Religion and Ethics Forum

Religion and Ethics Discussion => Philosophy, in all its guises. => Topic started by: Sriram on May 08, 2023, 03:50:38 PM

Title: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 08, 2023, 03:50:38 PM
Hi everyone,

Science seems to have some theories that suggest some sort of an eternity through a repeated creation and destruction of the universe.

The Abrahamic religions also talk of eternity in the heavenly realms. with eternal salvation or eternal damnation.

In Hinduism  also there is the concept of eternity. The Universe is said to be cyclically created and destroyed....every 311 trillion years. After this period the universe including celestial realms and all gods and  deities, get destroyed and everything is said to dissolve into the Universal Spirit (Brahman). After an equal period the universe arises from Brahman once again. This goes on eternally. 

Cheers.

Sriram
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 08, 2023, 04:13:38 PM
Science seems to have some theories that suggest some sort of an eternity through a repeated creation and destruction of the universe.

Since it was discovered that the expansion of the universe was accelerating, there are very few cyclic hypotheses (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothesis) left standing (not theories (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory), there are none of those that are cyclic). Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformal_cyclic_cosmology) is the only one that springs to mind.

The Abrahamic religions also talk of eternity in the heavenly realms. with eternal salvation or eternal damnation.

In Hinduism  also there is the concept of eternity. The Universe is said to be cyclically created and destroyed....every 311 trillion years. After this period the universe including celestial realms and all gods and  deities, get destroyed and everything is said to dissolve into the Universal Spirit (Brahman). After an equal period the universe arises from Brahman once again. This goes on eternally. 

Mythology.

Not entirely sure why this is in philosophy, or, for that matter, what the point is that you're trying to make.

Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 08, 2023, 04:39:41 PM
Sriram,

Quote
Hi everyone,

Science seems to have some theories that suggest some sort of an eternity through a repeated creation and destruction of the universe.

The Abrahamic religions…
etc

So that’s it is it? On the Reincarnation, Karma and “Mind is a field” conversations you started you made a series of mistakes that others here have corrected, but rather than address the corrections you’ve just run away again in favour of starting yet another discussion that starts with a bare snippet of scientific thought and then tries to meld it with a trite little homily to follow.

What do you expect to achieve with this behaviour?   
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 08, 2023, 05:00:57 PM



This is a Religion & Ethics board. So...don't expect everything written here to conform to your scientific ideas.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Nearly Sane on May 08, 2023, 05:12:34 PM


This is a Religion & Ethics board. So...don't expect everything written here to conform to your scientific ideas.
And it has sub boards as the post made clear.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 08, 2023, 06:08:30 PM
Sriram,

Quote
This is a Religion & Ethics board. So...don't expect everything written here to conform to your scientific ideas.

They're not "my" scientific ideas, and you've missed the point in any case. Your mistakes on the sub-boards I referred to weren't mistakes about the science (though you have made made plenty of those), they were mistakes in reasoning. And I merely suggested that rather than continue with your guerilla tactic of starting numerous discussions, making mistakes on them, having those mistakes corrected, then running away only to start the process over again you'd be better advised actually addressing your mistakes.

Does that seem unreasonable to you?   
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 09, 2023, 05:21:08 AM
guerilla tactic...?!  That's a good one. :D

I don't believe I have made any mistakes....rather, I believe you are making all the mistakes. Don't you get it?!   The blind man analogy....remember?!

I know you like to position yourself as a head master of some sort......but you should know by now what I think of that.  ::)

So...let us not get into these childish blame games....please. 


Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 09, 2023, 08:04:39 AM
I don't believe I have made any mistakes....rather, I believe you are making all the mistakes.

Well of course that's what you believe. You have blind faith and you clearly don't understand evidence and critical thinking. You could easily learn about both and make a much better case than you do, but it appears that you just can't be arsed.

Don't you get it?!   The blind man analogy....remember?!

(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d8/27/fe/d827fe112256adc7cb4eee6e884754e0.gif)
One of the most dimwitted, poorly thought out analogies I think I've every heard in my life. Comedy value only.

So...let us not get into these childish blame games....please.

(https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fus.v-cdn.net%2F6030865%2Fuploads%2Feditor%2F07%2Fp39mcylqpnts.gif&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=123bed625241a616672ca9134db2ff92a135f7cf1338d21431308efc14dc21d6&ipo=images)

Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Alan Burns on May 09, 2023, 09:56:00 AM
Current scientific knowledge can't handle to concept of eternity.
There is no scientific explanation for why there is something rather than nothing.  Nor is there any explanation about how "something" comes into existence.  Our human minds can't handle the concept of anything which has no beginning and no end.  But the fact that we are able to even contemplate a reality beyond human understanding must indicate that there is more to reality than a material universe which somehow pops into existence like a big firework then burns itself out.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Nearly Sane on May 09, 2023, 10:12:09 AM
....
There is no scientific explanation for why there is something rather than nothing.  ....
Define nothing.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Aruntraveller on May 09, 2023, 10:42:54 AM
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Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 09, 2023, 10:51:22 AM
Current scientific knowledge can't handle to concept of eternity.

No current knowledge, scientific or otherwise, can handle the concept of eternity - our inherently limited capacity can only conceptualise it abstractly in certain frameworks.

Quote
There is no scientific explanation for why there is something rather than nothing.

There is no explanation of any kind for 'why' there is something rather than nothing, but it is rather begging the question. There are ideas about 'how' there is this particular something instead of nothing, but none of them are very fleshed out.

Quote
Nor is there any explanation about how "something" comes into existence.

That we have better potential explanations for - it relies on accepting that 'nothing' is not the bottom of hole with 'something' representing the lip to be reached, but rather seeing that 'nothing' is an equilibrium state between 'something' and 'anti-something', and that the equilibrium is not necessarily stable.

Quote
Our human minds can't handle the concept of anything which has no beginning and no end.

Which makes people suggesting a 'tri-omni' god even less justified, presumably?

Quote
But the fact that we are able to even contemplate a reality beyond human understanding must indicate that there is more to reality than a material universe which somehow pops into existence like a big firework then burns itself out.

No. It just means that there is more to reality than we can (currently?) determine - it doesn't mean that that additional bit must be non-physical unless you're trying to suggest that we have absolute understanding of the physical?

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 09, 2023, 11:02:14 AM
Current scientific knowledge can't handle to concept of eternity.

Drivel.

There is no scientific explanation for why there is something rather than nothing.

There is no explanation in religion either.

Nor is there any explanation about how "something" comes into existence.

It's doubtful such an 'event' has ever happened. It doesn't really make much sense.

Our human minds can't handle the concept of anything which has no beginning and no end.

Drivel.

But the fact that we are able to even contemplate a reality beyond human understanding must indicate that there is more to reality than a material universe...

Drivel (non sequitur).

...which somehow pops into existence like a big firework then burns itself out.

Appalling ignorance or deliberate misrepresentation?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: jeremyp on May 09, 2023, 11:58:13 AM

There is no explanation in religion either.


Not true. Several religions have such explanations. The problem is that they are all different. There's no way to tell which, if any, is true. Those that are falsifiable, such as the creation myth in Genesis chapter 1, have been falsified. And they all include some element of hand waving like "God is outside time and therefore just is".

This is a general problem with all religious "knowledge": there is just no way to tell if it is true or not.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Nearly Sane on May 09, 2023, 12:05:12 PM
Not true. Several religions have such explanations. The problem is that they are all different. There's no way to tell which, if any, is true. Those that are falsifiable, such as the creation myth in Genesis chapter 1, have been falsified. And they all include some element of hand waving like "God is outside time and therefore just is".

This is a general problem with all religious "knowledge": there is just no way to tell if it is true or not.
Do they amount to explanations?

Part of the problem is 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' does not appear to be a coherent question since it's not clear that nothing could be. Indeed talking about there being nothing is a nonensical idea since if it was then it wouldn't be nothing.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 09, 2023, 12:21:35 PM
Not true. Several religions have such explanations.

Do they? I've never seen one. Many religions have some god creating stuff, but a god existing is not nothing, so we're left with the same question.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: jeremyp on May 09, 2023, 12:26:32 PM
Do they amount to explanations?
Yes, but explanations that are impossible to evaluate.
Quote
Part of the problem is 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' does not appear to be a coherent question since it's not clear that nothing could be.

I don't see how that makes the question incoherent. If the answer is "our physical laws make 'nothing' an incoherent concept because x, y and z". So be it. It's still a satisfactory answer to a legitimate question.

Quote
Indeed talking about there being nothing is a nonensical idea since if it was then it wouldn't be nothing.
Sorry, that sentence seems to have got a bit mangled. I think you are saying that the ability of humans to talking about nothing in the abstract means that it couldn't exist in reality. I don't think we have that kind of power.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: jeremyp on May 09, 2023, 12:27:00 PM
Do they? I've never seen one. Many religions have some god creating stuff, but a god existing is not nothing, so we're left with the same question.

Hence the handwaving.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 09, 2023, 12:33:55 PM
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If any poster does suspect this activity please report it directly to the Moderators, do not make unsubstantiated accusations on the board.

Any accusations of this nature will be removed from the board.



My comment was meant as a joke...not as an accusation.  You are free to remove the post if you feel it is warranted.

