural Selection as I discussed it here, I can't really say anything about the subject. The only way to dislodge NS as the lynchpin is to demonstrate (as I said earlier) that creatures evolve without need of a stimuli. That's it. That's all you need to do.
> 
> ...you still have to face the fact that NS creates absolutely nothing. David, Tony and I keep hammering at this point (to which you consistently fail to respond) as follows:
> -You say Darwin's theory, but it's not Darwin's theory anymore. Reading David's book, and contrasting it with the understanding discussed by Massimo Pigliucci's book "Denying Evolution," David's argument can only be applied on the original Darwinian theory and not the modified one that Pigliucci presented, and that I learned in college. I've mentioned the Beta-Lactase experiment in which Barry Hall knocked out the gene that allowed a bacteria to digest lactose. A small population (that no longer had any recollection of lactose because of the knockout) modified a protein that allowed them to consume lactose again. This is an example of creation of a new function by random mutation and natural selection only. -The crux of my reading of David's book so far, is that I do not believe he is successfully attacking anything other than slow and gradual accretion. I still have alot of book left to go however!!!!-...
> I have half a dozen dictionaries, all of which offer very similar definitions of NS. Here is the Encarta one: "The process, according to Darwin, by which organisms best suited to survival in a particular environment achieve greater reproductive success, thereby passing advantageous genetic characteristics on to future generations."
> -A really high-level analysis, but the one I learned in college is more detailed than that. I've discussed it before, but it is the process by which a species responds to its environment over time; including but not limited to, inter-species competition, intra-species competition, mitigation by intelligent individuals (human choice, for example), virii, prions... the list goes on. I still have much to learn about epigenetics. David reports a human mutation rate of 3.8/generation on average, but mutation isn't the only source of genetic change. Human cells "write back" to their own DNA, and even epigenetic phenomenon influence human development by virtue of some genes simply existing in the mother's ovum. With all the myriad stimuli available to an organism, I see no reason at all to assert that Natural Selection isn't enough; and no offense, but the theory I just described is the one taught at university, so I will side with THAT definition over yours. -> If you can demonstrate that evolution could function without these advantageous genetic characteristics, and that these advantageous genetic characteristics are PRODUCED by NS (as opposed to being passed on), you will convince me that NS is the lynchpin. That's it. That's all you need to do. 
> -Barry Hall QED.-> You have also ignored my response to your attack on David's "public" use of the word "theory", as opposed to the scientific use, which = "a theory that has been repeatedly verified by experiment". May I ask what experiments have repeatedly verified that humans can evolve from bacteria, or that changes in the environment can produce totally new species (as opposed to existing species adapting themselves)?
> -The inference of bacteria to humans is one you've already accepted; find me a better scientific (ie testable) explanation than NS and I'll buy it. -> (N.B. Like David, I believe that evolution happened, but I'm not convinced by certain aspects of the theory. My challenge to you here is to defend your scientific use of the word "theory" in relation to evolution.)-At present, there is no other serious scientific contender to Natural Selection. A theory is an explanation, but the explanation that wins is the one that explains the most amount of data. To say NS is insufficient also means that you need to find an explanation that explains everything that NS explains and more. (This is always under way!) There are gaps, and there are holes. I've always said that I accept the changing nature of science. But I also accept that there has been no other testable theory of evolution that has been as successful (despite its holes). David has stressed that he doesn't think NS will be destroyed--just like Newton's equations for gravity weren't destroyed by Newton.-Is NS the end of the story? Absolutely not. Is it the best we have? Absolutely yes. I've said before that there's a difference between acceptance and belief, and I accept the theory of evolution by natural selection, until the better explanation comes along. I don't think I have any more to say on this matter...-http://www.millerandlevine.com/km/evol/DI/AcidTest.html
In closing, again, the real problem isn't Natural Selection, it's abiogenesis...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by Balance_Maintained @, U.S.A., Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 01:37 (4678 days ago) @ xeno6696


> Is NS the end of the story? Absolutely not. Is it the best we have? Absolutely yes. I've said before that there's a difference between acceptance and belief, and I accept the theory of evolution by natural selection, until the better explanation comes along. I don't think I have any more to say on this matter...
> 
> http://www.millerandlevine.com/km/evol/DI/AcidTest.html
> In closing, again, the real problem isn't Natural Selection, it's abiogenesis...-Natural selection explains NOTHING. We were 55+ phyla, and now we are 30+ phyla, survival of the fittest is a farce. If only the fittest survived and expanded the variation on planet earth, things would get more complex, not less so. -So either we are irrevocably reducing the number of phyla on the planet, or we are increasing the number and complexity on the planet. Which does the evidence support?

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 04:11 (4678 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained


> > Is NS the end of the story? Absolutely not. Is it the best we have? Absolutely yes. I've said before that there's a difference between acceptance and belief, and I accept the theory of evolution by natural selection, until the better explanation comes along. I don't think I have any more to say on this matter...
> > 
> > http://www.millerandlevine.com/km/evol/DI/AcidTest.html
> > In closing, again, the real problem isn't Natural Selection, it's abiogenesis...
> 
> Natural selection explains NOTHING. We were 55+ phyla, and now we are 30+ phyla, survival of the fittest is a farce. If only the fittest survived and expanded the variation on planet earth, things would get more complex, not less so. 
> 
Tony, -You clearly have a radically different idea of complexity compared to the rest of us here. You're defining complexity as the total number of phyla. David's idea of convergence of many uncomplex into several, more confined phyla but with more complex individuals both fits with the evidence and provides a much stronger argument for a creator. -> So either we are irrevocably reducing the number of phyla on the planet, or we are increasing the number and complexity on the planet. Which does the evidence support?-The evidence supports fewer phyla, with more complex individuals, from many, uncomplex phyla, with complexity defined as both complexity of body form, and neurological complexity. I don't know where you're going with your ideas here, because they are completely off target when you read the entire story of life. We start ultra simple, expand (after 3.6Bn years) into a sudden burst of phyla (but still all comparatively uncomplex when compared with modern creatures). The earliest mammals... look here at the closest thing to human you would find 65M years ago... how on earth can you argue for decreasing complexity when THAT is one of the only mammals on record after the Cambrian? (WAAAAAAAY after the Cambrian!)-This convergence is what motivates David to argue heavily for the influence of intelligence and a creator, and has always been (in my mind) the strongest material argument for a creator. But both dhw and myself would ask the question, why, if omnipotent, take so long? -This site discusses 3 competing theories for the Cambrian. (Including Wolfram's.) Apparently the line leading to insects began diverging from chordates 900M years ago. -Apparently I'm going to have to find time to study Cambrian fossils...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 04:28 (4678 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

Tony,
> Natural selection explains NOTHING. We were 55+ phyla, and now we are 30+ phyla, survival of the fittest is a farce. If only the fittest survived and expanded the variation on planet earth, things would get more complex, not less so. 
> -I wanted to handle this separately. Natural Selection explains why we're here and not Neanderthals. It explains how life traveled from single-celled to what we see today. It explains how most people living in Northern Europe are resistant to Bubonic Plague. It explains why you find polar bears in the arctic and not in the sahara. It explains why taking antibiotics too frequently can harm you. (Google mRSA.) It explains how, at least one bacteria was able to eventually eat lactose again after having that part knocked out of its genome. It explains why software projects work better using agile vs. waterfall. -What doesn't it cover? It doesn't cover the question of speed--meaning we don't know how it works as well as say, Gravity, or quantum phenomena. There are still stunning mysteries, such as David's epigenetic phenomena--and how they work within organisms. -In short, it explains more (more reliably) than any other theory considered. This doesn't mean its perfect. It only means its the best we have. If David's epigenetics proves to be a stronger factor in evolution, it will clearly displace (but not remove) natural selection as clearly both mechanisms support each other. -But to patently state that Natural Selection explains nothing at all... borders on (and I'm not meaning to make this personal!) the rash!-For me, I think that NS explains enough to accept. I equated it earlier to Newton's F=ma, which was NOT the end of motion equations by any means. It was a stepping stone to something much greater, after scientists better understood the stuff it DIDN'T explain. I see David's (and Shapiro by extension) ideas as elaborating those parts of biology that Natural Selection hasn't been able to assimilate on its own. I agree with David that its the next paradigm shift. But note again that F=ma is still useful (and by extension, so too will Natural Selection continue to be useful.)

