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| image: http://wolvesonceroamed.com/tag/evolution-by-natural-selection/ |
More accurately one should say that the species which
survives is the one most adaptable to a constantly changing environment. This
is not necessarily the strongest or most intelligent.
The big question is the means by which living systems adapt.
Is it a blind process or is there some intelligence built into the process of
adaptation or in the orchestration of the whole spectrum of life or both?
The modern science of epigenetics is pointing in the
direction of learned behaviour being passed from generation to generation, not
just by training of offspring by parents but also by data transfer at a
biological level between generations. When an animal discovers a more efficient
way of foraging for food the relevant data are actually stored in its body
brain system and passed on to subsequent generations, without teaching, by
whatever epigenetic system it is which controls the gene switches in response
to different environments.
I remember hearing a science news item on the BBC several
years ago. A calf of a cow which had learned to avoid cattle grids was
separated from its mother before it had ever seen a cattle grid yet as it was
placed in an environment which included a cattle grid it immediately knew that
it should be avoided.
This epigenetic transgenerational process is in
contradiction to neo-Darwinist dogma in that it involves taking in information
from the environment, modifying the gene switching meta-system and passing this
on to future generations so that they are better fitted to the world. This is
not yet fully accepted, just as the Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity was
not initially accepted by those unable to cast off the old Newtonian model; but
the research is moving that way. Adaptation is not a blind process of random
mutations. Intelligent experiments take place and intelligence is somehow
involved in selecting those species – bacteria, plant or animal- which not only
work individually, but together in cooperation and competition with the myriads
of other species around them. Human society and history mirrors this.
Secret Universe: the Hidden Life of the Cell,
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1f26gz_bbc-our-secret-universe-the-hidden-life-of-the-cell-720p-hdtv_tech
with a commentary by David Tennant (BBC2 Sunday 21 Oct, 2012) has taken a step towards revealing the intelligence of nature by showing with amazing animation how a cell fights viruses.
Although this is only the smallest tip of a huge iceberg it is refreshing to hear words like 'blueprint', 'purpose' and 'design' mentioned in the commentary of a BBC TV science documentary.
As one who believes in God it seems to me more likely that
he would bring forth humanity by this kind of process than by random mutations
plus natural selection and the more we look into biology the more inadequate neo-Darwinism
appears to be in explaining how we have appeared as the endpoint of a cosmic
explosion from a point in existential nothingness 13.7 billion years ago.
see also
The deep mystery of existance.3. Evolution equals design
see also
The deep mystery of existance.3. Evolution equals design
Natural technology: the virus
The doctrine of chance
Teleological argument for the existence of God
author
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