I apologize if any board rules have been broken.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Nearly Sane on May 09, 2023, 12:51:14 PM
Yes, but explanations that are impossible to evaluate.
I don't see how that makes the question incoherent. If the answer is "our physical laws make 'nothing' an incoherent concept because x, y and z". So be it. It's still a satisfactory answer to a legitimate question.
Sorry, that sentence seems to have got a bit mangled. I think you are saying that the ability of humans to talking about nothing in the abstract means that it couldn't exist in reality. I don't think we have that kind of power.

No, I am saying that if a concept is not linguistically coherent, then talking about it is meaningless.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 09, 2023, 01:04:42 PM
Hence the handwaving.

Yes, but the point is that postulating a god simply does not answer the question as to why there is something rather than nothing. The question remains just the same whether the 'something' refers to the universe or to some god.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Maeght on May 09, 2023, 03:50:13 PM
Current scientific knowledge can't handle to concept of eternity.
There is no scientific explanation for why there is something rather than nothing.  Nor is there any explanation about how "something" comes into existence.  Our human minds can't handle the concept of anything which has no beginning and no end.  But the fact that we are able to even contemplate a reality beyond human understanding must indicate that there is more to reality than a material universe which somehow pops into existence like a big firework then burns itself out.

No reason to think that.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 09, 2023, 09:03:04 PM
Sriram,

Quote
guerilla tactic...?!  That's a good one. 

Then stop doing it.

Quote
I don't believe I have made any mistakes....

You’ve made many, many mistakes. Each time those mistakes are explained to you you just disappear for a bit, only to pop up with a new discussion that rapidly descends into yet more of your mistakes. 

Quote
…rather, I believe you are making all the mistakes. Don't you get it?!   The blind man analogy....remember?!

And speaking of mistakes, your hapless blind man “analogy” is a doozy (because it’s a category error). I’ve explained this to you several times before now, and not once have you even tried to engage with the explanation you’re given. And then, like a bad penny, here it pops up yet again – just as wrong, just as dim-witted, just as dishonest.

What do you get from this behaviour?     

Quote
I know you like to position yourself as a head master of some sort......but you should know by now what I think of that.

Correcting your many mistakes in reasoning isn’t positioning myself as anything. 

Quote
So...let us not get into these childish blame games....please.


Correcting your numerous mistakes isn’t a “childish blame game” - it’s just correcting your numerous mistakes.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at the last few discussions you started and then abandoned when your mistakes have been identified and explained to you.   
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 10, 2023, 06:27:53 AM



Oh please...!  ::) Could you (Blue) and Stranger please stop lecturing and telling me what to do.

I will write what I please (within board rules) and you are welcome to offer your opinion on that subject. Leave it at that.

 
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Alan Burns on May 10, 2023, 07:57:12 AM
I sympathise with Siram.
Whenever their arguments fail to convince they just resort to ridicule or an "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude instead of further engaging with genuine reasoning.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 10, 2023, 08:01:44 AM
Oh please...!  ::) Could you (Blue) and Stranger please stop lecturing and telling me what to do.

I will write what I please (within board rules) and you are welcome to offer your opinion on that subject. Leave it at that.

So you're trying to tell us what to do because you don't like being told what to do... Humm.

Not that I've tried to tell you what to do, and I don't think blue has either as far as I can see. Pointing out your numerous logical blunders and your misuse and misrepresentation of science is not telling you what to do, it's correcting misinformation.

Logical mistakes are logical mistakes. A fallacy is basically getting your logical sums wrong. Misinformation about science is also clear cut (e.g. natural selection is simply not a metaphor and anybody who says it is, is simply wrong).
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 10, 2023, 08:14:23 AM
I sympathise with Siram.
Whenever their arguments fail to convince they just resort to ridicule or an "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude instead of further engaging with genuine reasoning.

Wow just wow! What barefaced hypocrisy!

This is from the person who uses every possible distraction and avoidance tactic to squirm out of every attempt to engage him with actual reasoning. This is the person who just endlessly repeats the same old, tired, script that has been addressed time and time again without ever stopping to answer genuine questions or engage with counterarguments.

This is the person who makes up gibberish phrases, that he then pretends answers questions but utterly refuses to elaborate on when people point out that the phrase doesn't actually mean anything unless he does explain it further.

I'm stunned at just how blatantly dishonest this is. Talk about bearing false witness!
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Aruntraveller on May 10, 2023, 08:50:05 AM
I sympathise with Siram.
Whenever their arguments fail to convince they just resort to ridicule or an "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude instead of further engaging with genuine reasoning.

As a definition of irony I'm not sure I could have come up with a better one Alan. Well done.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 10, 2023, 09:19:36 AM
So you're trying to tell us what to do because you don't like being told what to do... Humm.

Not that I've tried to tell you what to do, and I don't think blue has either as far as I can see. Pointing out your numerous logical blunders and your misuse and misrepresentation of science is not telling you what to do, it's correcting misinformation.

Logical mistakes are logical mistakes. A fallacy is basically getting your logical sums wrong. Misinformation about science is also clear cut (e.g. natural selection is simply not a metaphor and anybody who says it is, is simply wrong).


Natural Selection is a metaphor and many eminent scientists agree with that (I have linked articles earlier).  And no amount of you insisting otherwise is going to change that!

Shows how 'logical fallacies' need not be fallacies depending on ones perception. Its all about attitudes and perceptions.   Things are not as black and white as you seem to think.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 10, 2023, 09:51:30 AM
Natural Selection is a metaphor and many eminent scientists agree with that (I have linked articles earlier).  And no amount of you insisting otherwise is going to change that!

Yes, it's  a metaphor, because - and this is important - there isn't actually an intelligence selecting anything, but it's a process that has an output akin to something selecting and so it's phrased as though there is. It's a metaphor specifically BECAUSE nothing is actually doing any selecting.

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 10, 2023, 09:55:18 AM
Natural Selection is a metaphor and many eminent scientists agree with that (I have linked articles earlier).

The only link I recall was about the naming of it being metaphorical (which it is), not the, very real, process. You are simply wrong about this. Every textbook on the subject will explain exactly how natural selection works in the real world, as a very real and significant process. I have done so myself on this forum and you ignored it (as you always do when you have no answers).

Shows how 'logical fallacies' need not be fallacies depending on ones perception.

Fallacies have been identified since the dawn of philosophy until today, as obvious and clear mistakes in reasoning. Using a fallacy doesn't invalidate your conclusion, but it does mean that you have failed to back it up. Logic is a formal subject in its own right, ignoring it is foolish.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 10, 2023, 10:21:41 AM
Yes, it's  a metaphor, because - and this is important - there isn't actually an intelligence selecting anything, but it's a process that has an output akin to something selecting and so it's phrased as though there is. It's a metaphor specifically BECAUSE nothing is actually doing any selecting.

Natural selection is a very real filtering process on variations. The only metaphorical aspect is calling it 'selection' as that implies some sort of deliberate choice. Sriram keeps on trying to dismiss the whole process by labelling it a metaphor, which is just plain wrong.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 10, 2023, 01:25:18 PM


https://evolutionnews.org/2023/03/natural-selection-the-evolution-of-a-mirage/

***********

Only time will tell whether the idea of evolution itself, which natural selection was meant to support, will endure now that so many scientists are “coming out” to express doubts about natural selection as traditionally glossed. As Michael Ruse recently pointed out, natural selection cannot actually select and is better understood as a score-recording statistic than as a “true cause”:

Natural selection reveals itself as not just a metaphor but a mixed one: Nature being dumb but nevertheless capable of discrimination. It is a poetic concept rather than a scientific one, appealing more to emotional and aesthetic sensibilities than to reason. Denuded of the “cover” provided by natural selection as the motive factor to explain evolution, the broader subject of evolution itself once again becomes as enigmatic to us as it was to our Victorian forbears. Now as in 1858 evolution remains the “mystery of mysteries.”

************
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 10, 2023, 01:41:56 PM

https://evolutionnews.org/2023/03/natural-selection-the-evolution-of-a-mirage/
...

(https://i.imgur.com/POlXATR.jpeg) Evolution News is an intelligent design (creationist) propaganda site from the Discovery Institute Center for Science & Culture (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Science_and_Culture).

Added: And the esteemed author, Neil Thomas, is qualified in.... wait for it..... classics and European languages. Humm, so this is one of those "eminent scientists" of which you spoke, eh?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Alan Burns on May 10, 2023, 01:53:58 PM
Wow just wow! What barefaced hypocrisy!

This is from the person who uses every possible distraction and avoidance tactic to squirm out of every attempt to engage him with actual reasoning. This is the person who just endlessly repeats the same old, tired, script that has been addressed time and time again without ever stopping to answer genuine questions or engage with counterarguments.

This is the person who makes up gibberish phrases, that he then pretends answers questions but utterly refuses to elaborate on when people point out that the phrase doesn't actually mean anything unless he does explain it further.

I'm stunned at just how blatantly dishonest this is. Talk about bearing false witness!

And where was your actual reasoning in this reply to my earlier post?

Drivel.

There is no explanation in religion either.

It's doubtful such an 'event' has ever happened. It doesn't really make much sense.

Drivel.

Drivel (non sequitur).