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by Balance_Maintained @, U.S.A., Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 20:32 (4677 days ago) @ xeno6696

What I meant by that statement is that saying things like Natural Selection 'explains' why we are here instead of the Neanderthals holds not a stitch of explanatory power. When you make that sweeping statement, you write off any and all valid explanations with this gross oversimplification of the situation. ->Natural Selection explains why we're here and not Neanderthals. It explains how life traveled from single-celled to what we see today. It explains how most people living in Northern Europe are resistant to Bubonic Plague. It explains why you find polar bears in the arctic and not in the sahara. It explains why taking antibiotics too frequently can harm you. (Google mRSA.) It explains how, at least one bacteria was able to eventually eat lactose again after having that part knocked out of its genome. It explains why software projects work better using agile vs. waterfall. -How does NS explain how life traveled from single-celled to what we see today? It doesn't. If it did, there would not be so much contention about it now and we would have been able to test it, repeatedly, in a laboratory in order to prove it. NS doesn't provide a mechanism for it, it doesn't detail a process, it doesn't EXPLAIN anything.-If you and I were in a race, and you won, we could call it 'Natural Selection'. Would it explain the fact that you trained an additional six months, or that on that one day my shoe laces were not tied tightly thus reducing my running efficiency? Does it state that you changed your diet in order to become more efficient at running. No. It says you won. Nothing more, nothing less. In that sense, it holds no explanatory power whatsoever, and that is what I meant by my statement. It is a cop out for biologist who do not understand something. If they can not explain it, they call it natural selection and go on like they made a major contribution to science. If someone comes along and explains what really happened later, they keep it under that same umbrella of NS and so the idea gains more credence though it has done nothing.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 22:05 (4664 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

What I meant by that statement is that saying things like Natural Selection 'explains' why we are here instead of the Neanderthals holds not a stitch of explanatory power. When you make that sweeping statement, you write off any and all valid explanations with this gross oversimplification of the situation. 
> 
> >Natural Selection explains why we're here and not Neanderthals. It explains how life traveled from single-celled to what we see today. It explains how most people living in Northern Europe are resistant to Bubonic Plague. It explains why you find polar bears in the arctic and not in the sahara. It explains why taking antibiotics too frequently can harm you. (Google mRSA.) It explains how, at least one bacteria was able to eventually eat lactose again after having that part knocked out of its genome. It explains why software projects work better using agile vs. waterfall. 
> 
> How does NS explain how life traveled from single-celled to what we see today? It doesn't. If it did, there would not be so much contention about it now and we would have been able to test it, repeatedly, in a laboratory in order to prove it. NS doesn't provide a mechanism for it, it doesn't detail a process, it doesn't EXPLAIN anything.
> 
> If you and I were in a race, and you won, we could call it 'Natural Selection'. Would it explain the fact that you trained an additional six months, or that on that one day my shoe laces were not tied tightly thus reducing my running efficiency? Does it state that you changed your diet in order to become more efficient at running. No. It says you won. Nothing more, nothing less. In that sense, it holds no explanatory power whatsoever, and that is what I meant by my statement. It is a cop out for biologist who do not understand something. If they can not explain it, they call it natural selection and go on like they made a major contribution to science. If someone comes along and explains what really happened later, they keep it under that same umbrella of NS and so the idea gains more credence though it has done nothing.-Tony,-I won't continue this discussion with you because you didn't attack a single example of any of the things I said Natural Selection explains. The Beta-Lactase experiment by itself is a perfect example of a bacteria gaining a completely novel protein by entirely random mutation. (I provided links.)-Evolution is clearly more complex than pure random mutations, I don't argue this, but to say it explains NOTHING borders ignorance. I'm sorry for using such a strong term, but unless you treat the material I provided, I stop here.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by Balance_Maintained @, U.S.A., Wednesday, July 27, 2011, 00:01 (4664 days ago) @ xeno6696

I wanted to handle this separately. Natural Selection explains why we're here and not Neanderthals. It explains how life traveled from single-celled to what we see today. It explains how most people living in Northern Europe are resistant to Bubonic Plague. It explains why you find polar bears in the arctic and not in the sahara. It explains why taking antibiotics too frequently can harm you. (Google mRSA.) It explains how, at least one bacteria was able to eventually eat lactose again after having that part knocked out of its genome. It explains why software projects work better using agile vs. waterfall.-Natural Selection-A process in nature in which organisms possessing certain genotypic characteristics that make them better adjusted to an environment tend to survive, reproduce, increase in number or frequency, and therefore, are able to transmit and perpetuate their essential genotypic qualities to succeeding generations.-
ex·plain (k-spln)
v. ex·plained, ex·plain·ing, ex·plains
v.tr.
1. To make plain or comprehensible.
2. To define; expound: We explained our plan to the committee.
3.
a. To offer reasons for or a cause of; justify: explain an error.
b. To offer reasons for the actions, beliefs, or remarks of (oneself).-Here is why I say NS has no explanatory power. NS does not say WHICH genotypic characteristics will survive, as you can see clearly by the pure definition. Only 'those that make them better adjusted to the environment', which makes it scope so broad, so malleable that it can and IS used to call anything and everything natural selection. -Natural Selection explains why we're here and not Neanderthals.
No. All evidence indicates that the Neanderthals and modern humans merged. Additionally, the evidence also indicates that Neanderthals were MUCH better suited for the environment than humans. If that were not enough,NS has yet to come up with any real explanation as to why we are here instead of Neanderthals. What it does is say that we are here, and they are not, so it must be Natural Selection. -It explains how life traveled from single-celled to what we see today.
If NS defines, expounds, or makes how we evolved from single celled organisms plain and comprehensible, then please enlighten me. DHW and I have been going back and forth on the issue of speciation(which is not proven), and have no answer. According to you, NS explains this, so please explain it. Make it plain and comprehensible.-
It explains how most people living in Northern Europe are resistant to Bubonic Plague.Not really. NS does not explain WHY they were resistant in the first place. It also does not account for those who are NOT resistant, or did not die through the original plague, or for those that did not pass on their resistance to their children. In fact, it does not explain anything regarding heredity except that it exists. That is the province of evolutionary theory.-
It explains why software projects work better using agile vs. waterfall.
Definitely not, and a classic example of my statement that it NS is much to broad to have any explanatory power.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Wednesday, July 27, 2011, 21:31 (4663 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

...gle mRSA.) It explains how, at least one bacteria was able to eventually eat lactose again after having that part knocked out of its genome. It explains why software projects work better using agile vs. waterfall.
> 
> Natural Selection
> 
> A process in nature in which organisms possessing certain genotypic characteristics that make them better adjusted to an environment tend to survive, reproduce, increase in number or frequency, and therefore, are able to transmit and perpetuate their essential genotypic qualities to succeeding generations.
> -First,-This isn't the definition I use (or have used) for natural selection. The definition I use is the one I was taught and used in the laboratory; "Natural Selection is the process by which an organism undergoes environmental pressure, and responds to that pressure in its genotype."-An extension: "Evolution is the frequency of change to Alleles from generation to generation." (Allele is the $10 word for "gene.")-dhw, David, (and now you) take issue with me on this, but I will stick to the definitions and processes that are used by professional scientists. I think its more important to use the definitions of working scientists in the process of doing their job than to stick with the ones we have been attacking for a number of years. (Not directed at any one person.)-My understanding of Natural Selection has thus far been drastically different from everyone on this forum.-...
> Here is why I say NS has no explanatory power. NS does not say WHICH genotypic characteristics will survive, as you can see clearly by the pure definition. Only 'those that make them better adjusted to the environment', which makes it scope so broad, so malleable that it can and IS used to call anything and everything natural selection. 
>
> Natural Selection explains why we're here and not Neanderthals.
> No. All evidence indicates that the Neanderthals and modern humans merged. Additionally, the evidence also indicates that Neanderthals were MUCH better suited for the environment than humans. If that were not enough,NS has yet to come up with any real explanation as to why we are here instead of Neanderthals. What it does is say that we are here, and they are not, so it must be Natural Selection. 
> -Human intelligence plays a stronger role here; one thing I've discussed with David previously is that I think that Natural Selection plays less of a role as soon as intelligence begins playing a role. As there is strong evidence that we converged with Neanderthals, this was really a poor choice on my part. Conceded. -> It explains how life traveled from single-celled to what we see today.
> If NS defines, expounds, or makes how we evolved from single celled organisms plain and comprehensible, then please enlighten me. DHW and I have been going back and forth on the issue of speciation(which is not proven), and have no answer. According to you, NS explains this, so please explain it. Make it plain and comprehensible.
> -You already know the textbook story: the geological history of life starts with single cells and ends with today. There is clear progression from simple to complex. Without resorting to a deity, the only explanation you can have is that we came about by successive changes to each generation. The speed of which may have drastically increased (punctuated equilibrium) during periods. -You don't accept this explanation, but at a high level, natural selection clearly FITS this. -> 
> It explains how most people living in Northern Europe are resistant to Bubonic Plague.Not really. NS does not explain WHY they were resistant in the first place. -Yeah, actually it does. Those that were exposed to bubonic plague and survived, passed those genes to the next generation. G1 survived because they had a gene that resisted plague toxin. Those people 40 generations later inherited that resistance. You're right, it didn't explain HOW those G1 had the gene, (maybe a related bug in the past?) but it doesn't have to. It only describes WHY northern Europeans are resistant to plague. This is a very narrow explanation, and you proved my case right here.->It also does not account for those who are NOT resistant, 
Out of question scope, but they were selected against.->or did not die through the original plague, or for those that did not pass on their resistance to their children. In fact, it does not explain anything regarding heredity except that it exists. That is the province of evolutionary theory.
> -I'm not quite sure what you were driving at here, but I think I've covered your objections here.-
> 
> It explains why software projects work better using agile vs. waterfall.
> Definitely not, and a classic example of my statement that it NS is much to broad to have any explanatory power.-Actually you're 100% right here. Evolutionary processes explains Agile; and the "selection events" here are completely unnatural. (ie, man made)-So the only good example I have so far is Plague. But I think it should suffice for now.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by David Turell @, Thursday, July 28, 2011, 03:08 (4663 days ago) @ xeno6696

