Evolution Q & A

@kellyjay said
Why bother bringing up someone (God) you claim isn't real, and asking about where is God in the parasite's necessity? You are not very consistent in your worldview that there is no God if you are always trying to convince others He isn't real. Who are you trying to convince, yourself?

The poster stated:

'I'm old school, and long ago I accepted that 'everything that becomes or is created must of necessity be created by some cause, for without a cause nothing can be created.'


I believe it is a fair question to ask him what he thinks the necessity of creation was for the parasite mentioned, and why he thinks the God he worships would create such a thing. - There is no necessity for you to answer in his place.

@kellyjay said
It is not a nonsense question not having an answer is as revealing as it gets, there is no reason at all for a mindless process that deals with information to come forward out of an ocean of chaos and bring with it law-like precision in integrated systems in life performing highly specified tasks. There is no mindless reason for the proteins in life to behave in language-li ...[text shortened]... dlessness doesn't have reasons, and so it is idiotic to think such a thing could arise out of chaos.

Yes, you are quite right that there is no reason for mindless processes to generate organized life forms. They just did, without any reason to. The only point on which we are dissonant is that there having been no reason for it troubles you and does not trouble me, so you keep on looking for a reason to insert into mindless processes and I don't.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
The poster stated:

'I'm old school, and long ago I accepted that 'everything that becomes or is created must of necessity be created by some cause, for without a cause nothing can be created.'


I believe it is a fair question to ask him what he thinks the necessity of creation was for the parasite mentioned, and why he thinks the God he worships would create such a thing. - There is no necessity for you to answer in his place.

So when I respond to you, it is not fair as I point out to you what you think necessary or unnecessary, and to God since you included Him in your question (believe in Him or not) matters?

Isn’t any question from you about God’s thoughts or motives turn all answers no matter how well thought out, just as meaningless? You don’t believe in God, therefore all responses will carry no weight with you. Why ask anything if that is your mindset?

@kellyjay said
So when I respond to you, it is not fair as I point out to you what you think necessary or unnecessary, and to God since you included Him in your question (believe in Him or not) matters?

Isn’t any question from you about God’s thoughts or motives turn all answers no matter how well thought out, just as meaningless? You don’t believe in God, therefore all responses will carry no weight with you. Why ask anything if that is your mindset?

Hush. The question wasn't directed towards you.

@indonesia-phil said
Evolution isn't trying to fail or succeed, and doesn't give two hoots whether one species survives another, ourselves included; there is undeniable evidence that the overwhelming majority of species which have existed have gone extinct. We are unique as a species not only in the catastrophic damage that we are doing to the biodiversity of our planet, but in the realisa ...[text shortened]... distinction between 'apes' and 'humans'; they (we) in terms of taxonomy are one and the same thing.

And yet, here we are, a product of evolution, with piss and vinegar trying to survive in an environment we are destroying ever more, and are on the brink of total destruction.

Why should we care if it does not matter if we fail or succeed? There's no purpose to living or dying. Why are you so bitter about our current environment? What did you have in mind to help keep it livable? Tell us, and we'll spread the good news, so that we can all contribute to our survival.

But if there's no purpose to existence, stop complaining and just let evolution take its mindless course. Don't interfere with evolution by championing for our survival.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
The poster stated:

'I'm old school, and long ago I accepted that 'everything that becomes or is created must of necessity be created by some cause, for without a cause nothing can be created.'


I believe it is a fair question to ask him what he thinks the necessity of creation was for the parasite mentioned, and why he thinks the God he worships would create such a thing. - There is no necessity for you to answer in his place.

To be fair, and to the point, the 'necessity' was directed at the 'cause'. The cause that created the parasite. As far as the purpose, whether it's for the parasite or otherwise, it was not addressed in my sentence.

But let it be addressed now. The necessity for the parasite is most likely much like the need for a predator to keep the herd free from the weaklings among them, to prevent the weak from spreading its genes. To help with the survival of the fittest, is very likely the purpose with most parasites.

The God I worship is a very strange one. I'm almost certain that I may be the only worshiper this God of mine has.

@pettytalk said
To be fair, and to the point, the 'necessity' was directed at the 'cause'. The cause that created the parasite. As far as the purpose, whether it's for the parasite or otherwise, it was not addressed in my sentence.

But let it be addressed now. The necessity for the parasite is most likely much like the need for a predator to keep the herd free from the weaklings among t ...[text shortened]... hip is a very strange one. I'm almost certain that I may be the only worshiper this God of mine has.

I thought though the Christian God was all about protecting the weak, and that it was evolution alone that preached the survival of the fittest?