Appalling ignorance or deliberate misrepresentation?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 10, 2023, 01:59:24 PM
Natural selection reveals itself as not just a metaphor but a mixed one: Nature being dumb but nevertheless capable of discrimination. It is a poetic concept rather than a scientific one, appealing more to emotional and aesthetic sensibilities than to reason.

And in this quote is just dumb idiocy. The guy clearly has no grasp whatsoever of the science. It's not even a difficult concept to understand. You'd really have to be very, very dim, or kept yourself in deliberate ignorance and employed blind faith to reach this conclusion.

Do you need me to explain how natural selection works yet again?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 10, 2023, 02:06:36 PM
And where was your actual reasoning in this reply to my earlier post?

Where was there any in the post I was replying to? What do you expect when you come out with a series of rather silly and totally unargued assertions? If you want to try to defend them and add some reasoning to them, go right ahead.

The fact remains, however, that your track record for engaging with serious objections to your claims is utterly appalling. Mindless repetition is your stock-in-trade.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 10, 2023, 02:18:56 PM
Only time will tell whether the idea of evolution itself, which natural selection was meant to support, will endure now that so many scientists are “coming out” to express doubts about natural selection as traditionally glossed.

Whilst there are some scientists 'coming out', when they do so they aren't practising science. In the main they are making faith expressions, and when they do attempt something in the scientific vein it is thoroughly discredited and falls over at the peer review stage.

Quote
Natural selection reveals itself as not just a metaphor but a mixed one: Nature being dumb but nevertheless capable of discrimination. It is a poetic concept rather than a scientific one, appealing more to emotional and aesthetic sensibilities than to reason. Denuded of the “cover” provided by natural selection as the motive factor to explain evolution, the broader subject of evolution itself once again becomes as enigmatic to us as it was to our Victorian forbears. Now as in 1858 evolution remains the “mystery of mysteries.”

Success - in breeding, whether directly or by dint of better survival rates - leads to increased relative frequency, which over time leads to differing stable populations upon which variation can once again play. It's a blind but effective measure, and nothing in this statement calls it into question.

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Alan Burns on May 10, 2023, 04:25:00 PM
And in this quote is just dumb idiocy. The guy clearly has no grasp whatsoever of the science. It's not even a difficult concept to understand. You'd really have to be very, very dim, or kept yourself in deliberate ignorance and employed blind faith to reach this conclusion.

Do you need me to explain how natural selection works yet again?
You appear to put your faith in what can be achieved by apparently unguided, purposeless random forces of nature.

I put my faith in the unimaginable creative power which emanates from the source of all existence.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 10, 2023, 04:40:25 PM
Sriram,

Quote
Oh please...!    Could you (Blue) and Stranger please stop lecturing and telling me what to do.

No-one has done either of those things (though a lecture in basic logic would likely do you a lot of good).

Quote
I will write what I please (within board rules) and you are welcome to offer your opinion on that subject. Leave it at that.

You can indeed write as you please, but you cannot complain when “what you please” consists of errors in reasoning that are then explained to you.

That you routinely ignore the explanations you’re given seems to give you licence to repeat your mistakes in the next discussion you decide to begin. This not a good approach.   
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 10, 2023, 04:41:06 PM
You appear to put your faith in what can be achieved by apparently unguided, purposeless random forces of nature.

I don't really do faith in the way you do. And since all I did was point out that somebody didn't understand something simple, I really don't see how you get there from that. Natural selection is so bleedin' obvious it would require an explanation if it didn't happen.

It's the overwhelming evidence that convinces me that evolution happened and that it doesn't require a magic sky fairy to help it along.

I put my faith in the unimaginable creative power which emanates from the source of all existence.

...without the slightest shred of evidence.  ::)
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 10, 2023, 04:41:13 PM
AB,

Quote
I sympathise with Siram.
Whenever their arguments fail to convince they just resort to ridicule or an "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude instead of further engaging with genuine reasoning.

Absolutely not true (and deeply hypocritical by the way). What “they” actually do is set out the arguments that correct the various mistakes he makes – which is a very different matter.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 10, 2023, 04:42:00 PM
Sriram,

Quote
Natural Selection is a metaphor and many eminent scientists agree with that (I have linked articles earlier).  And no amount of you insisting otherwise is going to change that!

The “metaphor” part concerns the implied “selector”, but the process itself “selects” with no such input needed.   

Quote
Shows how 'logical fallacies' need not be fallacies depending on ones perception. Its all about attitudes and perceptions.   Things are not as black and white as you seem to think.

Wrong again. Logical fallacies are logical fallacies no matter what your “attitudes and perceptions”. Someone who argues that increased ice cream consumption causes more burglaries (because burglary rates correlate to ice cream sales) is committing a logical fallacy regardless of his attitudes and perceptions. 

And often here the person committing the logical fallacies is you.   
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 10, 2023, 04:43:08 PM
Sriram,

Quote
https://evolutionnews.org/2023/03/natural-selection-the-evolution-of-a-mirage/

You’re quoting idiocy from a creationist website:

Evolution News & Science Today publishes work by scientists associated with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture as well as independent scholars and writers.”

Did you know that?

Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 10, 2023, 04:47:48 PM
AB,

Quote
You appear to put your faith in what can be achieved by apparently unguided, purposeless random forces of nature.

No, any “faith” here is just a reasonable degree of confidence based on overwhelming evidence. 

Quote
I put my faith in the unimaginable creative power which emanates from the source of all existence.

Yes, and that’s called “blind” faith because there’s no evidence at all to justify it.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: torridon on May 10, 2023, 07:13:28 PM

Natural Selection is a metaphor and many eminent scientists agree with that (I have linked articles earlier).  And no amount of you insisting otherwise is going to change that!

Shows how 'logical fallacies' need not be fallacies depending on ones perception. Its all about attitudes and perceptions.   Things are not as black and white as you seem to think.

Concentrate now : "Natural Selection" is a metaphor; whereas, Natural Selection is a phenomenon of nature.  Geddit ? 

The phrase "Natural Selection" is a metaphorical turn of language that is used in common parlance to describe a phenomenon of nature.  It doesn't mean that the phenomenon itself is a metaphor, that would make no sense.  A metaphor is a linguistic construct, not a phenomenon of nature.  This is really basic entry level linguistics.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: torridon on May 10, 2023, 07:26:06 PM
You appear to put your faith in what can be achieved by apparently unguided, purposeless random forces of nature.

Yes, it is called 'following the evidence' and it is this paradigm that has given us the modern world

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I put my faith in the unimaginable creative power which emanates from the source of all existence.

For which there is no evidence; absent which leaves us nothing more than anthropocentric fantasies.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 11, 2023, 05:49:50 AM

Natural Selection is a metaphor because there is no actual selection going on.  It took you guys a long time (many years) to admit to that!  ::)   Shows how stubborn memes are.

Darwin thought of  Natural Selection as similar to artificial selection, the way a farmer selects for traits in his crops while cross breeding them. He (being an agnostic) probably had the idea of some superior intelligence doing the selection.

Talking of 'filtering' is nonsense because this automatically implies a set requirement (a sieve of sorts) based on which the Natural Selection takes place.

There is actually no set process at all that can be called Natural Selection. It is just chance which depends on local environmental conditions.  A species could survive very well in one corner of the forest and get eliminated at the other corner depending on the conditions. It is pure chance and talking about it as though it is a well understood process is incorrect and dishonest. Seen along with random variations...the entire process of evolution is just chance.

Evolution is fact happens through active adaptations of organisms to environments through an internal communication within them, that causes phenotypes to change suitably. Now....you guys obviously don't like that idea because it implies some sort of an inner response and intelligence that is anathema to you.




Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Maeght on May 11, 2023, 08:53:01 AM
Natural Selection is a metaphor because there is no actual selection going on.  It took you guys a long time (many years) to admit to that!  ::)   Shows how stubborn memes are.

Darwin thought of  Natural Selection as similar to artificial selection, the way a farmer selects for traits in his crops while cross breeding them. He (being an agnostic) probably had the idea of some superior intelligence doing the selection.

Talking of 'filtering' is nonsense because this automatically implies a set requirement (a sieve of sorts) based on which the Natural Selection takes place.

There is actually no set process at all that can be called Natural Selection. It is just chance which depends on local environmental conditions.  A species could survive very well in one corner of the forest and get eliminated at the other corner depending on the conditions. It is pure chance and talking about it as though it is a well understood process is incorrect and dishonest. Seen along with random variations...the entire process of evolution is just chance.

Evolution is fact happens through active adaptations of organisms to environments through an internal communication within them, that causes phenotypes to change suitably. Now....you guys obviously don't like that idea because it implies some sort of an inner response and intelligence that is anathema to you.

I've never seen any indication of this. Do you have any evidence for this?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 11, 2023, 09:06:21 AM
You appear to put your faith in what can be achieved by apparently unguided, purposeless random forces of nature.

No, I accept the observable fact that evolution happens. I accept from the evidence presented that variation happens in species. I accept from the evidence presented that the environment exerts pressure on species, and those variations result in differential survival rates. I accept, from the evidence available, that over time that will result in divergence of subspecies into separate species. This isn't 'faith', it's a conclusion from evidence.

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I put my faith in the unimaginable creative power which emanates from the source of all existence.

For which you have zero evidence, you merely have a phenomenon and an assertion. That's what makes it a faith claim rather than a scientific one.

