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Irreducible complication

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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by The E   » Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:40 pm

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DDHv wrote:Your attempts at finding arguments against ID are based on you not understanding the difference between micro evolution and grand evolution theories. Grand evolution is like measuring the take off of a jet and extrapolating when it will reach orbital velocity at that acceleration. In theory, the SCRAM jet, if it is ever reduced to practice, can come close to orbital velocity, but our current jets run into limitations well before that.


No, I do understand the concepts of micro- and macroevolution. Unfortunately for you, I am sticking to the mainstream science definition of those terms, not the definitions you are using.

If microevolution happens, macroevolution must too. If macroevolution happens, microevolution is the only mechanism to explain it. The two concepts are thus inextricably linked.

If you wish to disconnect the two concepts, you need to prove that a mechanism exists by which microevolution is stopped going beyond a given delta to the base organism. Have fun with that, considering the examples I cited.

The assumption that time and chance account for all was accepted in Babylonia. It does not account for a reasonable universe.


Yes, it does. It might not be a particularly satisfying universe, but reality can be disappointing at times.

Grand evolution requires that there be an advantage at every stage, or there will be a metabolic drag on the organism's resources and thus a disadvantage
:|


You are still really stuck on this whole "a given feature must appear ex nihilo" thing, aren't you.
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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by gcomeau   » Mon Feb 06, 2017 6:56 pm

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DDHv wrote:Your attempts at finding arguments against ID are based on you not understanding the difference between micro evolution and grand evolution theories.


This should be wildly entertaining.


Ok DDHv... why don't you tell us where the dividing line between micro and "grand" evolution occurs, in terms of physical processes? What actual physical process needs to be at work in "grand" evolution that is not at work in "micro" evolution such that one happens but the other doesn't?


Grand evolution is like measuring the take off of a jet and extrapolating when it will reach orbital velocity at that acceleration. In theory, the SCRAM jet, if it is ever reduced to practice, can come close to orbital velocity, but our current jets run into limitations well before that.


No, actually the difference between micro and macro (or "grand" or whatever you want to call it) evolution is more like the difference between walking to the end of your driveway, and walking to the end of the block.


Time and distance required. That's it. There is no "extrapolation" required because we've directly observed both micro and macro occurring every bit as much as we've observed people walking both the above distances.


But if you want to claim otherwise by all means, answer my initial question.
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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by WeirdlyWired   » Tue Feb 07, 2017 5:14 am

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I, personally, have never experienced a"rational" universe, Merciful or Just God, a fair world, or actions having equal and opposite consequences. Things I learned my first day at work as a plumber's helper: Lunch is at noon. Payday is on Friday. Shit never flows uphill. My experience: the ones doing the actions almost always manage to pass the consequences to those below them.
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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by Imaginos1892   » Tue Feb 07, 2017 2:50 pm

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You might mention that when an organism 'evolves a little' it becomes a new base organism for any further evolution. Compounded minor changes eventually become major changes.

I also have an issue with the 'intelligent' part of those 'intelligent design' assertions.

The ‘design’ of the human body is not remotely intelligent. There are a lot of ‘features’ that no sane, competent designer would include. Consider the appendix; its only ‘purpose’ is to randomly get infected and kill you. Or the solar plexus — get hit in one particular spot and you stop breathing. You can suffocate unless you get help. What is intelligent about that?

By claiming that some god ‘designed’ the human body you are saying that he is:

Too stupid to do a better job,

Unable to do a better job because of some constraints,

Or designed it badly on purpose.

So, which is it? Is your god not all-knowing and all-powerful, or is he a sadistic bastard that deliberately gave us a nasty, flawed design?

Evolution does not aim for any specific goal. It demands only that an organism be good enough to survive long enough to reproduce. There are a whole lot of things about this planet’s life forms that only make sense in that context.
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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by Tenshinai   » Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:35 am

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DDHv wrote:Grand evolution requires that there be an advantage at every stage, or there will be a metabolic drag on the organism's resources and thus a disadvantage


Actually no it does not. As proven by the fact that reality contains examples of disadvantages staying around for very long times.
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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by DDHv   » Wed Feb 08, 2017 7:29 am

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Imaginos1892 wrote:snip

Consider the appendix; its only ‘purpose’ is to randomly get infected and kill you.
snip


Read: Rankin, L. C. et al. Complementarity and redundancy of IL-22-producing innate lymphoid cells. Nature Immunology. Published online before print November 30, 2015.

