Re: WHY DOES THE UNIVERSE WORK?

From: Chris Cogan (ccogan@telepath.com)
Date: Mon Oct 16 2000 - 07:44:02 EDT

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    ><snip>
    > >Chirs: ...and we know that automobile engines do *not* reproduce
    > themselves.
    >
    >DNAunion: We also know that prebiotic molecules do NOT reproduce themselves.

    Chris
    *This* is false. Even something so simple as a water molecule can reproduce
    itself under suitable circumstances. Further, molecules have even been
    observe to evolve (although only slightly in the experiments I read about).

    I should add that, *strictly* speaking, probably no molecules actually
    reproduce themselves. DNA does not reproduce itself, for example. It is
    reproduced, but not by itself. It is, as Lewontin and others have pointed
    out, passive.

    The point of my mentioning that cars do not reproduce themselves is that we
    then must posit an *alternative* to their origin than evolution. That
    alternative is design. But, given the evolutionary process, we don't *need*
    the design process. It was not to deny that designed things can reproduce.
    I believe they can, in principle. One piece of evidence *for* design is
    that there is clearly no natural process by which it can come about. I will
    not, of course, be able to use this argument-bit with respect to
    self-replicating robots.



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