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 11, 2023, 10:05:08 AM
Natural Selection is a metaphor because there is no actual selection going on.

There is no intelligence doing a deliberate selection, nevertheless, some traits do spread through populations and some die out, so there is a filtration process. Selection isn't a bad word for it, except for the implication of intelligence.

Darwin thought of  Natural Selection as similar to artificial selection, the way a farmer selects for traits in his crops while cross breeding them.

It is similar in many ways.

He (being an agnostic) probably had the idea of some superior intelligence doing the selection.

Never seen anything that suggests that and it seems highly unlikely given what he did say in On the Origin of Species.

Talking of 'filtering' is nonsense because this automatically implies a set requirement (a sieve of sorts) based on which the Natural Selection takes place.

Drivel. There is a filter, it's called 'the environment'.

There is actually no set process at all that can be called Natural Selection.

Absurd nonsense.

A species could survive very well in one corner of the forest and get eliminated at the other corner depending on the conditions.

It could indeed. Differing conditions mean different selection pressures and that is a very important part of the process of evolution that often drives speciation.

It is pure chance and talking about it as though it is a well understood process is incorrect and dishonest. Seen along with random variations...the entire process of evolution is just chance.

Ignorant drivel.

Evolution is fact happens through active adaptations of organisms to environments through an internal communication within them, that causes phenotypes to change suitably. Now....you guys obviously don't like that idea because it implies some sort of an inner response and intelligence that is anathema to you.

Fantasy.

Look Sriram, natural selection is not rocket science, it's simple and obvious. It works like this:

Take the most significant example of a new mutation. Most mutations do nothing much at all (every human has many) but sometimes they will produce a new trait and that may either be deleterious or advantageous, by which we mean they either aid survival and reproduction in the current environment of the population or hinder it. Unsurprisingly those individuals with an advantageous trait will probably produce more offspring and those offspring with the trait will similarly produce more offspring and so on through the generations. An advantageous trait will spread through the population. Conversely, a deleterious trait will reproduce less (if at all) and tend to die out.

To take your point above, if part of a population is cut off from the rest in a somewhat different environment, then the traits that are selected for will be different, hence, over time the two populations become increasingly different, and this is one of the scenarios that can lead to speciation. A similar thing happens if the environment changes in some way, again different selection pressures and different traits being selected.

The classic peppered moth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution) example illustrates this nicely and in an obvious way. We also now know the associated mutation (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36424768).

How anybody can fail to understand this is totally beyond me. It is really, really simple. I guess clinging desperately on to cherished ideas is the only way to ignored it. Blind faith at its most absurd.   ::)

Worth adding that the process (that you don't think exists) has been observed in nature and experiments as well as simulated on computer and actually used as a design process.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Alan Burns on May 11, 2023, 10:11:14 AM
AB,

No, any “faith” here is just a reasonable degree of confidence based on overwhelming evidence. 
There is overwhelming, demonstrable evidence that truly random forces are inherently destructive - not creative.  It takes a great deal of faith to believe that random forces alone could have driven the evolution process over the many mountains of improbability involved in bringing life as we know it into existence.
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Yes, and that’s called “blind” faith because there’s no evidence at all to justify it.
There is plenty of evidence, but you choose to use your God given freedom to seek reasons to dismiss it, ridicule it, ignore it or claim that it does not exist ( - as in human free will).
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 11, 2023, 10:22:34 AM
There is overwhelming, demonstrable evidence that truly random forces are inherently destructive - not creative.  It takes a great deal of faith to believe that random forces alone could have driven the evolution process over the many mountains of improbability involved in bringing life as we know it into existence.

(https://i.imgur.com/POlXATR.jpeg) The process of evolution is not random, only the raw mutations are (effectively) random and they supply the required novelty for natural selection to work on.

There is plenty of evidence, but you choose to use your God given freedom to seek reasons to dismiss it, ridicule it, ignore it or claim that it does not exist ( - as in human free will).

You have presented no evidence whatsoever (neither has anybody else) for your absurd claims. Your 'argument' about 'free will' is riddled with logical contradiction, impossibilities, endless obvious fallacies, and meaningless gibberish.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 11, 2023, 10:27:31 AM
Natural Selection is a metaphor because there is no actual selection going on.

To the extent that 'selection' implies a consciousness making a choice, that's exactly correct, that isn't happening. It's a metaphor because you're anthropomorphising natural phenomena.

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Darwin thought of  Natural Selection as similar to artificial selection, the way a farmer selects for traits in his crops while cross breeding them. He (being an agnostic) probably had the idea of some superior intelligence doing the selection.

The evidence suggests that he distinctly didn't think it was guided by a superior intelligence, and he had great qualms about what it would mean for organised religion. It's reported that he deferred publishing for some considerable time whilst he wrestled with that.

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Talking of 'filtering' is nonsense because this automatically implies a set requirement (a sieve of sorts) based on which the Natural Selection takes place.

It doesn't require a set requirement, it merely requires an environment at any given time which gives an advantage to one or more variations over others.

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There is actually no set process at all that can be called Natural Selection.

Which is why we have the variety of life that we do, because different pressures at different points favoured different variations (and crabs (https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/why-everything-becomes-crab-meme-carcinization/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThere%20has%20to%20be%20some,or%20diversify%20into%20new%20species.)).

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It is just chance which depends on local environmental conditions.

Yep.

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A species could survive very well in one corner of the forest and get eliminated at the other corner depending on the conditions.

Not just could, it has to. If that wasn't the case you wouldn't get the differential selection, you wouldn't get the range, you'd just have one species everywhere because you wouldn't have selection, you'd just have continual adaptation.

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It is pure chance and talking about it as though it is a well understood process is incorrect and dishonest.

Probability is a well-established field of mathematics, there is no inherent reason to think that we can't handle chance in science. The process of natural selection is well understood, the process of the initial variation upon which Natural Selection works is, I'd suggest, less well-understood but well documented. That we understand the process does not mean that we necessarily can rebuild the entire history of a species, but we have had some success in identified common elements and using that understanding to develop a reasonably complete tree of life.

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Seen along with random variations...the entire process of evolution is just chance.

No, it involves chance elements, but it's a strongly selective process working on variation that comes about by chance. It's like if I shuffle a pack of cards, but then ask you to pick out the red ones - they're in a random order, and if you couldn't look and select then you'd have a 50-50 chance, but with selection you should get to 100%.
 
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Evolution is fact happens through active adaptations of organisms to environments through an internal communication within them, that causes phenotypes to change suitably.

If that's fact how do you explain extinctions? If populations can adapt in advance of environmental pressures, how come so many fail? If that's 'fact' where's your demonstration of the mechanism, and your prediction? How do you explain future information somehow flowing backwards in time to inform variation before it's required?

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Now....you guys obviously don't like that idea because it implies some sort of an inner response and intelligence that is anathema to you.

No, we don't like it because it contradicts the evidence we do have, doesn't have evidence to support it, and then begs the question 'where did the guiding intelligence come from'?

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 11, 2023, 10:31:33 AM
There is overwhelming, demonstrable evidence that truly random forces are inherently destructive - not creative.

Can you name a truly 'random' force? When variation is described as 'random' in the sense of evolution it's in terms of the environment that will then select on that variation, it is not suggesting that there isn't some sort of biological mechanism driving variation in the first place.

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It takes a great deal of faith to believe that random forces alone could have driven the evolution process over the many mountains of improbability involved in bringing life as we know it into existence.

It doesn't take any faith at all, because we have evidence. It takes trust in the scientific works of those who've gone before us, it takes trust in the rigour of the review process and replication studies (which aren't universally perfect, unfortunately), but it's a fundamentally different way of approaching conclusions about the world and how it works.

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There is plenty of evidence, but you choose to use your God given freedom to seek reasons to dismiss it, ridicule it, ignore it or claim that it does not exist ( - as in human free will).

If you have evidence, present it, but don't then claim 'faith'. You have evidence, or you have faith, you don't have both. As it is, typically, you don't have evidence: you have a phenomenon, you have personal incredulity, and you have the Big Boy's Book of Bedtime Stories.

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 11, 2023, 10:44:56 AM
AB,

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There is overwhelming, demonstrable evidence that truly random forces are inherently destructive - not creative.  It takes a great deal of faith to believe that random forces alone could have driven the evolution process over the many mountains of improbability involved in bringing life as we know it into existence.

Your ignorance of the subject you presume to criticise is letting you down again here, as is your fondness for bad reasoning.

For practical purpose the mutation part is random (whether “true” randomness actually exists is a different matter) but the effect of environment on those mutations is anything but.

I’ve explained to you your reasoning error may times without reply (circular reasoning, begging the question etc) so unless you’re prepared finally to address the error I see little point in doing it again. Suffice it to say that you cannot assume humankind was a god’s plan all along, and then be incredulous at the unlikeliness of it happening without a god to guide it.
 
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There is plenty of evidence, but you choose to use your God given freedom to seek reasons to dismiss it, ridicule it, ignore it or claim that it does not exist ( - as in human free will).

If you seriously think there’s “plenty of evidence” isn’t it about time you finally produced some of it?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: jeremyp on May 11, 2023, 12:15:46 PM
Yes, but the point is that postulating a god simply does not answer the question as to why there is something rather than nothing. The question remains just the same whether the 'something' refers to the universe or to some god.