Current evolutionary theory states the appendix was independently evolved about thirty times. If it is useless, how can it be selected
:?:
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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by DDHv   » Wed Feb 08, 2017 8:07 am

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The E wrote:
If microevolution happens, macroevolution must too.

This is the point of dispute.
gcomeau wrote:Ok DDHv... why don't you tell us where the dividing line between micro and "grand" evolution occurs, in terms of physical processes? What actual physical process needs to be at work in "grand" evolution that is not at work in "micro" evolution such that one happens but the other doesn't?

Any case where multiple changes are needed to produce effects than can be selected for, naturally or otherwise. Example: anything when the pattern; sensor > connection > efector produces good results. Eliminate any of the three, and it quits working and cannot be selected.
snip

Speaking of, where are the experiments confirming creationist beliefs? Or at the very least, the experiments that show results incompatible with the theory of evolution? You have so far failed to find any. All you've put forward are faulty thought experiments.

Please be specific and describe the faults. I don't think that disagreement with the mainstream is a fault. I do think that ignoring empirical test results is a fault. Between chimps and humans, over a thousand "orphan gene" differences have been identified, plus other genes that are not orphan. Given the number of base pairs per gene, this is tens of thousands of base pairs for these differences. We aren't talking about two mutations in 10^13 organisms per the Lenski experiment, this requires thousands of mutations in less than 10^10 organisms.

What is that "reasonable reason" you speak of? Has there been a definitive record of divine intervention?

Science, which assumes the universe is reasonable, has produced good results. Empiricism, without logic based theory hasn't. Theory without empirical testing produces much speculation and again poor results. You need both! A randomly produced universe suggests the common existence of illogical patterns. Do you know anything except intelligence that has been shown to regularly produce logical patterns :?:

I like how you completely gloss over the unscientific nature of your favourite economic theory. Must be those patented creationist blinkers at work.

Science should filter based on empirical testing, not consensus. How many polities can you name using Keynesian economics that are in good shape after five generations? Much of my current preference for the Austrian school comes from poorly performing Keynesian policies.
Given a better economic theory, I'll switch.
snip

Also, decentralized systems are really bad at dealing with large-scale problems.

FWIR, decentralized systems using multiple, simpler processors and parallel processing are the current tool of choice for large data problems. Many recent generations of supercomputers use this approach. And there are neural networks. Chtia would be my choice for this question.

No, manipulation by the people at the top is definitely the biggest problem.

A point of agreement! :D It is obvious, isn't it?

Hard science is a series of successive approximations of our models (theories) to reality. This is only possible by comparing results to reality, even indirectly. Ignoring evidence and logic by people whose assumptions come from different biases is an excellent way to not see any weaknesses in your own theories


Why don't you apply that sort of thinking to creationist ideas?

I do. However, when doing this, intelligent design, including the sub category of creationist design, doesn't run into as many problems that need patching.

I expect the "orphan gene" work to produce some good results here. Evolutionary basics suggest that as we sequence more genomes, the remaining orphan genes should approach zero as a limit. Intelligent design basics suggest the limit approached will be above zero. An organism with zero orphan genes would be strong evidence for evolution. One with 100% orphan genes would be strong evidence for ID. It would also be extremely unlikely that either exists on earth.

Do we know enough to decide what range of percentages gives an advantage either way, or do we use our biases
:?:
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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by The E   » Wed Feb 08, 2017 8:35 am

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DDHv wrote:Between chimps and humans, over a thousand "orphan gene" differences have been identified, plus other genes that are not orphan. Given the number of base pairs per gene, this is tens of thousands of base pairs for these differences alone. We aren't talking about a few mutations in 10^13 organisms per the Lenski experiment, this requires thousands of mutations in less than 10^10 organisms.


