Re: Are there things that don't evolve?

Thank you Pim for the contribution. I had not stumbled on this.

I would add, however, that there is an element of chance here. Were, for
example, no asteroid to hit the earth 65 M years ago, the dinosaurs would
probably still be ruling the earth. They were very successful, despite the
advertisements by Microsoft. We have not survived even a small fraction
of the overall time they did. Perhaps some large brained dinosaur could
have evolved and maybe they too would believe in God, but such is very hard
to say. So, whereas they become more "complex", it is not without a large
measure of other factors that we humans became the ones who have the
capacity (at least) to believe in God. These "other factors", I expect, have
a
reasonable scientific explanation, but philosophies are not built on the
tiles
of facts, they are built on how one views the mosaic formed by those tiles.
Each has his/her interpretation of this final mosaic from the angle of
experience
and perhaps even the eye of resolution used, but whether the final
conclusions are
that there is this God or there is not, both become statements of faith.

I say one must chose, and live by it. And by Grace, somehow, I was lead to
believe in Jesus. If that is all foolishness to some, I understand, but we
know
from Paul that this is what we should expect people to think, understandably
in fact, and such may I too must expect. All I will say on this is that what
we
seek to understand as scientists is "how the universe works", and "what it
all means" we must deal with on a different level than what science can
offer.

By Grace alone we proceed,
Wayne

> Just when you think you have read it all, you run across yet another gem
>
> Abstract
> How evolution led to complex life is one of the great questions. This
> paper describes simulations
> that investigate the role of ecological interactions in the evolution of
> complexity. Webworld
> is a robust model of evolution in food webs. It is extended for
> variability of organism complexity
> under evolution. Statistical and network analysis indicates a clear
> tendency for complexification
> within the model, led by adaptations that initially disconnect the
> species from trophic interactions.
> This suggests a process where short term fitness is increased by less
> connection to the
> ecosystem, but long term fitness is insured by incorporation within the
> ecosystem. Certainly it
> suggests a greater role for ecosystems in the evolution of complexity.
>
> http://brainoff.com/easy/dissertation.pdf
>
> And yet another workshop http://ecco.vub.ac.be/ECO/
>
> The following class shows some relevant concepts in evolution and
> complexity (evolvability for instance)
>
> http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/admissions/pg/syllabus.php?unit=COMP6026
>
Received on Sat Mar 25 21:32:48 2006