Comment on The Wonder of Evolution

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:01:42 GMT

Either existence happened by chance, or by design. There seems to be no third or fourth way. We are limited to these two conclusions and nothing else.

Does the structure of a crystal come about by chance, or by design?
Does the demographic distribution of visibly identifiable subcultures within a diverse population come about by chance, or by design?
If I reroll stats for my D&D character until I get one I like, does the resulting set of numbers come about by chance, or by design?

Which is to say: I reject your assertion that the middle is excluded here.

With respect to evolution in particular, there have been many "less extreme hits" on the prevailing theory of evolution over the last hundred years or so, and they have resulted in changes to the prevailing theory of evolution. It happens all the time.

That said, if (hypothetically) someone is looking for is a "hit" large enough to necessitate a change to the theory on the order of positing a goal-seeking selection process, then yeah, that would involve a pretty extreme outlier. Which is to be expected, as it would result in a pretty extreme change.

It usually takes a large "hit" to cause a large change, in any field, be it science or theology.

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