First,
> 
> This isn't the definition I use (or have used) for natural selection. The definition I use is the one I was taught and used in the laboratory; "Natural Selection is the process by which an organism undergoes environmental pressure, and responds to that pressure in its genotype."
> 
> An extension: "Evolution is the frequency of change to Alleles from generation to generation." (Allele is the $10 word for "gene.")
> 
> dhw, David, (and now you) take issue with me on this, but I will stick to the definitions and processes that are used by professional scientists.-Matt: You will have to accept new definitions. I haven't read the book as yet but I have plucked out some quotes re NS from James Shapiro's book:-"The capacity of living organisms to alter their own heredity is undeniable. Our current ideas about evolution have to incorporate this basic fact."..."Genome sequencing has confirmed major roles played by'natural genetic engineering' in the course of evolutionary change."...Natural genetic engineering represents the ability of living cells to manipulate and restructure the DNA molecules that make up their genomes." (pg1-2)-
pg 144: "The role of selection is to eliminate evolutionary novelties that prove to be non-fuctional and interfere with adaptive needs. SELECTION ACTS AS A PURIFYING BUT NOT A CREATIVE FORCE." (my CAPS)- NS is active only at the very end of the whole process. I was never taught your definintion when I was back in college biology. It was always accepted as a process that passively accepted what was presented to it and then competition among species decided the outcome of who survived. That competition was the only active part of selection.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by dhw, Thursday, July 28, 2011, 15:51 (4662 days ago) @ xeno6696

Matt,
Last night I drafted but did not submit a reply to your post of 27 July at 20.42, and in it I asked you to define NS. This morning, when I logged on, I found you had anticipated my request. Thank you for your foresight!-MATT: The definition I use is the one I was taught and used in the laboratory; "Natural Selection is the process by which an organism undergoes environmental pressure, and responds to that pressure in its genotype."-This is a truly shocking revelation, partly because many of the disagreements we've been having are due to the fact that your "understanding of Natural Selection has thus far been drastically different from everyone on this forum." Too right it has. The above seems to me to be far more appropriate as a definition of adaptation (which I would link to microevolution and epigenetics). I have at least a dozen reference books ... general dictionaries, specialist dictionaries and encyclopedias, many of them published within the last ten years ... not one of which offers anything but the standard definition I quoted on July 12 at 22.37. An Oxford Science Encyclopedia (2003) for schools describes it in the same way, the consultant editor being one Richard Dawkins. May I therefore ask you the following questions:-1) What name do your "professional scientists" give to the process by which those plants and animals best suited to a particular environment are most likely to survive and breed? - 2) Do please give me a reference that authenticates your claim that "professional scientists" no longer use the Darwinian definition.-3) What does the word "selection" have to do with your definition?-I shall now condense and revise the reply I drafted last night concerning the Barry Hall experiment, since most of the disagreements are explained by your definition. You described this experiment as "a perfect example of a bacteria gaining a completely novel protein by entirely random mutation", and as "an example of creation of a new function by random mutation and natural selection only." If an organism responds to environmental pressure in its genotype, how can the new protein be attributed to "random" mutation? In other words, how does random change constitute a response? Also you emphasize that the beta-lactamase function was NOT integral to the species, and "several generations continued with the bacteria moving along just fine." In that case, what was the environmental pressure to which the bacterium responded? Either this was a random mutation or it was a response to the environment, but you seem to be trying to have it both ways, which makes no sense to me. -You have argued in any case that you see "no reason at all to assert that Natural Selection isn't enough." Even if we were to accept your definition, it is clear that NS is far from enough. It does not explain innovations such as sex, flight, sight (i.e. totally new organs, which I would associate with macro-evolution), it excludes random mutations (according to my interpretation of "random"), and as it is worded, it doesn't even indicate any kind of change, let alone the all-important factor of survival, without which the organism's response will be of very little use! -Please don't get the wrong idea here. I'm telling you what I don't understand, and why. A clear explanation may prevent a lot of future misunderstandings.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by dhw, Wednesday, July 27, 2011, 13:27 (4663 days ago) @ xeno6696

Matt and Tony are having a right old ding-dong over whether Natural Selection does or doesn't explain anything. I think it does, but what it explains now seems so self-evident that some folk dismiss it as a tautology. Here is a child's eye view of the process:-"Once upon a time, people commented on how clever it was of God to make wigglies green, because their greenness made it difficult for birds to spot them among the green leaves, whereas if they had been red, the birds would have gobbled them up. Then along came Mr Darwin, who said that once upon an earlier time there had been red wigglies, but the birds had gobbled them up, and the only wigglies that survived were the green ones. And so in the course of time, the red ones disappeared altogether, leaving nothing but green ones. He called this Natural Selection."-(In passing, let us note that Natural Selection did not PRODUCE green wigglies; it merely ensured that green wigglies survived and red ones didn't.) -In the same exchange with Tony, Matt has mentioned Barry Hall's experiment as "a perfect example of a bacteria gaining a completely novel protein by entirely random mutation." Matt, you described the experiment in an earlier post as follows:-MATT: I've mentioned the Beta-Lactase experiment in which Barry Hall knocked out the gene that allowed a bacteria to digest lactose. A small population (that no longer had any recollection of lactose because of the knockout) modified a protein that allowed them to consume lactose again. This is an example of creation of a new function by random mutation and natural selection only.-I have a different interpretation of this experiment, so do by all means correct me. Firstly,according to your account it wasn't a "novel protein", but a modification of a protein to replace a missing gene. As I see it, this shows that a particular bacterium found a way to revert to type in order to aid its chances of survival. It is an example of adaptation, not innovation, and did not lead to a new species of bacterium. The mutation can hardly be called "random", since it involved a very specific adaptation to restore an ability that was clearly integral to its nature. How this shows the creativity of NS is beyond me. Does the experiment prove that NS can create new organs and new species? Of course not. If the pressure to survive actually created means of survival, no creature would ever die! The great question is how the bacterium managed to modify the protein, and that is the core of our disagreement. You "see no reason at all to assert that Natural Selection isn't enough", and yet even your own analysis of the case shows the vital role played by mutation. Without mutations (or changes of some kind) everything would remain exactly as it was, and there would be nothing for Nature to select from! -In your post to Tony, you quite rightly emphasize that "Evolution is clearly more complex than pure random mutations." Yes indeed. And it is clearly more complex than Natural Selection, which does not CREATE anything.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by David Turell @, Wednesday, July 27, 2011, 15:10 (4663 days ago) @ dhw

