I read a couple of articles which moved me from design as a rather apparent
observation, to design as an inescapable conclusion, to design as a viable
scientific assumption.
http://www.discovery.org/w3/discovery.org/crsc/crscviews/message.html
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/8830/mathproofcreat.html
I've come across other thoughts on biology which appeal to me, and might be
called quantum evolution. Quantum physics hinted that mind was a part of
reality, and made room for both materialists and non materialists in physics.
Perhaps a belief that mind is a possible active participant in the process
of life could do the same for biology. It does suggest mind as another
possible designer. This might be more acceptable than God for those
materialists obsessed with a paranoid fear that religion is going to get
them.
Bertvan
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/qe/Outline.htm
excerpt:
Proposing that DNA or cells choose their destiny may appear nonsensical,
and it is certainly not intended to imply any kind of conscious choice
in simple cells. However, even classical science has a problem with what
we call 'conscious choice' or free will. According to Newtonian
mechanics, future events are entirely determined by what happened
before. We may believe we make decisions but classical deterministic
science tells us that we are fooling ourselves. Our destiny and every
action we make are determined by a series of previous events whose
ultimate source is the Big Bang. Quantum mechanics allows an escape from
this gloomy outlook because quantum systems are not entirely
deterministic. Although bacteria are certainly not conscious and do not
know that they are making a decision, I believe those same quantum
dynamics - though involving electromagnetic fields rather than DNA - are
responsible for what we call our 'free will'.
At its most fundamental, life and consciousness are quantum phenomenon.
We owe our existence to quantum evolution.
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~hameroff/tics.html
Consciousness may involve subtle links between the brain and
fundamental spacetime geometry.
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~hameroff/cambrian.html
Excerpt
Consciousness and Evolution
When and where did consciousness emerge in the course of evolution? Did
it happen as recently as the past million years, for example concomitant
with language or tool making in humans or primates? Or did consciousness
arrive somewhat earlier, with the advent of mammalian neocortex 200
million years ago (Eccles, 1992)? At the other extreme, is primitive
consciousness a property of even simple unicellular organisms of several
billion years ago (e.g. as suggested by Margulis and Sagan, 1995)? Or
did consciousness appear at some intermediate point, and if so, where
and why? Whenever it first occurred, did consciousness alter the course
of evolution?
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