>Ralph
> >Harmful mutations are "mistakes", beneficial mutations are
> >"part of the design". Good cake. :) Why, though, are you so skeptical
> >about the occurrence of beneficial mutations? Aren't they necessary to
> carry
> >out the design? Or is it optional that the design be realized?
> >ralph
>
>Hi Ralph:
>Science has yet to identify a "beneficial mutation" about which there is no
>controversy.
But why? You've said before that the purpose of life was to grow. Any
mutation that gave a lifeform a better chance to grow would have to be
considered beneficial, seems to me, and surely that would be easy to
spot. For instance, mutations that have allowed certain viruses to be
resistant to antibiotics has to be considered beneficial, at least from
the virus' point of view! :) What is so hard about that?
>Personally, I believe they happen all the time in the few
>organs still plastic enough to be evolving.
"the few organs still plastic enough to be evolving". Intriguing thought.
Do you mean that some "organs" are impervious to mutations? News
to me. Which ones can I stop worrying about? :) Or do you mean
that some organs are so nearly perfect that any conceivable mutation
will be for the worse? Given the present condition of my eyes, I'd be
willing to settle for almost any change!
>The central nervous system -
>the brain. Science can't yet analyze the brain well enough to measure and
>identify the origin of thoughts and attitudes. Of course, there are the
>sociobiologists who declare thoughts and attitudes to be the hard-wired
>results of "random mutation and natural selection", but most of them discount
>the existence of free will. It is my belief that we constantly participate
>in the evolution of our own brains by the use of free will. That is not a
>scientific theory, just my own personal belief.
That's cool. Personal beliefs happen to the best of us. :) Participating in
the evolution of our own brains is a neat idea. Evolution is usually
talking about physical changes in genes but certainly there have been
plenty of mystics who have claimed to be able to make physical
changes in any part of their body. And I believe (whoops!) there is
evidence that our thoughts and feelings can produce physical changes
in our brain's structure. Of course, how can we know if these changes
we are effecting will be beneficial? That's actually a big question, IMHO.
Should we, maybe, be following a design? If so, which one? :)
ralph
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