And? You've stated a premise, fine, now start drawing some conclusions (preferably ones that have experimental confirmations), don't leave us hanging here. At this point, you're still in "fatally flawed thought experiment" territory, in order to advance to proper science, you'll have to show some evidence.

Science, which assumes the universe is reasonable, has been able to produce good results. Empiricism, without logic based theory doesn't. Theory without empirical testing produces much speculation and again poor results. You need both! A randomly produced universe suggests the production of illogical patterns. Do you know anything but intelligence that has been shown to produce logical patterns :?:


Yes. Crystallization produces many beautiful patterns with no intelligence in sight.

Also, if you knew anything about evolution, you'd know that its end products (no matter how complex or functional they are) are rarely as optimized as the results of actual design processes.

How many polities can you name which used Keynesian economics as a basis and are in good shape after five generations? Part of my current preference for the Austrian school comes from poorly performing Keynesian policies.
Given a better economic theory, I'll switch.


Hey, look at you setting up impossible goalposts! You're really quite a proper creationist aren't you?

(Keynes wrote his thesis in 1936. If we reckon a generation to mean around 30 years, and if we use post-World War 2 as a starting point for countries to adopt Keynesian policies, then we'll see that barely three generations have passed).

So, kindly find better goalposts. Don't worry, you can move them later.

FWIR, decentralized systems using multiple, simpler processors and parallel processing are the current tool of choice for large data problems. Many recent generations of supercomputers use this approach. And there are neural networks. Chtia would be my choice for this question.


I am pretty sure that economic systems are not directly comparable to supercomputers (for one, the various processors in a supercomputer rarely compete for ressources; if they do, external management infrastructures move in to reallocate ressources as needed).

Remember what I said about engineers being really good at being wrong with confidence?

I do. However, when doing this, intelligent design, including the sub category of creationist design, doesn't run into as many problems that need patching.


It doesn't? So the fact that it doesn't explain the mechanisms by which the supposed creator does his work doesn't bother you, at all? Or that it can't explain anything about the creator?

I expect the "orphan gene" work to produce some good results here. Evolutionary basics suggest that as we sequence more genomes, the remaining orphan genes should approach zero as a limit. Intelligent design basics suggest the limit approached will be above zero. An organism with zero orphan genes would be strong evidence for evolution. One with 100% orphan genes would be strong evidence for ID. It would also be unlikely that either exists on earth.


You really, really do not understand the concepts you're dealing with (For the record, orphaned genes are incredibly rare). The only thing a creature with a mostly "orphaned" genome would be evidence of is a separate evolutionary path that produced it; it certainly would not be evidence of ID. Again, because you haven't understood it yet: There is no evidence that ID explains anything that evolution doesn't.
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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by Tenshinai   » Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:39 pm

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DDHv wrote:Science should filter based on empirical testing, not consensus. How many polities can you name using Keynesian economics that are in good shape after five generations? Much of my current preference for the Austrian school comes from poorly performing Keynesian policies.
Given a better economic theory, I'll switch.


It needs to be noted that just about noone actually USED Keynesian economic policies.
Taxes lowered when economy went down, then instead of raising taxes when economy went up, the morons borrowed money.

Well duh, of course finances are going to be crippled when you only do the spendy side of an economic theory.
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Re: Irreducible complication
Post by Imaginos1892   » Wed Feb 08, 2017 9:22 pm

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DDHv wrote:Read: Rankin, L. C. et al. Complementarity and redundancy of IL-22-producing innate lymphoid cells. Nature Immunology. Published online before print November 30, 2015.

Current evolutionary theory states the appendix was independently evolved about thirty times. If it is useless, how can it be selected?

So, you're claiming that it was 'designed' to perform that function in addition to randomly getting infected and killing you?

You are positing that your 'designer' is sane, right?

SO WHY WOULD ANYTHING BE DESIGNED IN SUCH A FUCKED-UP WAY???
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Last edited by Imaginos1892 on Wed Feb 08, 2017 9:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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