Posted: Apr 03, 2011 2:07 am
Paul Almond wrote:John P. M. wrote:Not sure what I've been smoking, but I think I actually understand that Paul is trying to say.
Oh, I can get some kind of idea. I'm sure numerous people here have speculated about the idea that something like evolution and natural selection could operate on a larger scale - I certainly have - and at least one other person above may have done. A lot of us aren't as close minded as many theists think. Anyone thinking about such things should realize that this is getting very speculative - and when you don't realize that you have crossed over into speculation you run into trouble. The OP seems to be trying to turn it all into some kind of theory that isn't explained coherently. There is already discussion about this kind of thing: the OP doesn't seem to add to it.
Well yes I see everything that exists is there because it was selected for. A good example is the periodic table. The forces that bind the bits of atoms together are whatever they are but the side effect of this is to act as a selector for the elements when they are forced into existence (stellar nuclear-synthesis etc) and those that don't fit (too many or too few parts) then decay to what happens to be stable in this universe. Thus you end up with the higgle-d-piggle-d mess that is the periodic table with its many stable isotopes but equally many unstable isotopes and more importantly a vast space that will never exist (though can for short period of time when humans have a go).
In no way are these decay chain processes relevant to evolution of species. Evolution of species has its own natural selection process (that is not applicable to decay chains).
Thus my claim is that for everything that exists that is natural (not designed) there exists a selection process that is the only reason that it does exist. This though allows us to divide stuff into the natural and the designed. When we see a watch on a path then we don't need to ask about the designer, we ask, "How was it selected for ?, what natural process can we find that allowed this to exist ?". If we fail to find such a process then that is a tick-in-the-box for a "Designer".
So far we haven't found such a thing. Everything we find to date has some kind of "selector" be it in the formation of stars, of planets, of elements, or of living things.