>Again, we are looking at facts as opposed to theories. If there
>is an origin of novelty and if organisms change over time then
>evolution has occurred. This observation in and of itself says
>nothing about whether a particular "theory" has been successful
>in explaining the observation.
This discuss has led me to ponder the following idea which was articulated
by one of our theologians at Calvin Seminary during the round table
discussion with Phil Johnson when he was here in January. Is it possible
to tell the difference between a macroevolutionary "singularity" and a
miraculous divine intervention? Perhaps, using "ordinary" providential
means, God directs a "natural" system to a state where some novelty can
emerge, but that the novelty itself arises from the unique combination of
the components. Is this miraculous creation or a macroevolutionary event
describable in terms of a scientific theory?
Before I am accused of saying that macroevolution equals special creation,
and make both sides mad, let me add that if the macroevolutionary event can
be understood in terms of laws of morphology and ontogeny and that there
are patterns to the processes when viewed as a whole (even if each
individual macroevolutionary event is historically unique), then you have
the means of constructing a reasonably scientific theory that does not
invoke a special creationistic intervention (although, of course, it is
still a creationistic event). I for one am convinced that such events can
be understood in evolutionary terms, although I will gladly admit that much
of the detail remains unknown.
In this context I feel that I can respond to some recent criticisms of
computer based evolutionary studies. The main thing that these teach us is
that there is such a thing as unanticipated emergent properties.
Properties and behaviors THAT WERE NOT PROGRAMMED INTO these systems arise
spontaneously without the tweaking of the programmer. Now I will readily
admit that the computer environment itself and the rules by which it works
is a designed environment, but I believe that about creation as well--God
made the world and the rules by which it works--and, of course, he tweaks
via providence far beyond what any programmer does. So if we see novelties
arise in these computer environments it should be of no surprise to see
novelties arise in a God-created nature.
TG
_____________________________________________________________
Terry M. Gray, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Calvin College 3201 Burton SE Grand Rapids, MI 40546
Office: (616) 957-7187 FAX: (616) 957-6501
Email: grayt@calvin.edu http://www.calvin.edu/~grayt
*This mission critical message was written on a Macintosh with Eudora Pro*