Well I know that and you know that. But, for some reason, religionists seem to think "God just is" is an adequate answer to the question.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Alan Burns on May 11, 2023, 12:39:06 PM
The process of evolution is not random, only the raw mutations are (effectively) random and they supply the required novelty for natural selection to work on.
Just looking at the start of the evolution process - before natural selection can even get going.
We have amino acids which need to combine in some way to produce self contained entities capable of reproducing themselves.  Then we have the monumental leap from cell reproduction to sexual reproduction.

Just because you can't detect God's guidance directly with our limited senses does not lead to the conclusion that it does not exist.  Similarly, the fact that you can't conceive of any means for us to have conscious freedom to control our own thought processes does not lead to a conclusion that such control cannot take place.  The evidence lies in the results - not in our limited capacity to understand how it is accomplished.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 11, 2023, 01:44:21 PM
Just looking at the start of the evolution process - before natural selection can even get going.
We have amino acids which need to combine in some way to produce self contained entities capable of reproducing themselves. 

So, having made the absurd statement about "random forces alone" driving the evolution process, now you've been corrected, you've backed off and are now talking about abiogenesis. This is how you keep trashing your own reputation. You don't pay attention and think things through.

Abiogenesis is an ongoing area of research and there are many credible hypotheses with reasonable indicative evidence.

Then we have the monumental leap from cell reproduction to sexual reproduction.

Origin of sexual reproduction (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_sexual_reproduction#Origin_of_sexual_reproduction).

Just because you can't detect God's guidance directly with our limited senses does not lead to the conclusion that it does not exist.

Argument from ignorance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance) fallacy (silly logical blunder).

Similarly, the fact that you can't conceive of any means for us to have conscious freedom to control our own thought processes does not lead to a conclusion that such control cannot take place.

"Conscious freedom to control our own thought processes" is an example of one of you daft gibberish phrases I spoke of before. What's it supposed to mean? How can we consciously control our own thought process? By consciously thinking about each conscious thought before we consciously think it? See? Total gibberish.

The evidence lies in the results - not in our limited capacity to understand how it is accomplished.

You can't have evidence for meaningless claim. Further, it has been pointed out to you multiple times that evidence for your nonsense version of 'freedom', in the sense of being able to have done differently in exactly the same situation without randomness, is totally impossible to obtain, because we'd literally have to rewind time in order to test that somebody could do differently and then, somehow show that said difference wasn't random.

You have presented exactly zero evidence that human minds are not deterministic (or mostly so, with some randomness). Absolutely nothing.

This sort of repetition of the same old crap is exactly what justified my comments in #26 (http://www.religionethics.co.uk/index.php?topic=19946.msg862601#msg862601).
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 11, 2023, 01:45:13 PM
Just looking at the start of the evolution process - before natural selection can even get going.

You mean abiogenesis, which is BY DEFINITION, not part of evolution or evolutionary theory.

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We have amino acids which need to combine in some way to produce self contained entities capable of reproducing themselves.  Then we have the monumental leap from cell reproduction to sexual reproduction.

No, you have a series of small steps which will likely include some sort of hybrid stage where you can have sexual or asexual reproduction, like we see in aphids, slime molds, starfish...

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Just because you can't detect God's guidance directly with our limited senses does not lead to the conclusion that it does not exist.

No, but the fact that you apparently can't detect God's guidance either, you merely assume it, means that I don't have to take your claim of it seriously.

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Similarly, the fact that you can't conceive of any means for us to have conscious freedom to control our own thought processes does not lead to a conclusion that such control cannot take place.

It's not about an inability to conceive it, it's an easy thing to conceive of, it's that you have no evidence for it, not gap in the current explanation that requires it, and no answer to the subsequent inevitable questions that adding in the unnecessary element adds - in both situations.

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The evidence lies in the results - not in our limited capacity to understand how it is accomplished.

Yes. And you have no evidence for your claims. Even if you consider your personal incredulity sufficient to discount evolution by natural selection, you've merely brought us back to a point of 'nobody knows', the conclusion of which is not 'therefore Yahweh' but rather 'therefore more investigation'.

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 11, 2023, 02:23:03 PM
AB,

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Just looking at the start of the evolution process - before natural selection can even get going.

Which is called abiogenesis, an active area of research and a precursor to evolution rather that its start but ok…

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We have amino acids which need to combine in some way to produce self contained entities capable of reproducing themselves.  Then we have the monumental leap from cell reproduction to sexual reproduction.

Except that you’re making the reasoning error here of ignoring the size of the sample set. Given trillions and trillions of opportunities for an event (one cell being absorbed by another rather than being rejected by it for example), there’s nothing particularly remarkable about it happening one (or likely multiple) times.

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Just because you can't detect God's guidance directly with our limited senses does not lead to the conclusion that it does not exist.

Nice example of omni-fallacious reasoning there – straw man, Russell’s teapot etc. The actual conclusion by the way is just that there’s no good reason to think it does exist, which is a very different claim to your straw man version. 

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Similarly, the fact that you can't conceive of any means for us to have conscious freedom to control our own thought processes does not lead to a conclusion that such control cannot take place.

See above re a straw man. Anyone can conceive of such a thing, only that conception would entail so many additional assumptions, logical contradictions etc that it’s readily dismissed.

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The evidence lies in the results - not in our limited capacity to understand how it is accomplished.

What results, and why do you think they’re evidence for a god?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: torridon on May 11, 2023, 07:43:23 PM
There is overwhelming, demonstrable evidence that truly random forces are inherently destructive - not creative....

Lazy generalisation. 

Within the specific context of germlíne genetic mutations, a random change in a particular gene does not necessarily translate to 'inherently always destructive'.  It just means that some or other characteristic of the progeny will be slightly different to the parental trait.  That this would result destruction of the progeny is very improbable.  Most adult humans have accumulated a few dozen germline mutations by the time they have kids.  Ask youself, have nearly all your friends' children died as a result of genetic defects ? If the answer to this is 'No', then realise that your lazy and ignorant misrepresentation of this key biological process is way off the mark.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 12, 2023, 06:48:31 AM
There is no intelligence doing a deliberate selection, nevertheless, some traits do spread through populations and some die out, so there is a filtration process. Selection isn't a bad word for it, except for the implication of intelligence.

It is similar in many ways.

Never seen anything that suggests that and it seems highly unlikely given what he did say in On the Origin of Species.

Drivel. There is a filter, it's called 'the environment'.

Absurd nonsense.

It could indeed. Differing conditions mean different selection pressures and that is a very important part of the process of evolution that often drives speciation.

Ignorant drivel.

Fantasy.

Look Sriram, natural selection is not rocket science, it's simple and obvious. It works like this:

Take the most significant example of a new mutation. Most mutations do nothing much at all (every human has many) but sometimes they will produce a new trait and that may either be deleterious or advantageous, by which we mean they either aid survival and reproduction in the current environment of the population or hinder it. Unsurprisingly those individuals with an advantageous trait will probably produce more offspring and those offspring with the trait will similarly produce more offspring and so on through the generations. An advantageous trait will spread through the population. Conversely, a deleterious trait will reproduce less (if at all) and tend to die out.

To take your point above, if part of a population is cut off from the rest in a somewhat different environment, then the traits that are selected for will be different, hence, over time the two populations become increasingly different, and this is one of the scenarios that can lead to speciation. A similar thing happens if the environment changes in some way, again different selection pressures and different traits being selected.

The classic peppered moth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution) example illustrates this nicely and in an obvious way. We also now know the associated mutation (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36424768).

How anybody can fail to understand this is totally beyond me. It is really, really simple. I guess clinging desperately on to cherished ideas is the only way to ignored it. Blind faith at its most absurd.   ::)

Worth adding that the process (that you don't think exists) has been observed in nature and experiments as well as simulated on computer and actually used as a design process.


You really must be a school teacher. Do you bring your cane along when you write....?!

Let me repeat.  IMO Natural Selection is entirely chance because environmental changes are purely chance.  Anything from elephants and frogs and worms manage to survive in the very same environment.  What filtration?!

Either there is some sort of an intelligence (collective consciousness) at work here or it is all entirely chance. Trying to see Natural Selection as some sort of a systematic process is clearly incorrect and dishonest. 

It is like kicking some balls down a hill. Either there are people at various points kicking the balls in desirable directions  or it is all chance where  the different balls land up. It cannot be neither. It cannot be seen as some 'natural selection process' that determines where the balls land up.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 12, 2023, 07:12:33 AM
To the extent that 'selection' implies a consciousness making a choice, that's exactly correct, that isn't happening. It's a metaphor because you're anthropomorphising natural phenomena.

The evidence suggests that he distinctly didn't think it was guided by a superior intelligence, and he had great qualms about what it would mean for organised religion. It's reported that he deferred publishing for some considerable time whilst he wrestled with that.

It doesn't require a set requirement, it merely requires an environment at any given time which gives an advantage to one or more variations over others.

Which is why we have the variety of life that we do, because different pressures at different points favoured different variations (and crabs (https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/why-everything-becomes-crab-meme-carcinization/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThere%20has%20to%20be%20some,or%20diversify%20into%20new%20species.)).

Yep.

