Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: October 31, 2026, 3:14 pm
Thread Rating:
|
Would any of you drive a car made by Darwin's ideas?
|
 (March 13, 2014 at 12:25 pm)Alex K Wrote: Ok, that should take care of professor's problem. What do we discuss next? I predict the exact same thing as we just were, after the "professor" simply repeats the objection we've already quashed quite handily. Prove me wrong, "professor." Prove me wrong.  (March 13, 2014 at 12:29 pm)Esquilax Wrote:(March 13, 2014 at 12:25 pm)Alex K Wrote: Ok, that should take care of professor's problem. What do we discuss next? A christian commenter dragging a dead horse in circles around the circus while the butchers watch? Say it ain't so! Say it ain't so! 
I now understand.
I should have promoted natural selection to the status of a god, making it's decisions on what it wants to keep and what it wants to throw out. Very good. You have gotten rid of that pesky god you didn't like, and gotten a new one instead. Well done.  RE: Would any of you drive a car made by Darwin's ideas?
March 13, 2014 at 12:38 pm
(This post was last modified: March 13, 2014 at 12:38 pm by Simon Moon.)
Machines, cars included, aren't biological, don't struggle for survival, don't die, don't reproduce.
These are the driving forces behind evolution. There is no goal, other than reproductive success and survival. You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.  (March 13, 2014 at 12:35 pm)professor Wrote: I now understand.That is one of the standard theist responses when natural selection is explained, which is a case of doubling down on the initial misconception regarding the term. Natural selection is not an agent that is aware of what it is doing. It's like saying that the wind is god because it scatters flower petals in pleasing patterns in the air.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould RE: Would any of you drive a car made by Darwin's ideas?
March 13, 2014 at 12:41 pm
(This post was last modified: March 13, 2014 at 12:41 pm by Alex K.)
(March 13, 2014 at 12:35 pm)professor Wrote: I now understand. I think you still have a long way to go to understanding. But keep trying. Best start by re-reading the comments on the last two pages, process them, understand why we think it refutes your claim, then check whether you find a loophole, and if you find that they do not, formulate your objection, and type it here:  (March 13, 2014 at 12:35 pm)professor Wrote: I now understand. That would be one definition of a god, but not the usual one. Generally speaking gods are more anthropomorphized and have some sort of supernatural side. They are not defined as simply the environment itself. But whatever floats your boat. If you wish to define a god as anything anybody believes, you have pretty much destroyed atheism but not in a way anybody will pay attention to. A man's got to believe in something.... I believe I'll have another drink. WC Fields (possibly Humphrey Bogart)
So how, exactly, does God know that She's NOT a brain in a vat?
 (March 13, 2014 at 12:35 pm)professor Wrote: I now understand. If you want to call natural selection a god, that's fine with me. That's about the same as saying the universe is god. (March 13, 2014 at 12:10 pm)professor Wrote: You guys seem to have missed the foundation of Darwin's theory. Wow! Your understanding of evolution is astounding. Or may be it is a straw man? Let me think.... You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence. |
|
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
|
Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)
