Rock: Yeh, Raevmo, if you weren't such a commie-pinko-fag-junkie-subversive-European"¦ Why don't you cut your hair, shave your beard, Che, and wear a business suit and speak the English langauge?!

You aren't black, a woman, a child, disabled, or a Democrat are you?

Nah, just a perfect jump-off for stereotyping.

You aren't black, a woman, a child, disabled, or a Democrat are you?

Bradford:

Raevmo is a proud member of a European socialist paradise by his own acknowledgement. Big Authority doesn't come any bigger than Big Gubbermint.

Are you sure you want to compare my Big Gubbermint with your Big Gubbermint (BG)?

My BG doesn't intern people without habeas corpus. My BG takes care of the weakest members of society. My BG offers universal health care. My BG offers cheap high quality university education. Ask yourself: what would Jesus do?

And despite our BG, we have far more paid vacation, we are happier, we have a higher per capita average income, and less inequality.

There's a lot of stuff that *ucks about my BG too, compared to your BG. But on balance, I believe my BG is far more humane than yours.

Not that I think you're buying any of this.

Raevmo: Projection on the part of True Believers (like Mung apparently) makes them think he is a god-like figure for contemporary evolutionary scientists. They need the Big Authority in their lives, so they think everybody needs that.

kornbelt888: Christmas, Presidents' Day, Martin Luther King day, Darwin Day…oops!

Sure, sure, he's not a Big Authority.

Can I interest you in some Darwin Day cake?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com...

Or a Darwin Day party?

http://images.google.com/imgre...

Raevmo is a proud member of a European socialist paradise by his own acknowledgement. Big Authority doesn't come any bigger than Big Gubbermint.

Raevmo: Projection on the part of True Believers (like Mung apparently) makes them think he is a god-like figure for contemporary evolutionary scientists. They need the Big Authority in their lives, so they think everybody needs that.

Christmas, Presidents' Day, Martin Luther King day, Darwin Day…oops!

Sure, sure, he's not a Big Authority.

Can I interest you in some Darwin Day cake?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com...

Or a Darwin Day party?

http://images.google.com/imgre...

You, Raevmo, are not a "Darwinist" anyway, so what of it?

Who GAS about Darwin?

Darwin was a helluva scientist, even if his ideas have evolved enormously. Projection on the part of True Believers (like Mung apparently) makes them think he is a god-like figure for contemporary evolutionary scientists. They need the Big Authority in their lives, so they think everybody needs that. Not.

Feels good to do some stereotyping, though. Yes, TP, I know sarcasm doesn't optimize efficiency of communication, but I am still a "young buck" (well, so I like to believe) without the wisdom and self-control that cometh with a certain age. Or not.

Darwin didn't think of it either.

You, Raevmo, are not a "Darwinist" anyway, so what of it?

Who GAS about Darwin?

This is the 21st Century! Is it possible for biological theory to climb out of the 19th Century?

And "Darwinists" didn't "invent" (re-invent) high-speed DNA sequencing.

Intelligent designers did. (You know, like Linux. LOL)

TP: You do a good job of trying to build a case on foreshadowing with things like Choanoflagellates and hen's teeth. But I don't know how that fits in your "hypothesis of front-loading evolution".

TP, how can you not see the fit?

You are already aware of my confusion/disagreement with your tendency to presume the existence of a human-like intelligence doing the front-loading.

I'm not sure why you are confused, as I have clearly explained this before. So again, I presume the existence of a human-like intelligence because I have massive experience with human intelligence and I seek to apply this experience to a subject I know a few things about (biology). There is nothing complex or conspiratorial about it "“ it's just a convergence of ability and curiosity. Whether the endeavor will pay-off in the end, I cannot say and I will probably never know. What I can say is that if I don't do it, who else will? Is there someone out there who could have written The Matrix? Who? If I don't finish vol 2, is there someone else who will? Who?

You do a good job of trying to build a case on foreshadowing with things like Choanoflagellates and hen's teeth. But I don't know how that fits in your "hypothesis of front-loading evolution".

Such examples help to illustrate the plausibility of front-loading and also help me think about possible mechanisms of front-loading. The choanoflagellate example also puts to rest a common criticism that was raised when I first began to propose front-loading.

I am an engineer, I like to build thought models and use them to see how the puzzle pieces fit (modifying the models as needed).

And I'm a loud mouth on the internet who used to build plastic car models.

I understand how Choanoflagellates might fit in with my model of a quantum spacetime wavefunction of a universe being consistent with itself.

I am having difficulty doing the same thing with your model, because I don't understand your model unless it involves a very powerful being with human-like intelligence.

Why would the intelligent agent have to be "very powerful?"

Please pardon the honesty and please believe me when I say I am earnestly trying to see things from your viewpoint.

That is why I asked if you were intentionally forgoing suggesting a scientific hypothesis until you have gathered more evidence.

That is a perfectly understandable position and is consistent with what I understand is your justification for saying "ID is not science".

I'm not arrogant or presumptuous enough to declare my internet/book speculations are Science. In fact, I think it is silly to try to force all of human inquiry into tidy, yet vaguely defined, little boxes.

Co-option does not resolve the problem. Why would evolution have a tendency to produce genes which were "co-optable"

What types of genes are not co-optable? Can a non-co-optable gene even be produced?