Zachriel
Posts: 2723 Joined: Sep. 2006
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Charlie Quote | Quote | Natural selection is anything but random. Natural selection is a guided process,guided not by any higher power, but simply by which genes survive and which genes don’t survive. That’s a non-random process.-- Richard Dawkins. | Natural selection is guided after all - by natural selection. |
Except the context reveals a different meaning (emphasis added).
Quote | Natural selection is anything but random. Natural selection is a guided process, guided not by any higher power, but simply by which genes survive and which genes don't survive. That's a non-random process. The animals that are best at whatever they do-hunting, flying, fishing, swimming, digging-whatever the species does, the individuals that are best at it are the ones that pass on the genes. It's because of this non-random process that lions are so good at hunting, antelopes so good at running away from lions, and fish are so good at swimming. -- Richard Dawkins. |
Now, let's apply that.
Atom Quote | This is the circularity inherent in thinking of NS as a force. NS is a description of differential reproduction which only “leads” to itself, differential reproduction. And because of differential reproduction, we have the very real fact that more organisms with “fit” traits will exist than those without them. But that is a tautology. |
As Dawkins points out, we observe heritable traits such as the ability to hunt, fly, fish, swim, dig. And we can observe that these traits lead to differential reproduction. A tautology is necessarily true. Natural selection is not a tautology, but an observed facet of nature.
As with much of ID, there's a curious lack of curiosity concerning even the most fundamental observations of nature.
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You never step on the same tard twice—for it's not the same tard and you're not the same person.
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