Comments on: The Sea Urchin Resurfaces http://telicthoughts.com/the-sea-urchin-resurfaces/ An independent blog about intelligent design Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:42:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Allen_MacNeill http://telicthoughts.com/the-sea-urchin-resurfaces/#comment-193823 Allen_MacNeill Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:16:02 +0000 http://telicthoughts.com/the-sea-urchin-resurfaces/#comment-193823 I strongly recommend reading the entire article on Piattelli-Palmarini by Susan Mazur. It has a direct bearing on the discussion in aiguy's thread, and on the questions I posed there. Specifically, Piattelli-Palmarini suggests a "new" role for selection in evolution: that is, not a "creative" role (as advocated by some neo-darwinists), but rather a "pruning" role. This is very similar to the point I made in the "RM & NS strawman" thread at my blog: http://evolutionlist.blogspot.com/2007/10/rm-ns-creationist-and-id-strawman.html The real engine of evolutionary change is <em>not</em> natural selection, but rather what Darwin called the "laws of variation", about which he admitted we were "ignorant". What has happened recently in evo-devo and related fields is that we have begun to figure out what the laws of variation are. As we have done so, we have discovered two things: 1) they are indeed <em>laws</em> with the same qualities as other natural laws 2) without natural selection they produce <em>too much</em> variation. That is, there are newly discovered laws of development that strongly suggest that the large-scale evolution of life on Earth has not been "random", but rather (as Darwin himself suggested) the result of "laws acting around us". Furthermore, these laws "channel" the kinds of structural and functional characteristics that living organisms can have. Natural selection further "prunes" the immense amount of diversity produced by the operation of these laws, resulting in the actual living organisms and processes we observe around us. If one wishes, one can of course say that "the unmoved Mover" established those laws and set the whole universe in motion. Or, like Wittgenstein, one can say that there are some questions about the answers to which one must remain silent. I strongly recommend reading the entire article on Piattelli-Palmarini by Susan Mazur. It has a direct bearing on the discussion in aiguy's thread, and on the questions I posed there.

Specifically, Piattelli-Palmarini suggests a "new" role for selection in evolution: that is, not a "creative" role (as advocated by some neo-darwinists), but rather a "pruning" role. This is very similar to the point I made in the "RM & NS strawman" thread at my blog:

http://evolutionlist.blogspot....

The real engine of evolutionary change is not natural selection, but rather what Darwin called the "laws of variation", about which he admitted we were "ignorant". What has happened recently in evo-devo and related fields is that we have begun to figure out what the laws of variation are. As we have done so, we have discovered two things:

1) they are indeed laws with the same qualities as other natural laws

2) without natural selection they produce too much variation.

That is, there are newly discovered laws of development that strongly suggest that the large-scale evolution of life on Earth has not been "random", but rather (as Darwin himself suggested) the result of "laws acting around us". Furthermore, these laws "channel" the kinds of structural and functional characteristics that living organisms can have. Natural selection further "prunes" the immense amount of diversity produced by the operation of these laws, resulting in the actual living organisms and processes we observe around us.

If one wishes, one can of course say that "the unmoved Mover" established those laws and set the whole universe in motion.

Or, like Wittgenstein, one can say that there are some questions about the answers to which one must remain silent.

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