The great question is how the bacterium managed to modify the protein, and that is the core of our disagreement. You "see no reason at all to assert that Natural Selection isn't enough", and yet even your own analysis of the case shows the vital role played by mutation. Without mutations (or changes of some kind) everything would remain exactly as it was, and there would be nothing for Nature to select from! 
> 
> In your post to Tony, you quite rightly emphasize that "Evolution is clearly more complex than pure random mutations." Yes indeed. And it is clearly more complex than Natural Selection, which does not CREATE anything.-Excellent analysis. NS is not a creator, but a judge for final outcomes. As to the question of how bacteria change: EPIGENETICS mechanisms.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Wednesday, July 27, 2011, 20:42 (4663 days ago) @ dhw

dhw--Tony & David too for that matter,
> MATT: I've mentioned the Beta-Lactamase experiment in which Barry Hall knocked out the gene that allowed a bacteria to digest lactose. A small population (that no longer had any recollection of lactose because of the knockout) modified a protein that allowed them to consume lactose again. This is an example of creation of a new function by random mutation and natural selection only.
> 
> I have a different interpretation of this experiment, so do by all means correct me. Firstly,according to your account it wasn't a "novel protein", but a modification of a protein to replace a missing gene. As I see it, this shows that a particular bacterium found a way to revert to type in order to aid its chances of survival. It is an example of adaptation, not innovation, and did not lead to a new species of bacterium. The mutation can hardly be called "random", since it involved a very specific adaptation to restore an ability that was clearly integral to its nature. How this shows the creativity of NS is beyond me. Does the experiment prove that NS can create new organs and new species? Of course not. If the pressure to survive actually created means of survival, no creature would ever die! The great question is how the bacterium managed to modify the protein, and that is the core of our disagreement. You "see no reason at all to assert that Natural Selection isn't enough", and yet even your own analysis of the case shows the vital role played by mutation. Without mutations (or changes of some kind) everything would remain exactly as it was, and there would be nothing for Nature to select from! 
> -The beta-lactamase function was NOT integral to the species. Several generations continued with the bacteria moving along just fine--only more slowly as its only means of getting energy was pyrolysis. Pyrolysis (if memory serves) delivers 2 ATP molecules for every 1 ATP expended, but the Beta-Lactamase allows for a much greater payout. (Not sure if it allows for Krebs or not, but I don't think so.) -At any rate, you seem to be arguing that the Bacteria could somehow remember what was removed from its genome, and that some other mechanism other than random mutations caused the new protein to be created. The protein created WAS new. It was not the same Beta-Lactamase that the organism began with, and was not found in wild-types. Hall collected sequence information from each generation of bacteria over time, and the gene sequence changed in a manner consistent with random mutations, ie frame-shifts and recombination mistakes that ultimately ended up in a creation of the new protein. On this particular experiment, I think it clearly demonstrates that some beneficial changes CAN come by chance. (Not ALL. But at least ONE.) -Your next charge is that this isn't a case of evolution, but I think your thrust is misguided; you should be attacking the fact that it is an example of "microevolution" and not an example of "macroevolution." Of this charge, you are absolutely correct. However, biologists, if they had found two strains of E. coli in the wild that had two different types of beta-lactamase they WOULD be considered different species. As I said before, evolution as viewed by working scientists is this statement: "A change in the frequency of Alleles from generation to generation." -David, if you claim epigenetic mechanisms were at work here, the door is open for you! This is exactly one aspect you can argue: the changes look random, but there is epigenetic machinery at work that was slowly working to restore a lost function. It's a testable hypothesis, but until that work has been done, Natural Selection stands. Again, I accept Natural Selection here because a better (testable) explanation doesn't exist. I won't accept another explanation until the work has been done--I agree that epigenetic mechanisms will be an important creative force for evolution, but I won't support it until it's been explored. -> In your post to Tony, you quite rightly emphasize that "Evolution is clearly more complex than pure random mutations." Yes indeed. And it is clearly more complex than Natural Selection, which does not CREATE anything.-And I challenge that, still by what I said above. If an organism is under stress and its body's response is to alter its chemistry, and that chemistry is passed on to its offspring, then we just had an event of "evolution by natural selection."

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, July 09, 2011, 13:38 (4681 days ago) @ xeno6696

So far, I'm approximately halfway through the chapter. And overall I can safely say that this is extremely well-argued. -The only problem I have is that you do repeatedly make what I consider a strawman of evolution--that chance alone creates new information... and while we've tread this ground before, I think it makes sense to see where exactly our common ground lies. -My (limited) training in molecular biology concentrated heavily on the biochemical process of evolution. As discussed previously, it was part of my curriculum that an organism changes its own DNA, especially under stress. -So when I see a comment like on pages 103 and 107 where you're building an argument using other authors... I get irritated when I see assumptions about evolution being made that suggest its a blindly random process. (Even though Gould seemed to suggest the same thing.) -And then it struck me... what the difference is between what I was taught & learned about evolution vs. what you've learned over the years, and this is a point that I think would be very critical to your book.-I don't think in biology, the left hand knows what the right hand is doing... Gould for example, was a paleontologist, NOT a molecular biologist. And those two fields are BOTH deep enough that it's also NOT fair to think that one should be an expert at both. Purely random changes over timescales makes sense to someone who thinks in geological terms. But not in biochemical terms...-Cells are semi-deterministic. Under normal conditions they churn through their life mechanically. However I keep returning to the point that overall as a process, we haven't observed an evolutionary race happen without some kind of selection pressure... maybe you're going to deal with that somewhere in the book, but to me thus far, I don't see a way to avoid stimulus->response, which to me is truly the underlying mechanism for evolution.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by David Turell @, Saturday, July 09, 2011, 15:05 (4681 days ago) @ xeno6696

However I keep returning to the point that overall as a process, we haven't observed an evolutionary race happen without some kind of selection pressure... maybe you're going to deal with that somewhere in the book, but to me thus far, I don't see a way to avoid stimulus->response, which to me is truly the underlying mechanism for evolution.-I'm sure it is your training, but I've always thought of natural selection as part of a passive mechanism, and I haven't changed my mind, even though you have argued for it as more than passive. NS only deals with what 'might' be presented to it; there is ino way around that concept. Can an organism survive an environmental mileau alteration. On the other hand environmental stress, we now know, allows organisms to create their own changes. And only then does NS have a role in this circumstance.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, July 09, 2011, 17:30 (4681 days ago) @ David Turell

However I keep returning to the point that overall as a process, we haven't observed an evolutionary race happen without some kind of selection pressure... maybe you're going to deal with that somewhere in the book, but to me thus far, I don't see a way to avoid stimulus->response, which to me is truly the underlying mechanism for evolution.
> 
> I'm sure it is your training, but I've always thought of natural selection as part of a passive mechanism, and I haven't changed my mind, even though you have argued for it as more than passive. NS only deals with what 'might' be presented to it; there is ino way around that concept. Can an organism survive an environmental mileau alteration. On the other hand environmental stress, we now know, allows organisms to create their own changes. And only then does NS have a role in this circumstance.-Not really training; just look at it. You're kinda talking about it now, but each geological age is marked by some huge environmental change; and environmental changes also create new areas for creatures to expand into. Oxygen appears to be the trigger for the Cambrian; but I have seen no discussion yet of the role of inter-species competition as a driving force for evolution, or behavior... and then we haven't even gone into evolutionary arms-races between creatures which clearly drive incredibly rapid change. I don't yet see where doom is spelled for Natural Selection; 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. -Also on 103 you were discussing the PAX gene. The beta-lactase experiment demonstrated that organisms use what's available to create new functions; maybe you haven't gotten to it yet, but I see no reason to conclude that PAX 60 existed in exactly the form it is today, what stopped early creatures from adapting other genes? What genes extant today are similar in structure, or more primitive?