@ghost-of-a-duke said
There is a particular parasite who's sole purpose is to infect the brain of an ant. It then turns the ant into a zombie like creature and has it climb the highest thing around (usually a tree). At the end of a branch a spore then bursts out of the ants head dropping further spores to the ground below, ready to infect other ants.

What is the created necessity of this parasite? Where is God in its existence?

I already gave you my sincere reply, but now, concerning ants, I can tell you that my God is allergic to fire ant stings and is testing the brains of ants to see if he can change their minds on stinging everything in sight when one accidentally steps on their mounds. Apparently, he has not yet come up with the right parasite that can change their minds without destroying them.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
I thought though the Christian God was all about protecting the weak, and that it was evolution alone that preached the survival of the fittest?

Is this line of questioning part of my admonishment for the old wives tale?

Although Christ is not my God, there's a problem with understanding Christ properly. The weak ones here in this world are the ultimate survivors and the fittest for heaven. Have you never heard that the first will be the last, and the last first? There's no argument, I presume, that a child is very weak, and the greatest is the fittest?

Who among you will be the greatest?

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever therefore will humble himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

@pettytalk said
Is this line of questioning part of my admonishment for the old wives tale?

No. It's my job as an atheist sir. 🙂

@ghost-of-a-duke said
No. It's my job as an atheist sir. 🙂

lol 😆 😉

@pettytalk said
And yet, here we are, a product of evolution, with piss and vinegar trying to survive in an environment we are destroying ever more, and are on the brink of total destruction.

Why should we care if it does not matter if we fail or succeed? There's no purpose to living or dying. Why are you so bitter about our current environment? What did you have in mind to help keep it ...[text shortened]... evolution take its mindless course. Don't interfere with evolution by championing for our survival.

Sorry, but when did I 'complain' and when did I 'champion for our survival'? In fact I believe I said that in the end our survival as a species doesn't really matter, which is the opposite of that which you are saying I said.

I 'care' in as much as I don't enjoy seeing people killing each other or killing other animals; I'll be sad when the last Sumatran Rhino dies, if I live long enough to see that, but that's a purely personal and emotional response. I don't on the other hand much care for any religion or creed which, for example, discriminates against people for their inherited sexuality, but to say I'm 'bitter' is to misunderstand me, I was merely pointing out observable facts. We all have our take on such things, but these things aside, I don't think that we should 'care' whether homo sapiens make it through the next million years, a mere blip in geological and evolutionary time.

I made certain decisions when I was a teenager, but that's getting a bit too personal for a public forum, so we won't go there, but there's a limit, of course, to that which any of us can do to stop the general rot, so to speak; all we can do is to make the best we can of it whilst we are here, and lead the best lives that we can, thereafter the world will do as it will.

@indonesia-phil said
Sorry, but when did I 'complain' and when did I 'champion for our survival'? In fact I believe I said that in the end our survival as a species doesn't really matter, which is the opposite of that which you are saying I said.

I 'care' in as much as I don't enjoy seeing people killing each other or killing other animals; I'll be sad when the last Sumatran Rhino dies, ...[text shortened]... it whilst we are here, and lead the best lives that we can, thereafter the world will do as it will.

You can't be selective about what you enjoy seeing or don't. If you accept evolution with all its flaws, then all people are behaving and thinking just like Mother Nature has evolved them and shaped their brains/minds.

We are what nature has mindlessly made us to be... that's evolution, in a nutshell. If there is no purpose or direction, or preferences in nature, there is no good or evil, nor a better or a worse, and definitely no right or wrong.

Stop complaining about what religion does to others. And why do you need to be right? In nature, it's all too natural for animals to kill animals. If you become sadly selective, you are putting forth purpose and intent. If any species dies out, why should anyone be sad or happy for it? There is no reason in evolution, so it's argued. Evolution does not care, nor is it sad or happy for what it causes, mindlessly.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
No. It's my job as an atheist sir. 🙂

When did atheists start believing in ghosts?

I'm trying to take your job away from you. It's only a matter of time. A pawn who marches forward steadfastly will reach the last row and instantly become the Queen of the hive, the strongest piece in the game.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
The poster stated:

'I'm old school, and long ago I accepted that 'everything that becomes or is created must of necessity be created by some cause, for without a cause nothing can be created.'


I believe it is a fair question to ask him what he thinks the necessity of creation was for the parasite mentioned, and why he thinks the God he worships would create such a thing. - There is no necessity for you to answer in his place.

Questions and answers happen you don’t need to respond but you don’t get to shut up another.