Not just could, it has to. If that wasn't the case you wouldn't get the differential selection, you wouldn't get the range, you'd just have one species everywhere because you wouldn't have selection, you'd just have continual adaptation.

Probability is a well-established field of mathematics, there is no inherent reason to think that we can't handle chance in science. The process of natural selection is well understood, the process of the initial variation upon which Natural Selection works is, I'd suggest, less well-understood but well documented. That we understand the process does not mean that we necessarily can rebuild the entire history of a species, but we have had some success in identified common elements and using that understanding to develop a reasonably complete tree of life.

No, it involves chance elements, but it's a strongly selective process working on variation that comes about by chance. It's like if I shuffle a pack of cards, but then ask you to pick out the red ones - they're in a random order, and if you couldn't look and select then you'd have a 50-50 chance, but with selection you should get to 100%.
 
If that's fact how do you explain extinctions? If populations can adapt in advance of environmental pressures, how come so many fail? If that's 'fact' where's your demonstration of the mechanism, and your prediction? How do you explain future information somehow flowing backwards in time to inform variation before it's required?

No, we don't like it because it contradicts the evidence we do have, doesn't have evidence to support it, and then begs the question 'where did the guiding intelligence come from'?

O.


A guiding Intelligence (consciousness) is not the same as religious ideas.....let us be clear about that. 

Natural Selection is a metaphor not just because of the words used.  As a concept....it is either driven by intelligence (of whatever kind) or it is purely chance all the way. You cannot have it both ways....suggesting something that is a systematic process but not involving intelligence of some kind.   

Phenotypic plasticity (Phenotypic plasticity can be defined as 'the ability of individual genotypes to produce different phenotypes when exposed to different environmental conditions') is the mechanism that determines how an organism adapts to its environment. 

My point is very simple.  There are only two things here. The organism and its environment. There is nothing here called 'natural selection'.  How the environment acts on the organism determines how the phenotype changes. That is it.

This internal communication within organisms which allows it to respond suitably and increase its survival chances, is what I call intelligence.   
 



Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 12, 2023, 09:52:33 AM
You really must be a school teacher.

Nobody could pay me enough to be a school teacher  ;)  However you do seem to know less that a school child and are incredibly slow. Go to the bottom of the class.

Let me repeat.

Repeating foolish fantasy is not going to make it any more believable.

IMO Natural Selection is entirely chance because environmental changes are purely chance.

So what? Populations evolve to fit with their environments in a non-random way. What the environment is and why it is that way is not directly relevant.

Anything from elephants and frogs and worms manage to survive in the very same environment.  What filtration?!

(https://i.imgur.com/POlXATR.jpeg) Your ignorance of the subject really does know no bounds. The environment of a population includes the other species that are in it, so they are not in the same environment at all. In fact interactions are often important, for example in hunter/prey relationships, you can get evolutionary 'arms races'.

Either there is some sort of an intelligence (collective consciousness) at work here or it is all entirely chance. Trying to see Natural Selection as some sort of a systematic process is clearly incorrect and dishonest. 

Utter drivel. I notice you didn't even try to address my description of the process and how and why natural selection works. Rather like Alan, you seem to have a script on this subject that you just keep repeating regardless of people pointing out why it's wrong. That would at least explain why you dare not tackle a detailed description of a process you want to deny exists.

You also ignored the fact that this has actually been directly observed. I linked to the peppered moth example, where we know the mutation and about when it happened, know how and why the darker variants were selected for, and even observed the reversal when the environment changed again. That is by no means the only example both in the wild and in experiments. The process is also been simulated and there are systems that basically use the same process for design.

It is like kicking some balls down a hill.

No, it isn't.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 12, 2023, 10:08:09 AM
A guiding Intelligence (consciousness) is not the same as religious ideas.....let us be clear about that. 

You have a different fantasy intelligence but there's still exactly the same evidence for it: none.

Natural Selection is a metaphor not just because of the words used.  As a concept....it is either driven by intelligence (of whatever kind) or it is purely chance all the way. You cannot have it both ways....suggesting something that is a systematic process but not involving intelligence of some kind.   

What an utterly daft assertion. The world is full of systematic processes that don't involve intelligence.

Phenotypic plasticity (Phenotypic plasticity can be defined as 'the ability of individual genotypes to produce different phenotypes when exposed to different environmental conditions') is the mechanism that determines how an organism adapts to its environment. 

There are other processes going on but they cannot possibly replace genetic mutation and natural selection. The evidence for that can be seen in pretty much any genome of any species you look at. Humans have the remains of a gene for making egg yoke, and also a great number of mutated (non-functional) olfactory receptor genes (sense of smell), many of which are shared with our closest relatives like chimpanzees and gorillas. The history of mutations is writ large in the genetic evidence.

You can also analyse the statistical pattern of mutations amongst humans (some types of mutations are more probable than others, for various reasons) and then do the same between humans and chimpanzees and see that they follow exactly the same pattern (obviously with a larger scale). Hence we can conclude that mutation was the main driver for the difference between humans and chimps.

My point is very simple.  There are only two things here. The organism and its environment. There is nothing here called 'natural selection'.  How the environment acts on the organism determines how the phenotype changes. That is it.

This internal communication within organisms which allows it to respond suitably and increase its survival chances, is what I call intelligence.   

Back in Sriram's ignorant fantasy land.  ::)
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 12, 2023, 11:36:37 AM
A guiding Intelligence (consciousness) is not the same as religious ideas.....let us be clear about that.

In the Venn Diagram, though, there is a HUGE intersection. Either way, my points are not predicated on the suggestion needing to be religious, they're predicated on the suggestions lacking evidence. 

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Natural Selection is a metaphor not just because of the words used.

All metaphors are metaphors because of the words used, that's what a metaphor is. Even suggesting that metaphors are literally something else is literally a metaphor because you are claiming one thing is something else that it cannot be...

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As a concept....it is either driven by intelligence (of whatever kind) or it is purely chance all the way.

You've just had three pages of people explaining that it's expressly not 'pure chance all the way', I don't know how I can make it any simpler for you.

1 - there is variation in reproduction. Although the mechanisms for that variation are overwhelmingly likely to be mechanistic (and, certainly, the ones that we've identified are so), they are not often directly related to the environment and therefore are, for the purposes of natural selection acting upon them, random.
2 - Natural selection is the exact opposite of random chance, it's the result of practical effects.
3 - Natural selection acting upon natural variation of multiple iterations results in evolution.

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You cannot have it both ways....suggesting something that is a systematic process but not involving intelligence of some kind.

The water cycle. The food cycle. Conservation of momentum. Conservation of energy. All systematic process, none of them requiring an intelligence. Nature is replete with systematic processes that don't appear to involve an intelligence of any sort, it's the natural result of consistent physical laws.   

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Phenotypic plasticity (Phenotypic plasticity can be defined as 'the ability of individual genotypes to produce different phenotypes when exposed to different environmental conditions') is the mechanism that determines how an organism adapts to its environment.

And phenotypic plasticity is one variation in some organisms that has proven to have an evolutionary advantage in certain environments, and therefore has been selected for, but it's not a trait that's seen throughout organic life.

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My point is very simple.  There are only two things here. The organism and its environment. There is nothing here called 'natural selection'.  How the environment acts on the organism determines how the phenotype changes. That is it.

Except that nature is full of examples of nature selecting for traits which already existed before the environmental scenarios that select for them exist.

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This internal communication within organisms which allows it to respond suitably and increase its survival chances, is what I call intelligence.

Before you can name it you have to demonstrate that it exists.

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 12, 2023, 03:45:54 PM



You cannot compare repetitive natural phenomena such as the water cycle with complex and developing phenomena such as evolution.  Unicellular organisms haven't evolved into complex humans through repetitive cyclical processes.

There are several emergent properties that have arisen at different stages which call for intelligent intervention. There is clearly some feed back and change mechanism that exists within organisms that you are reluctant to accept as the driver of evolution.

Phenotypic plasticity makes such intervention and feedback possible.  It cannot be dismissed as some one off phenomenon.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 12, 2023, 03:49:42 PM
Sriram,

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There are several emergent properties that have arisen at different stages which call for intelligent intervention.

Why on earth would you think that unqualified assertion to be true?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 12, 2023, 03:52:40 PM


Why do you assert that it is false?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 12, 2023, 04:01:30 PM
Sriram,

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Why do you assert that it is false?

I didn't. Now why not try at least to answer the question you were asked instead of straw manning the person who asked it? 
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 12, 2023, 04:03:01 PM
You cannot compare repetitive natural phenomena such as the water cycle with complex and developing phenomena such as evolution.  Unicellular organisms haven't evolved into complex humans through repetitive cyclical processes.

Totally irrelevant.

There are several emergent properties that have arisen at different stages which call for intelligent intervention.

Yet another unargued, unevidenced, bare assertion.   ::)

I note that you are still studiously ignoring the explanation of exactly how natural selection works and the evidence that genetic mutation and natural selection is the major driver of evolution.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 12, 2023, 04:27:18 PM

I note that you are still studiously ignoring the explanation of exactly how natural selection works and the evidence that genetic mutation and natural selection is the major driver of evolution.


You should have noted that long ago....!  I don't accept chance factors driving evolution...
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 12, 2023, 04:36:04 PM
Sriram,

I didn't. Now why not try at least to answer the question you were asked instead of straw manning the person who asked it?