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by David Turell @, Saturday, July 09, 2011, 20:47 (4681 days ago) @ xeno6696

I don't yet see where doom is spelled for Natural Selection; 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. -My intent is not to get rid of NS at all. It certainly plays an important role, but it is not a driving force for evolution. All the aspects you discuss are the driving force, expecially the James Shapiro approach, whose book I'll soon be into.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, July 09, 2011, 22:24 (4681 days ago) @ David Turell

I don't yet see where doom is spelled for Natural Selection; 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. 
> 
> My intent is not to get rid of NS at all. It certainly plays an important role, but it is not a driving force for evolution. All the aspects you discuss are the driving force, expecially the James Shapiro approach, whose book I'll soon be into.-I'm confused... -All of those things I discussed that drive evolution, are all things that provide selective pressure... which drives organisms to either adaption or extinction. -You've been saying all this time that Natural Selection isn't enough but if you agree that all of these other events are selective pressure...-Then Natural Selection really is king. As I once said, it's the filter that determines with finality what genes get to continue. I'm either completely missing your point or have no idea what I'm talking about.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by David Turell @, Sunday, July 10, 2011, 02:19 (4681 days ago) @ xeno6696


> You've been saying all this time that Natural Selection isn't enough but if you agree that all of these other events are selective pressure...
> 
> Then Natural Selection really is king. As I once said, it's the filter that determines with finality what genes get to continue. I'm either completely missing your point or have no idea what I'm talking about.-See my previous answer. If you include all the chance occurrances in environment and mutations as part of natural selection then I can see your point of view. But as I have said, I view it as a passive end point. What is active are the chance stressors and the ability of the genome to survive by change or by being intitially superior at the time of the new stressor.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Sunday, July 10, 2011, 03:21 (4681 days ago) @ David Turell


> > You've been saying all this time that Natural Selection isn't enough but if you agree that all of these other events are selective pressure...
> > 
> > Then Natural Selection really is king. As I once said, it's the filter that determines with finality what genes get to continue. I'm either completely missing your point or have no idea what I'm talking about.
> 
> See my previous answer. If you include all the chance occurrances in environment and mutations as part of natural selection then I can see your point of view. But as I have said, I view it as a passive end point. What is active are the chance stressors and the ability of the genome to survive by change or by being intitially superior at the time of the new stressor.-Yeah, I think our differences are largely clear. I have always understood NS as the entire system... which means that our disagreement over the last few years is probably more semantical. But it's not just me... my professors clearly learned it that way too, and I know that Pigliucci's view is echoed here as well. The entire theory is called "evolution by natural selection" and this holistic view ecompasses the entire process from stimulus to action.-But now I know why we disagree, and that is always worth something...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4)

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.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4): In Conclusio

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Sunday, July 10, 2011, 16:00 (4680 days ago) @ xeno6696

I have a much better understanding of exactly how you&apos;re using arguments by chance; I&apos;m still not (fully) convinced. -There are several reasons for this:-As we just discussed, my training in molecular biology took me far enough that I have the view that Natural Selection entails the entire A-Z process of stimulus to change in the organism. So I feel strongly that your book is attacking the original Darwin theory, and not the heavily modified (evolved, HA!) theory that I learned. In this case, I absolutely agree with you. I have also subsequently agreed on your critique of Dawkins, if it is truly the case that he sticks to the original (unmodified) theory of evolution that you discuss near the end of chapter 4. -From my standpoint, your argument doesn&apos;t move NS (as I know it). -Your discussion of the attack on Gould&apos;s theory is quite interesting... and I think that all the drivers of evolution I previously discussed clearly fits PE vs. the old theory of evolution. So I&apos;m still shocked that there are scientists that don&apos;t seem to have an understanding similar to my own (or Pigliucci&apos;s, for that matter...) But I think my talk before sheds light here: PE is much more clearly a &quot;macro&quot; theory of evolution, and not one specifically of micro... but if epigenetics begins to play a more important role, I think you can kiss the old theory of gradualism goodbye overall. (I personally don&apos;t see the attachment...)-Finally, your brief discussion of how some genes are transferred only through the ovum is exactly one of the mechanisms I was looking for a few days back. If I can convince the wife I&apos;ll get a copy of Shapiro&apos;s book myself.-Your argument in genetic networks is pretty strong--however we&apos;re only just now beginning to learn about these, so as usual, I reserve my judgment here. -You close this chapter with a brief discussion of embryology... an excellent shot towards YEC that deny evolution of all kinds... but I think I need clarification on what you&apos;re discussing here. -What does an ape fetus that looks like a human fetus for a brief period of its existence have to do with evolution? All arguments I&apos;ve heard regarding embryology have always been described as anecdotal. Is there really a connection here? While its true that we briefly have gills, for example...-Is your argument that apes have the DNA to allow them to become human, only they can&apos;t because their &quot;program&quot; takes them down a different path? (genetic regulation?) So you argue from this point that the seed of being human goes back further?-So how does this argument negate a common ancestor of humans and apes?-Finally, your argument via Denton about Survival of the Fittest being tautology was heavily destroyed in the 90&apos;s. &quot;&quot;Survival of the fittest&quot; is a poor way to think about evolution. Darwin himself did not use the phrase in the first edition of Origin of Species. What Darwin said is that heritable variations lead to differential reproductive success. This is not circular or tautologous. It is a prediction that can be, and has been, experimentally verified (Weiner 1994).&quot;-In other words, Denton created a strawman. (Hence why I&apos;ve considered most ID proponents... lacking.) -Overall, this chapter is extremely well argued. Classic inductive piece, I&apos;d prefer not to see so many appeals to other ID writers (I feel they tend to weaken you more than strengthen you.) In other words, your ideas stand on their own merits, without reliance on 3rd parties. -I have a much better appreciation of your view of chance, when coupled to geological events (such as PE). These are not fallacious; they&apos;re like looking at the odds of getting the universe we have-->they are simply fact. But your view of chance as looking at evolution applies only to strict, original Darwinian thinking, and I do not think applies to Natural Selection as I currently understand it.-I think both the anthropic principle and the normal way we&apos;ve attempted abiogenesis is false however; I think we could learn more about our own universe if we studied the &quot;lifeless&quot; varieties, and don&apos;t think we should limit our attempts to construct life from scratch to presumed conditions on earth. A criticism I never brought up was on your comment that the distribution of matter in the universe is uniform: It&apos;s uniform on average. That means that there are portions that should have drastically more of some kinds and drastically less, but at this point I digress...-Your focus on the original Darwininan model is probably the strongest criticism I have, because I don&apos;t feel you&apos;re talking about the same theory that I learned. You attacked gradualism, but not anything I learned that can force speciation in < 50 years as in the Rock Wallaby experiment in HI, or in the guppy experiment you discuss.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4): In Conclusio

by David Turell @, Sunday, July 10, 2011, 21:48 (4680 days ago) @ xeno6696

&#13;&#10;> From my standpoint, your argument doesn&apos;t move NS (as I know it).-We know our differences now, but my book was aiming for a relatively uneducated audience, who know a little about the original Darwin, gradual change and modification. &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> PE is much more clearly a &quot;macro&quot; theory of evolution, and not one specifically of micro... but if epigenetics begins to play a more important role, I think you can kiss the old theory of gradualism goodbye overall. -I think it is kissed goodbye.-&#13;&#10; &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> You close this chapter with a brief discussion of embryology... an excellent shot towards YEC that deny evolution of all kinds... but I think I need clarification on what you&apos;re discussing here. -I not sure what you are after, but I was leading up to the ape discussion. The point of that paper strongly suggested from the embryologic comparison, the common ancestor might be more humanoid than simian. It is something we don&apos;t know as yet. No fossils.&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> What does an ape fetus that looks like a human fetus for a brief period of its existence have to do with evolution? All arguments I&apos;ve heard regarding embryology have always been described as anecdotal. Is there really a connection here? While its true that we briefly have gills, -No we don&apos;t ever have gills. &#13;&#10;There are some folds, but they are not homolgous with gills.-> &#13;&#10;> So how does this argument negate a common ancestor of humans and apes?-It doesn&apos;t. See above.&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Finally, your argument via Denton about Survival of the Fittest being tautology was heavily destroyed in the 90&apos;s. &quot;&quot;Survival of the fittest&quot; is a poor way to think about evolution. Darwin himself did not use the phrase in the first edition of Origin of Species. -I don&apos;t believe he ever used it. I can&apos;t come up, at the moment,with the name of the associate who did. But by itself, it is absolutely an example of a tautology. -> Overall, this chapter is extremely well argued. Classic inductive piece, I&apos;d prefer not to see so many appeals to other ID writers (I feel they tend to weaken you more than strengthen you.) In other words, your ideas stand on their own merits, without reliance on 3rd parties.-Thank you. I used many references because I am not known as any sort of expert. &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> I have a much better appreciation of your view of chance, when coupled to geological events (such as PE). These are not fallacious; they&apos;re like looking at the odds of getting the universe we have-->they are simply fact. But your view of chance as looking at evolution applies only to strict, original Darwinian thinking, and I do not think applies to Natural Selection as I currently understand it.-I would disagree here. All stressors occur by chance.-> &#13;&#10;> Your focus on the original Darwininan model is probably the strongest criticism I have, because I don&apos;t feel you&apos;re talking about the same theory that I learned. You attacked gradualism, but not anything I learned that can force speciation in < 50 years as in the Rock Wallaby experiment in HI, or in the guppy experiment you discuss.-Explained above.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4): In Conclusio

by David Turell @, Monday, July 11, 2011, 14:40 (4679 days ago) @ David Turell

&#13;&#10;> > Finally, your argument via Denton about Survival of the Fittest being tautology was heavily destroyed in the 90&apos;s. &quot;&quot;Survival of the fittest&quot; is a poor way to think about evolution. Darwin himself did not use the phrase in the first edition of Origin of Species. &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> I don&apos;t believe he ever used it. I can&apos;t come up, at the moment,with the name of the associate who did. But by itself, it is absolutely an example of a tautology. -Finally found it: Herbert Spencer!&#13;&#10;> > &#13;&#10;> > I have a much better appreciation of your view of chance, when coupled to geological events (such as PE). These are not fallacious; they&apos;re like looking at the odds of getting the universe we have-->they are simply fact. -My emphasis on chance has to do with the odds of evolution ever creating an organism as complex as humans by chance starting with inorganic matter to make living matter. Over and over you will find me stating, the more complexity we find, the more likely God exists. And I predict the complexity we find now. And my thinking is from the early 1990&apos;s. And I am being proven right in the degree of complexity:-&#13;&#10;http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100331/pdf/464664a.pdf

