Vision and Evolution (A Critique of Dawkins)

[John 6IX Breezy]

At work.

........ I fail to see how selection and adaptation doesn't lead to states of homeostasis between an organism and its environment, and you fail to give any good arguments against it besides repeating its not a biological fact. This wasn't even the point of OP so its not a hill I care to die on.

Hello Mr Breezy.  

Could you, perhaps, give an explanation of "Environmental homeostasis" of which you speak?

Cheers.

Now that I think about it, the "environmental homeostasis" I had in mind is just the straight forward biological homeostasis you learn in any introductory class. So "environmental" is redundant.

As for an explanation, living organisms need to maintain a balanced difference between their interior and the exterior environments to live and function. That difference goes away when an organism dies, and hence they slowly decompose and become indistinguishable from the environment. So maintaining that difference is the purpose of homeostasis, and maintaining homeostasis is the purpose of behavior and adaptation. Homeostasis is a balancing act that keeps the organism and environment separate. If an organism is not adapted to its environment homeostasis cannot be maintained and the animal most likely dies.

P.S.

I think its worth noting that even the death of an organism or the extinction of a species, functions as a state of rest or "destination" as well. So the way I would illustrate it, is with a staircase. Each step is a homeostatic "pocket" where the animal can survive in a specific environment given its infrastructure. Some organisms are higher up the staircase than others. And some are extinct on the ground.