You are a school teacher too?!  ::) I don't need to answer anything. 

I believe that intelligent intervention is necessary for emergent properties to arise. You are free to believe that chance factors are enough.

Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 12, 2023, 04:55:22 PM
You should have noted that long ago....!  I don't accept chance factors driving evolution...

It wasn't about chance factors.   ::)

You've gone straight to a baseless, unevidenced, blind faith conclusion you prefer without considering or even bothering to try to understand the scientific, evidenced based explanation and the supporting evidence. That's just dimwitted.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 12, 2023, 08:50:20 PM
I don't need to answer anything. 

No you don't, but you keep on presenting things as if they were thought out, intellectually and even scientifically justifiable. Your whole blog is set up like that too, not only your posts here. It's not a good look when it all collapses into blind faith and ignoring the evidence as soon as you get challenged.

I believe that intelligent intervention is necessary for emergent properties to arise. You are free to believe that chance factors are enough.

(https://i.imgur.com/POlXATR.jpeg) Natural selection is not chance. Saying that it is is blatantly dishonest, especially when you've been given a full description of the process that shows that it's not chance and all you can do is ignore it.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 13, 2023, 12:00:05 AM
You cannot compare repetitive natural phenomena such as the water cycle with complex and developing phenomena such as evolution.

Because both appear to be orderly natural phenomena devoid of any guiding intelligence, you mean? Because of that similarity I can't compare them?

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Unicellular organisms haven't evolved into complex humans through repetitive cyclical processes.

Oh, well why didn't you say so earlier, if you knew that already you should have published your rigorously researched and evidence demonstration of that otherwise fantastically unsupported assertion of your personal incredulity as universal law.

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There are several emergent properties that have arisen at different stages which call for intelligent intervention.

There are innumerable instances where you could conjecture purely on the effects that an intelligent guide was involved, you might even suspect it had a fondness for crabs. But if you look anything more that superficially you see a system that doesn't actually require that intelligence that we have copious evidence for, and an at least equally vast number of examples where we don't suspect an underlying intelligence.

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There is clearly some feed back and change mechanism that exists within organisms that you are reluctant to accept as the driver of evolution.

No, there isn't 'clearly' any such thing - please, give an example.

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Phenotypic plasticity makes such intervention and feedback possible.  It cannot be dismissed as some one off phenomenon.

It is not being dismissed as anything of the sort, it's a trait that we see in a number of species that has an explanatory mechanism for why it has been selected for, but it doesn't do anything to undermine the theory of evolution by natural selection, it's a phenomenon that's explained by the process, not some magical cypher which disproves it.

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 13, 2023, 07:08:07 AM



Let us keep it simple. Evolution, as you people explain it, is just chance because random variations are chance and environmental factors are also chance. There is nothing called natural selection going on. I am clear about that.

I cannot accept that chance factors alone could be responsible for the complex life forms including humans. Besides evolution, there are other phenomenon such as NDE's, personal experiences and so on that need to be seen together to form any meaningful big picture view of life.  Microscopic and disjointed perspectives are not enough.

Clearly there is some form of consciousness  and intelligence at work at deeper levels. What this Intelligence is is not clear but there is a possibility of a collective consciousness that works through unconscious means.  The power of the unconscious mind has been discussed here. 

There is enough reason for me to believe that  an inner consciousness is responsible for evolution and for life itself.

That is it.   
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Maeght on May 13, 2023, 07:21:38 AM


Let us keep it simple. Evolution, as you people explain it, is just chance because random variations are chance and environmental factors are also chance. There is nothing called natural selection going on. I am clear about that.

I cannot accept that chance factors alone could be responsible for the complex life forms including humans. Besides evolution, there are other phenomenon such as NDE's, personal experiences and so on that need to be seen together to form any meaningful big picture view of life.  Microscopic and disjointed perspectives are not enough.

Clearly there is some form of consciousness  and intelligence at work at deeper levels. What this Intelligence is is not clear but there is a possibility of a collective consciousness that works through unconscious means.  The power of the unconscious mind has been discussed here. 

There is enough reason for me to believe that  an inner consciousness is responsible for evolution and for life itself.

That is it.

That's not it.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 13, 2023, 08:21:40 AM
Let us keep it simple. Evolution, as you people explain it, is just chance because random variations are chance and environmental factors are also chance. There is nothing called natural selection going on. I am clear about that.

Hum. It really is quite difficult to know how to respond to such utter nonsense; especially as you have a been given a full explanation of natural selection as a real and process that clearly isn't 'chance'.

Perhaps an instance of this:

(https://agrowthhacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/the-dunning-kruger-effect_agrowthhacker-1536x1024.png)

Really, the only other explanations seem to be fear - you won't even look at the explanation for fear of shattering your cosy fantasy world - or simple stupidity - you just aren't intelligent enough to grasp it.

Ho hum.

I cannot accept that chance factors alone could be responsible for the complex life forms including humans. Besides evolution, there are other phenomenon such as NDE's, personal experiences and so on that need to be seen together to form any meaningful big picture view of life.  Microscopic and disjointed perspectives are not enough.

Clearly there is some form of consciousness  and intelligence at work at deeper levels. What this Intelligence is is not clear but there is a possibility of a collective consciousness that works through unconscious means.  The power of the unconscious mind has been discussed here. 

There is enough reason for me to believe that  an inner consciousness is responsible for evolution and for life itself.

Pure, baseless fantasy.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Alan Burns on May 13, 2023, 09:49:57 AM

Clearly there is some form of consciousness  and intelligence at work at deeper levels. What this Intelligence is is not clear but there is a possibility of a collective consciousness that works through unconscious means.  The power of the unconscious mind has been discussed here. 

There is enough reason for me to believe that  an inner consciousness is responsible for evolution and for life itself.

That is it.

This is reflected in the profound, inspired opening words of John's Gospel:

In the beginning was the Word

A word can convey meaning and conscious intent.
Could the concepts of meaning and intent evolve from unconscious material entities?  I think not.
Or were the concepts of meaning and intent there from the beginning?
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 13, 2023, 10:03:22 AM
Could the concepts of meaning and intent evolve from unconscious material entities?  I think not.

Argument from personal incredulity (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_incredulity) fallacy (silly logical blunder).  ::)
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Walt Zingmatilder on May 13, 2023, 10:38:53 AM
Hum. It really is quite difficult to know how to respond to such utter nonsense; especially as you have a been given a full explanation of natural selection as a real and process that clearly isn't 'chance'.

Perhaps an instance of this:

(https://agrowthhacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/the-dunning-kruger-effect_agrowthhacker-1536x1024.png)

Really, the only other explanations seem to be fear - you won't even look at the explanation for fear of shattering your cosy fantasy world - or simple stupidity - you just aren't intelligent enough to grasp it.

Ho hum.

Pure, baseless fantasy.
Outrageous ad hominem.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 13, 2023, 12:07:35 PM
Outrageous ad hominem.


Some people are allowed to do anything... ::)
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 13, 2023, 12:15:34 PM
Outrageous ad hominem.
Some people are allowed to do anything... ::)

When you've given somebody a full explanation of something, compete with real world observed example, and they still flatly refuse to accept it without even attempting to address the explanation or say why they disagree with the observations, what exactly are people supposed to conclude?

Even Answers in Genesis, well known mouthpiece of batshit crazy 6,000 years ago, six literal 24 hour day creationism, aren't daft enough to try to deny that natural selections is a real process: "The claim that biblical creationists reject natural selection is based on an outdated notion (https://answersingenesis.org/natural-selection/natural-selection-odds-creation/)." This level of staggering reality denial has to have some explanation...

(https://i.imgur.com/htw8DF1.gif)
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 13, 2023, 12:19:01 PM
This is reflected in the profound, inspired opening words of John's Gospel:

In the beginning was the Word

A word can convey meaning and conscious intent.
Could the concepts of meaning and intent evolve from unconscious material entities?  I think not.
Or were the concepts of meaning and intent there from the beginning?

Yes....all religions and spiritual philosophies talk of an inner consciousness that is responsible for the universe and all life. 

I am however not surprised that many people are blind to it. It requires a certain type of mental faculty to be able to see it.


Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Nearly Sane on May 13, 2023, 12:23:23 PM
Yes....all religions and spiritual philosophies talk of an inner consciousness that is responsible for the universe and all life. 

I am however not surprised that many people are blind to it. It requires a certain type of mental faculty to be able to see it.
'Outrageous ad hominem'  ;)
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Bramble on May 13, 2023, 01:13:44 PM
Yes....all religions and spiritual philosophies talk of an inner consciousness that is responsible for the universe and all life. 

I am however not surprised that many people are blind to it. It requires a certain type of mental faculty to be able to see it.

Actually not true, though I suppose it depends on how one defines 'religions and spiritual philosophies'. Early Chinese philosophy (as represented for example by the proto-Daoist texts, the Dao de jing & Zhuangzi) did not see any kind of guiding mind behind the natural world. Perhaps the Chinese were just blind, as you say, or maybe one needs a certain type of mental faculty to be able to see it.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Maeght on May 13, 2023, 07:04:52 PM
Yes....all religions and spiritual philosophies talk of an inner consciousness that is responsible for the universe and all life. 

I am however not surprised that many people are blind to it. It requires a certain type of mental faculty to be able to see it.