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 4): In Conclusio

by David Turell @, Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 06:09 (4679 days ago) @ David Turell

&#13;&#10; And I am being proven right in the degree of complexity:&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100331/pdf/464664a.pdf-And more complexity. An early study of embryoes in invetro fertilization. finds that at three days the embryoes might have too many chromosomes, but at five days the embryoes have corrected the problem . At this point no one knows how they do it.-http://the-scientist.com/2011/07/08/embryos-right-genetic-wrongs/

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 5)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, August 01, 2011, 02:14 (4659 days ago) @ xeno6696

David begins to go for the jugular rather early, combining what I suspect is his Adlerian background into building a case that we&apos;re smarter than we need to be.-My reading is early and very preliminary, but I have a simple question to ask:-Could it not be the case that as soon as our primitive ancestors--under pressure from the Ice Age you discuss--began to identify their geniuses and began a program of selection of their own? In a microevolutionary perspective, which you wholeheartedly support in the same chapter (when discussing your trip to the Galapgos--we&apos;ll need to chat about that sometime), why couldn&apos;t this have begun to speed things up much more quickly? Our co-evolution with animals also happened during the last ice age; the domestication of wolves happened during this exact same period. Who&apos;s to say that we didn&apos;t begin with our own first? -I think this question is a powerful one to consider: Man&apos;s intervention with dogs has lead from wolf to a Chihuahua, in a very short period of time. -More as I read...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

(Chapter 5): The God Module

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, August 01, 2011, 02:54 (4659 days ago) @ xeno6696

Literally just today I picked up a book on discount called &quot;The Faith Instinct, How Religion Evolved & Why it Endures.&quot; -When you discuss in your book the writings of Wilson, Larson, and Witham.-One of the things I have experienced is a feeling of oneness with the universe. It is always fleeting, but at times I feel that I can almost feel the turning of another distant galaxy. -However, what kind of weight should I put on this occasional feeling when I meditate? Buddhism is largely esoteric; a core principle is precisely that nothing can really be taught within Buddhism. The practitioner must learn to harness the experience on his own. -But am I really coming into contact with &quot;The Divine?&quot; -No way. I&apos;m having an experience that is firmly rooted in my own head--yes it has meaning for me, but its reality ends at the boundary of my perception; like when angry or surprised. I&apos;ve played around with occult meditations in the past, and while I can agree that they are good at being able to put words/images to psychological states and they teach you to put some trust back in your instincts... the God-forms used are no more than tools to drive to psychological states. After reading the sections leading up to p.133 in your book, I can come to no other conclusion than that I actually HAVE had religious experiences. I just don&apos;t recognize anything that I would consider DIVINE in them...-You catch me in an interesting quandary. I want to continue to believe that I&apos;m incapable of religious experience, but its entirely possible to me that the broad bursts of energy I feel when I meditate or write sections of song or novel are precisely this... -But what is a religious experience without religion?-However, as your book&apos;s point is NOT about my esoteric meanderings, I&apos;ll end this silly digression...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 5)

by David Turell @, Monday, August 01, 2011, 06:14 (4659 days ago) @ xeno6696

David begins to go for the jugular rather early, combining what I suspect is his Adlerian background into building a case that we&apos;re smarter than we need to be.&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> My reading is early and very preliminary, but I have a simple question to ask:&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Could it not be the case that as soon as our primitive ancestors--under pressure from the Ice Age you discuss--began to identify their geniuses and began a program of selection of their own? -Cute start to your comments. But(!), H sapiens is in Africa, and not as cold. Attraction to sex is still attraction to sex. No one in the Rift Valley is thinking about IQ.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 5)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, August 01, 2011, 22:49 (4658 days ago) @ David Turell

David begins to go for the jugular rather early, combining what I suspect is his Adlerian background into building a case that we&apos;re smarter than we need to be.&#13;&#10;> > &#13;&#10;> > My reading is early and very preliminary, but I have a simple question to ask:&#13;&#10;> > &#13;&#10;> > Could it not be the case that as soon as our primitive ancestors--under pressure from the Ice Age you discuss--began to identify their geniuses and began a program of selection of their own? &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Cute start to your comments. But(!), H sapiens is in Africa, and not as cold. Attraction to sex is still attraction to sex. No one in the Rift Valley is thinking about IQ.-I really, really hate that you&apos;re blowing my idea off: How long does it take before humans are aware that they are aware? How long before they notice that their best hunters are begot by their best hunters, and their smartest shamans beget smarter shamans? How long before they select for the prettiest girls?-We&apos;ve done this with dogs for millenia, and if you prepare a revision for your book, though you don&apos;t agree, I implore you to consider the role of artificial selection: it is the strongest challenge to the idea of a UI, simply because as I said once a long time ago--it creates a tapestry that is impossible to unwind! But we KNOW man has done this to himself!-Consider Plato&apos;s republic. Have you considered how strongly it models Spartan society? Sparta&apos;s policy of infanticide turns noses to modern morality, but I hardly think that they were the first group of humans to engage in the practice; and if you consider that it took only 12,000 years to go from the wolf to the Chihuahua, the wall of your argument begins cracking. -When I said a couple years back that in order to infer a UI you first must be able to differentiate between human and nonhuman intelligence--this is EXACTLY what I had in mind.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

.

by David Turell @, Tuesday, August 02, 2011, 01:56 (4658 days ago) @ xeno6696

&#13;&#10;> I really, really hate that you&apos;re blowing my idea off: How long does it take before humans are aware that they are aware? How long before they notice that their best hunters are begot by their best hunters, and their smartest shamans beget smarter shamans? How long before they select for the prettiest girls?-Arranged marriages, which is part of your proposal, usually is ranking status, money, etc. Not IQ&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Consider Plato&apos;s republic. Have you considered how strongly it models Spartan society? Sparta&apos;s policy of infanticide turns noses to modern morality, but I hardly think that they were the first group of humans to engage in the practice.-The chinese are doing this now by sex. Same thing has gone on in India. If you are going to knock off stupid when do you recognize stupid. Not at birth but perhaps 7-10 year later. Hitler wanted to create aa master race, and had a program, but I don&apos;t see much evidence of it now. All the electricity from wind farms, not nuclear. And sort of fell for global warming hysteria. But, Merkel is obviously the brightest crayon in the EU box.-> When I said a couple years back that in order to infer a UI you first must be able to differentiate between human and nonhuman intelligence--this is EXACTLY what I had in mind.- The UI may be just like ours without the emotion. This is one area of possible difference, but we can understand the laws of physics, and unwrap the codes in biology, made by that UI. I think I can infer it from the evidence at hand.

.

