From: Howard J. Van Till (hvantill@chartermi.net)
Date: Tue Jul 22 2003 - 09:23:06 EDT
>From: <richard@biblewheel.com>
> I think the difference is that Life does not evolve in the same way as the
> heavy elements. These are two completely different kinds of "evolution." In
> physics we talk about the "time evolution operator"which is simply
> exp(-iHt) where H is the Hamilonian. This describes how a physical system
> changes (evolves) over time. This is radically different than the idea of
> Darwinian evolution through mutation and natural selection.
Yes, of course, the particular mechanisms and the levels of predictability
are different. But the most fundamental metaphysical principle is the same:
The formational economy of the universe is sufficiently robust as to make
possible -- without need for occasional episodes of form-conferring
supernatural intervention (misleadingly re-labeled "acts of intelligent
design" by the ID leadership) -- the actualization of every kind of physical
structure and living organism that has been a part of the universe's
formational history.
This is the principle that I call the Robust Formational Economy Principle
-- the RFEP.
> Another reason for the difference is that the heavy elements are not
> machines and give no immediate appearance of design, whereas life *appears*
> prima facie to be designed to accomplish specific puposes (e.g. the spider
> catching flies in its web, etc).
1. Why would the character and capabilities of the various elements be any
less purposefully employed than the character and capabilities of the
spider? Given all of the constructive processes in which the elements
participate, why are they fundamentally any less machine-like than living
organisms?
2. You are using the word "design" in a way different from the ID
leadership. Their most common meaning: to be "intelligently designed" is
to have been actualized (assembled, formed, constructed, fabricated) in such
a way as to require one or more episodes of non-natural, form-conferring
action by an unidentified, unembodied, choice-making agent.
Howard Van Till
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