A vivid imagination?

Essentially because of your beliefs (nature & nurture) you interpret things as evidence to support those beliefs. It seems clear and obvious to you. Those who don't share your beliefs don't see it that way. It means your brain is different but not that you have some faculty to see what is there that others lack. It's just different.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 13, 2023, 07:54:36 PM
Sriram,

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You are a school teacher too?!    I don't need to answer anything.

Your beliefs are dim-witted and your attempts at producing evidence to justify them are idiotic. The reasons your beliefs are dim-witted and your attempts at producing evidence to justify them have been explained you many times here without you bothering to engage with those reasons so no, apparently you don’t have to answer.

Your non-answering does not though make your beliefs any less dim-witted and nor your attempts to justify them any less idiotic. 

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I believe that intelligent intervention is necessary for emergent properties to arise. You are free to believe that chance factors are enough.

It’s not just “chance factors” for the reasons that keep being explained to you and you keep just ignoring, but you are of course entitled to believe whatever nonsense takes your fancy.

Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 13, 2023, 07:56:42 PM
Sriram,

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Yes....all religions and spiritual philosophies talk of an inner consciousness that is responsible for the universe and all life.

Not all of them do that. 

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I am however not surprised that many people are blind to it. It requires a certain type of mental faculty to be able to see it.

Did you know that people are in fact shape-shifting lizards from Alpha Centauri with a penchant for tiddledywinks? I am however not surprised that many people are blind to it. It requires a certain type of mental faculty to be able to see it.

Ooh it’s fun this isn’t it – just asserting any old drivel to be true, and then further asserting that the reason others can’t see the truth of it too is that they’re blind to it.

OK, your turn again…     

Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 13, 2023, 09:17:33 PM
Let us keep it simple. Evolution, as you people explain it, is just chance because random variations are chance and environmental factors are also chance. There is nothing called natural selection going on. I am clear about that.

No, it appears that you aren't. The environment is, and the variations are, and there's no evidence to suggest that either of those is deliberately caused in advance. Environment acting on variation exerts selective pressures which are NOT RANDOM, hence evolution.

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I cannot accept that chance factors alone could be responsible for the complex life forms including humans.

That's more about you than it is about evolutionary science.

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Besides evolution, there are other phenomenon such as NDE's, personal experiences and so on that need to be seen together to form any meaningful big picture view of life.

No, there aren't. There are EXPERIENCES which people interpret as indicators of something supernatural and 'spiritual', but there are not confirmed phenomena.

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Microscopic and disjointed perspectives are not enough.

So you unleash the fully devastating power of unsupported assertions and your incapacity to accept evidence, instead?
 
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Clearly there is some form of consciousness  and intelligence at work at deeper levels.

Clearly there isn't, or this conversation would have moved forward by now.

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What this Intelligence is is not clear but there is a possibility of a collective consciousness that works through unconscious means.

You have to establish that intelligence first, not just assert it. If you can't demonstrate it, how can you hope to start investigating it?

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The power of the unconscious mind has been discussed here.

Yes, and at no point was it resolved that it has the capacity to directly influence the underpinnings of reality. 

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There is enough reason for me to believe that  an inner consciousness is responsible for evolution and for life itself.

Then your incredulity appears to be selective.
 
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That is it.

I know, that's what's disappointing. That's it, that's still, after all this time, all that you have. 'I don't like that conclusion' and new age woo.

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 14, 2023, 07:06:02 AM



The vehemence with which some of you respond to my points shows the fight your memes are putting up. Almost a religious reaction.

The problem is that you actually think that you are arguing for some established, conclusive and well understood aspects of reality when in fact you are merely fighting for your beliefs.

Anyway...I have put my views here. How you take it is up to you.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Outrider on May 14, 2023, 09:14:53 AM
The vehemence with which some of you respond to my points shows the fight your memes are putting up.

The consistency with which you post woo shows your fight for irrationality in the face of evidence is strong.

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Almost a religious reaction.

Except in its foundation, formulation and execution, but apart from that...

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The problem is that you actually think that you are arguing for some established, conclusive and well understood aspects of reality when in fact you are merely fighting for your beliefs.

The problem is that you think we're arguing for our beliefs instead of actually listening and realising that we're arguing from our deductions - those deductions might be wrong, but they're a whole different category to your speculative faith claims.

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Anyway...I have put my views here. How you take it is up to you.

Until and unless you give us some more reason to accept than 'but Sriram says', we'll likely continue to choose not to take it at all, thanks very much, and we'll probably continue to point out the flaws in your lack of reasoning to ensure that others are adequately informed about your complete lack of any rational basis for your assertions.

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Thanks.

No problem.

O.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 14, 2023, 10:56:11 AM
The vehemence with which some of you respond to my points shows the fight your memes are putting up. Almost a religious reaction.

Rather ironically, and not a little amusingly, 'meme' is another concept you've totally misunderstood. Although you cite The Selfish Gene on your blog, you've obviously been too lazy to go as far as to actually read it. If you had, you'd understand that the scientific method and critical thinking are memes, not just the sort of superstitious nonsense that you keep peddling.

The problem is that you actually think that you are arguing for some established, conclusive and well understood aspects of reality...

Natural selection is exactly that, which is why even the crazies at AiG don't try to deny it.  ::)
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 14, 2023, 11:19:11 AM
Sriram,

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The vehemence with which some of you respond to my points shows the fight your memes are putting up. Almost a religious reaction.

No, there’s no “vehemence” – at most there are expressions sheer frustration at your dishonest refusal ever even to try to engage with the falsifying arguments you’re given. When someone asserts 2 + 2 = 5 and cites a dodgy website report of someone’s second cousin twice removed making the same assertion for his evidence, is then corrected multiple times with reason and arguments, then ignores everything that’s been said and just accuses the people who have corrected him of being “blind” to his “obvious” truth, then some frustration doesn’t seem that unreasonable to me.     

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The problem is that you actually think that you are arguing for some established, conclusive and well understood aspects of reality…

That’s exactly what the T of E is, yes – why do you think that’s “the” problem rather than you endlessly peddling incoherent and un-evidenced woo being the actual problem?

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…when in fact you are merely fighting for your beliefs.

Er, no – what people are actually “fighting” (ie, arguing) for is the conclusions that the reasoning and evidence leads too. You on the other hand are exactly “fighting” (ie, repeating endlessly reason-free and evidence-denying gibberish) for your beliefs.   

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Anyway...I have put my views here. How you take it is up to you.

Thanks.

Yes, that’s what you always do when you’ve run out of road – run away. No doubt having taken such care to ignore all the arguments that falsify you here, you’ll feel emboldened to start another dim-witted “discussion” that repeats them yet again.

What’s the point of joining a discussion mb if you never actually want to discuss anything?     
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 15, 2023, 06:14:26 AM


Take it easy Blue (and Stranger). I am not denying evolution or any scientific theory. Relax.


Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 15, 2023, 10:50:34 AM
Sriram,

Quote
Take it easy Blue (and Stranger). I am not denying evolution or any scientific theory. Relax.

It's the theory of evolution, not "evolution" and you're misrepresenting it, not "denying" it.

And no-one needs to "calm down" - what you're seeing at most is some frustration at your continued misrepresentation of it despite that fact that some here have taken the time and trouble t explain it to you. Several times.   
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Sriram on May 16, 2023, 06:48:43 AM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3WenGjyokg

Denis Noble on a new approach to evolution...
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Alan Burns on May 16, 2023, 10:25:33 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3WenGjyokg

Denis Noble on a new approach to evolution...
A truly brilliant mind.
He has provoked predictable outrage from Neo Darwinists by providing evidence that the process of evolution involves more than random mutations combined with natural selection.
Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: Stranger on May 16, 2023, 10:40:27 AM
He has provoked predictable outrage from Neo Darwinists by providing evidence that the process of evolution involves more than random mutations combined with natural selection.

I don't think anybody actually thinks that there aren't other processes. The problem is that he draws unevidenced conclusions that go way beyond that.

"Another problem I have with this kind of meeting is that they're always infested with crackpots. This one had Denis Noble, and disgraceful dingleberry who believes that mutations are non-random and that acquired characteristics can be inherited and that evolutionary change is entirely saltational. He's nuts."
-- Paul Z. Meyers, You don't get to revise evolutionary theory, until you understand evolutionary theory (https://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2016/12/04/you-dont-get-to-revise-evolutionary-theory-until-you-understand-evolutionary-theory)

Also worth noting that, in contrast to Sriram, Noble does accept natural selection.

"Noble has been quote mined by intelligent design proponents, but Noble soundly rejects intelligent design. Despite his criticism of neo-Darwinism, Noble is still a Darwinist as he accepts natural selection. He is not anti-evolution, he is only debating the mechanisms of evolution."
-- Denis Noble - Rational Wiki (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Denis_Noble)

Title: Re: Eternity
Post by: bluehillside Retd. on May 16, 2023, 12:00:37 PM
AB,

Quote
A truly brilliant mind.

He probably is in the subject he knows about, namely computer modelling of biological organs and organ systems. 

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He has provoked predictable outrage from Neo Darwinists...

No he hasn't - what he's actually provoked is evidence-based corrections.

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...by providing evidence that the process of evolution involves more than random mutations combined with natural selection.

No he hasn't.