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, August 06, 2011, 18:57 (4653 days ago) @ David Turell

David,&#13;&#10;> The UI may be just like ours without the emotion. This is one area of possible difference, but we can understand the laws of physics, and unwrap the codes in biology, made by that UI. I think I can infer it from the evidence at hand.-About to give a more formal treatment (having just finished chapter 5.) but your evidence so far... amounts to &quot;I know intelligence when I see it,&quot; borrowing from the Larry Flynt trial&apos;s &quot;I know pornography when I see it...&quot;-Both are incredibly subjective claims.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 5)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Saturday, August 06, 2011, 19:22 (4653 days ago) @ xeno6696

Well, I won&apos;t lie... I was a little disappointed with this chapter. -Ultimately David&apos;s argument is that we can infer a designer because our brain can&apos;t be described by darwinian natural selection.-Again, I simply put forth artificial selection as a sufficient explanation as to how we ultimately became so intelligent so quickly. Dogs. I rest my case. -Jury&apos;s out on consciousness, but you didn&apos;t really hit consciousness that hard, though I disagree that emergence necessitates dualism. -But the last half of the chapter is the one that let me down. Ultimately David&apos;s argument here is &quot;because we can think, we were clearly designed.&quot; David writes lovingly about the miracle that our universe is describable by mathematics, and cites Einstein even.-My counter to both David and Einstein here is:-&quot;How spectacular is it really, when the most precise language man has invented describes the world precisely?&quot;-David further digs into the notion of scientific intuition as further evidence of our greatness; but I would like to draw his attention to a quote from Sir Isaac Newton: &quot;If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.&quot; Science itself is a much better human analog for natural selection than any other endeavor: paradigm shifts happen only when some one reinterprets old data in a new way, thus extending a theory, or displacing an old one. However, this is not amazing... not to me. Mathematics by itself progressed one theorem at a time over at least 5000 years. Physics progressed similarly over the last 500 or so years, but it moved faster because more people participate, AND computers have shorted calculation times. -I would agree with you here if even Einstein&apos;s theory resulted from something no one knew... it came by observing anomalies in current theories. -Don&apos;t mistake the forest for the trees.... I find Aeschylus and Shakespeare more divinely inspiring than science, in regards to human intellect! But the main reason this argument feels weak to me is that it more or less says &quot;we were designed because WE are so smart...&quot;-Unless I oversimplified it, it makes me cringe! (Sorry! :-/ )

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 5)

by David Turell @, Saturday, August 06, 2011, 19:43 (4653 days ago) @ xeno6696

&#13;&#10;> Don&apos;t mistake the forest for the trees.... I find Aeschylus and Shakespeare more divinely inspiring than science, in regards to human intellect! But the main reason this argument feels weak to me is that it more or less says &quot;we were designed because WE are so smart...&quot;&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Unless I oversimplified it, it makes me cringe! (Sorry! :-/ )-Don&apos;t be sorry. I have appreciated all of your comments, and I again repeat a statement from before. I wish you and dhw had been my editors. I found Adler&apos;s book, &apos;The Difference&apos; about two years after writing that chapter 5 (It was from 1967). I could have made the chapter stronger with that background. I still think Adler has a major point. You are a much more exacting thinker than I am with your philosophy background, too exacting in some areas! Like odds against chance life. :>)) Our Hat Size Is (Still) Too Big for Darwin. But now try Chapter 6, a really fuzzy area.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 6)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Monday, August 08, 2011, 23:44 (4651 days ago) @ xeno6696

I will begin with negatives instead of positives this time, because overall, this chapter has introduce a new level of doubt within me that never existed a priori. -First, you cite a study concerning fertility in 2001 on page 177. This study was discredited by finding that one study leader, &quot;Daniel Wirth, a.k.a. John Wayne Truelove, is not an M.D. but an M.S. in parapsychology who has since been indicted on felony charges for mail fraud and theft, committed apparently at the time the study was claimed to be conducted.&quot; (From Wikipedia.) Further, &quot;[A DHHS study] revealed that the study&apos;s lead author, Dr. Rogerio Lobo, first learned of the study six to twelve months after the study was completed, and he subsequently denied having anything to do with the study&apos;s design or conduct and claimed to have provided only editorial assistance.&quot;-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studies_on_intercessory_prayer (For the full link)-I shan&apos;t use this to discredit all such studies, but I would further draw attention to the MANTRA Study. &quot;A 2005 MANTRA (Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings) II study conducted a three year clinical trial led by Duke University comparing intercessory prayer and MIT (Music, Imagery, and Touch) therapies for 748 cardiology patients. The study is regarded as the first time rigorous scientific protocols are applied on a large scale to assess the feasibility of intercessory prayer and other healing practices. It produced null results and the authors concluded, &quot;Neither masked prayer nor MIT therapy significantly improved clinical outcome after elective catheterization or percutaneous coronary intervention.&quot;[19] Neither study specified if photographs were used, or if belief levels were measured in the agents or those performing the prayers.&quot;-&quot;The STEP project&quot; (2005) resulted in more negative effects of prayer, resulted in a comment by Dawkins, &quot;It seems more probable that those patients who knew they were being prayed for suffered additional stress in consequence...&quot;-This is the one that I tried to find previously that resulted in those being prayed for, suffering worse results than those who were NOT prayed for. -I will search for further negatives, and then move on to the postives.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 6)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 00:57 (4651 days ago) @ xeno6696

First...-You invoke String Theory an awful lot here! If you&apos;re planning a revision, I would start with THIS chapter. You make so many references to this theoretical nether that I challenge you to rewrite the chapter without it! -Next, you discuss an instance (page 148) where you attempt to explain a &quot;psychic&quot; event. -Do you have any metal fillings? It has been known for some years that it is possible for (some) people to pick up radio signals through their teeth. -Once, when I was... about 14 or 15, I wrote the lyrics to the song &quot;Closer,&quot; from &quot;Nine Inch Nails,&quot; a full two years before I ever heard the song... when I first heard the song and felt the amazing &quot;deja vu,&quot; I attributed it to grabbing radio waves that morning when the song first played. The song was first released May 1994, and I recall hearing it (without listening to the radio) for the first time sometime that summer. I hated the band when it first appeared... it wasn&apos;t until I heard THIS song for the first time that I realized there was a connection here... Maybe the youth of the country had an unconscious event then...?-The only other negative from this chapter involves your idea of the collective unconscious...-At what point can you deride dualism and advocate its existence as you do on pages 160, 167, 170, 172, and 173?-If you claim that mind and body are separate as you seem to do in all but in one portion where you attribute the entire body as conscience--as I subscribe to--how do you defeat the arguments against Cartesian dualism?-Finally, on page 173 you argue that &quot;science is silent theologically...&quot; How can you you possibly argue this without a discussion of what science is, what it does, and its implicit assumption of methodological materialism? -Before I print one word to the positive of this chapter, I require you to respond to at least THAT QUESTION...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 6)

by David Turell @, Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 02:03 (4651 days ago) @ xeno6696

&#13;&#10;> Next, you discuss an instance (page 148) where you attempt to explain a &quot;psychic&quot; event. &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Do you have any metal fillings? -Only two gold inlays. -> Once, when I was... about 14 or 15, I wrote the lyrics to the song &quot;Closer,&quot; from &quot;Nine Inch Nails,&quot; a full two years before I ever heard the song... when I first heard the song and felt the amazing &quot;deja vu,&quot; I attributed it to grabbing radio waves that morning when the song first played. The song was first released May 1994, and I recall hearing it (without listening to the radio) for the first time sometime that summer. I hated the band when it first appeared... it wasn&apos;t until I heard THIS song for the first time that I realized there was a connection here... Maybe the youth of the country had an unconscious event then...?-Yours is a great example of a psychic event. Believe it. I know it when I hear about it. My wife has had several that I have observed&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> The only other negative from this chapter involves your idea of the collective unconscious...-Rupert Sheldrake has done some interesting stuff, you can&apos;t deny that. Just keep your mind open. One day we may know a great deal about such phenomena. I don&apos;t really &apos;know&apos;. I wonder, however.&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> At what point can you deride dualism and advocate its existence as you do on pages 160, 167, 170, 172, and 173? -I don&apos;t know that these examples support dualism. They are just psychic events.&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> If you claim that mind and body are separate as you seem to do in all but in one portion where you attribute the entire body as conscience--as I subscribe to--how do you defeat the arguments against Cartesian dualism?-My view of consciousness is that it is an emergent phenomenon from a brain, the most complex item in the universe, and is related to the UI indirectly or directly.&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Finally, on page 173 you argue that &quot;science is silent theologically...&quot; How can you you possibly argue this without a discussion of what science is, what it does, and its implicit assumption of methodological materialism? &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Before I print one word to the positive of this chapter, I require you to respond to at least THAT QUESTION...-I thought I covered the methodological materialism in chapter one. Should I have repeated it?

