Evolution and Intelligent Design

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romansh
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Evolution and Intelligent Design

Post by romansh »

Roncooper wrote: I understand the ethnocentric beliefs of theorists, but science is more than just proving theories.
Again science does not prove theories.
But I would agree it is much, much more than that.
Roncooper wrote:The greatest discoveries do not prove theories they generate them.
I agree, the discovery of gravitational waves does not prove theories,
Of course we should hold back a little. Not long a go faster than light neutrinos were announced. And see what happened there. Fleischmann and Pons is another example.
Roncooper wrote:When Galileo saw the moons of Jupiter he wasn't trying to prove a theory, even though, after the fact these observations strongly supported the heliocentric universe.
Discovery is not proof; I agree.
Roncooper wrote: So are you of the school that believes that evolution is only a theory just like creationism?
I am of the school of thought that evolution is by far the best theory that describes what we observe. Intelligent Design does not describe anything but incredulity of its proponents.

I can't explain how it is done, therefore god did it ... does not work as theory for me.
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romansh
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Post by romansh »

What exactly is evolution?

We have touched on this before.

Evolution has three requirements:

1) There is system that replicates.
2) The replicates are not an exact replica of the original system.
3) An environment that affects the success of the replication process.

Some have argued that if we have these three requirements, then evolution must occur.


I should give Daniel Dennett acknowledgement here,
"That's right!" shouted Vroomfondel, "we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"

romansh
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Post by romansh »

As the free will thread seems to devolving into life versus second law discussion ... here is a link:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-mis ... tml#thermo
regarding why some think evolution (life) is somehow incompatible with the second law of thermodynamics.
"That's right!" shouted Vroomfondel, "we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"

romansh
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Post by romansh »

Andreas wrote:
romansh wrote:I am currently reading a collection of short essays called "What to think about machines that think?"
You forgot to say that the question was inspired by a concern from one of the leading scientists, Stephen Hawkins.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2581 ... that-think
The development of artificial intelligence has been a source of fascination and anxiety ever since Alan Turing formalized the concept in 1950. Today, Stephen Hawking believes that AI “could spell the end of the human race.” At the very least, its development raises complicated moral issues with powerful real-world implications—for us and for our machines.
Andreas pointed out Hawking's recent comment about end of the human race. While I think I understand Hawking's point of view, I think it concretizes a form of thought that is not quite accurate.

The human race is "doomed" full stop. Even if all goes well. Ignoring the sun going supernova, global warming, mega-asteroid impacts and hypervirulent pandemics, a million years in the future; hominids (presumably) will be picking at fossils and the like and trying to assess where homo sapiens fits in the evolutionary chain.

Humans will evolve ... the universe is unfolding.
"That's right!" shouted Vroomfondel, "we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"

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