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 6)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 11:37 (4651 days ago) @ David Turell

David,&#13;&#10;> > Once, when I was... about 14 or 15, I wrote the lyrics to the song &quot;Closer,&quot; from &quot;Nine Inch Nails,&quot; a full two years before I ever heard the song... when I first heard the song and felt the amazing &quot;deja vu,&quot; I attributed it to grabbing radio waves that morning when the song first played. The song was first released May 1994, and I recall hearing it (without listening to the radio) for the first time sometime that summer. I hated the band when it first appeared... it wasn&apos;t until I heard THIS song for the first time that I realized there was a connection here... Maybe the youth of the country had an unconscious event then...?&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Yours is a great example of a psychic event. Believe it. I know it when I hear about it. My wife has had several that I have observed-I&apos;m still not fully convinced... the year this happened I had a mouth FULL of metal. (Braces, headgear... the whole scary lot!) The only thing that keeps me skeptical is that I never had this happen more than once. (If it purely a wiring issue you would think I could tune into my mental radio at will.) And I pretty vividly remember that when it happened I was in a sleep-like trance... I believe I was partially awake, meaning that the normal filter to the unconscious was NOT running. Then there&apos;s my lucid dreams where I get to witness completely inane events in my own life. (Almost as if my unconscious mind has an incredible sense of irony.)-&#13;&#10;> > &#13;&#10;> > The only other negative from this chapter involves your idea of the collective unconscious...&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Rupert Sheldrake has done some interesting stuff, you can&apos;t deny that. Just keep your mind open. One day we may know a great deal about such phenomena. I don&apos;t really &apos;know&apos;. I wonder, however.-Agreed. Your book has at least done a better job of pulling my attention into these areas that I typically have ignored due to their necessarily subjective nature. -> > &#13;&#10;> > At what point can you deride dualism and advocate its existence as you do on pages 160, 167, 170, 172, and 173? &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> I don&apos;t know that these examples support dualism. They are just psychic events.-In nearly all of these cases you make some comment regarding consciousness being separate from the body. The idea I like best is the consideration that consciousness is NOT limited to the brain alone--something I would agree with as one meditation exercise I have done concentrates on whole-body awareness. -> > &#13;&#10;> > If you claim that mind and body are separate as you seem to do in all but in one portion where you attribute the entire body as conscience--as I subscribe to--how do you defeat the arguments against Cartesian dualism?&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> My view of consciousness is that it is an emergent phenomenon from a brain, the most complex item in the universe, and is related to the UI indirectly or directly.-Disembodied consciousness necessitates that there are two fundamental substances in the universe, mind and matter. I&apos;m not discounting you here, but presenting you with the most direct challenge to your thought that you should consider in order to refine it. In what way can your thinking answer the challenges posed to Cartesian Dualism? I don&apos;t think it would be a fruitless exercise for either of us. -> > &#13;&#10;> > Finally, on page 173 you argue that &quot;science is silent theologically...&quot; How can you you possibly argue this without a discussion of what science is, what it does, and its implicit assumption of methodological materialism? &#13;&#10;> > &#13;&#10;> > Before I print one word to the positive of this chapter, I require you to respond to at least THAT QUESTION...&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> I thought I covered the methodological materialism in chapter one. Should I have repeated it?-I guess it has been enough months since I read the first chapter that I did not recall this, but remember a discussion we had where I was imploring that you devote some time to discussing science, how it works, and its underlying philosophical underpinnings... I think that any reader in your intended audience would appreciate a firm, scholarly treatment that tells them that science doesn&apos;t force naturalism down their throats in any way but that of methodology. I&apos;ll reread chapter one.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 6)

by David Turell @, Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 15:02 (4650 days ago) @ xeno6696

&#13;&#10;> I&apos;m still not fully convinced... the year this happened I had a mouth FULL of metal. (Braces, headgear... the whole scary lot!) The only thing that keeps me skeptical is that I never had this happen more than once. -My radio event involving the tee shirt soaked in tea was a one time thing,but it happened. My wife is recurrent, less as she grows older with me. Your event is like the one I experienced and my wife has. &#13;&#10; &#13;&#10;> Agreed. Your book has at least done a better job of pulling my attention into these areas that I typically have ignored due to their necessarily subjective nature.-That is all I intended. I think something is in that realm, but more than that, who knows? &#13;&#10;> > &#13;&#10;> > My view of consciousness is that it is an emergent phenomenon from a brain, the most complex item in the universe, and is related to the UI indirectly or directly.&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Disembodied consciousness necessitates that there are two fundamental substances in the universe, mind and matter. I&apos;m not discounting you here, but presenting you with the most direct challenge to your thought that you should consider in order to refine it. In what way can your thinking answer the challenges posed to Cartesian Dualism? I don&apos;t think it would be a fruitless exercise for either of us. -Here you are very much acting like my editor, and I appreciate it. My current concept is the UI is a part of everything, Spinoza-like: the information in plants and animals that aids their living state. Our individual minds are part of the UI but without a full connection. We have free will, the UI doesn&apos;t control us, but we tend to have all those religions that assume a greater power.&#13;&#10;The theologic philosophers refer to the UI as a necessary being. I&apos;ll give it more thought. And thank you.

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 6)

by xeno6696 @, Sonoran Desert, Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 15:58 (4650 days ago) @ David Turell

David,-> > &#13;&#10;> > I&apos;m still not fully convinced... the year this happened I had a mouth FULL of metal. (Braces, headgear... the whole scary lot!) The only thing that keeps me skeptical is that I never had this happen more than once. &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> My radio event involving the tee shirt soaked in tea was a one time thing,but it happened. My wife is recurrent, less as she grows older with me. Your event is like the one I experienced and my wife has. &#13;&#10;> -Again, a more comprehensive positive post will debut later today. Then (don&apos;t worry dhw!) I will return to the tangled mess I seem to have made regarding Natural Selection. Whether or not I can cleanly cleave those threads is beyond me, the damage may be too great here!-> > Agreed. Your book has at least done a better job of pulling my attention into these areas that I typically have ignored due to their necessarily subjective nature.&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> That is all I intended. I think something is in that realm, but more than that, who knows? -Again, a later post will discuss this. But I agree. And I applaud scientists brave enough to tackle these areas, though one of the scientists (name escapes me immediately) is a scientologist... so again thinking shaped by religion instead of inquiry up. Which is where I think YOU are. -> > > &#13;&#10;> > > My view of consciousness is that it is an emergent phenomenon from a brain, the most complex item in the universe, and is related to the UI indirectly or directly.&#13;&#10;> > &#13;&#10;> > Disembodied consciousness necessitates that there are two fundamental substances in the universe, mind and matter. I&apos;m not discounting you here, but presenting you with the most direct challenge to your thought that you should consider in order to refine it. In what way can your thinking answer the challenges posed to Cartesian Dualism? I don&apos;t think it would be a fruitless exercise for either of us. &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> Here you are very much acting like my editor, and I appreciate it. My current concept is the UI is a part of everything, Spinoza-like: the information in plants and animals that aids their living state. Our individual minds are part of the UI but without a full connection. We have free will, the UI doesn&apos;t control us, but we tend to have all those religions that assume a greater power.&#13;&#10;> The theologic philosophers refer to the UI as a necessary being. I&apos;ll give it more thought. And thank you.-I never really thought of myself as an editor, but your words here make sense. People have always had me check over their work for quality (and holes) and I think my training as a programmer has made me pretty sharp at identifying where holes exist in anyone&apos;s thinking... I just appreciate that you don&apos;t take my criticisms personally lol. Most people don&apos;t, but sometimes...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"

Science vs. Religion: (Chapter 6)

by David Turell @, Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 01:34 (4651 days ago) @ xeno6696

I will begin with negatives instead of positives this time, because overall, this chapter has introduce a new level of doubt within me that never existed a priori. &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> First, you cite a study concerning fertility in 2001 on page 177. This study was discredited by finding that one study leader, &quot;Daniel Wirth, a.k.a. John Wayne Truelove, is not an M.D. but an M.S. in parapsychology who has since been indicted on felony charges for mail fraud and theft, committed apparently at the time the study was claimed to be conducted.&quot; -When I cited the study I had no idea it was fake. book came out in early 2004.&#13;&#10;Chapter was written in early 2003. &#13;&#10;> I shan&apos;t use this to discredit all such studies, but I would further draw attention to the MANTRA Study. &quot;A 2005 MANTRA (Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings) II study conducted a three year clinical trial led by Duke University comparing intercessory prayer and MIT (Music, Imagery, and Touch) therapies for 748 cardiology patients.-Again 2005 is after my book &#13;&#10;> &quot;The STEP project&quot; (2005) resulted in more negative effects of prayer, resulted in a comment by Dawkins, &quot;It seems more probable that those patients who knew they were being prayed for suffered additional stress in consequence...&quot;&#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> This is the one that I tried to find previously that resulted in those being prayed for, suffering worse results than those who were NOT prayed for. &#13;&#10;> &#13;&#10;> I will search for further negatives, and then move on to the postives.-You need only look before 2003. I know about the fraudulent study I cited. If I ever get to a revision, all can be changed.

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