From: John Beckett 

"Geo"  wrote in message
news::
> "John Beckett" 
wrote in message
> news:tak8g15ngp2to0tgst2ogaks49l9tnnu4r{at}4ax.com...
> I wasn't saying "purpose" in the sense of god created it for
a reason type
> thinking. I was saying purpose as in what it does not why it does it.

I don't like your statements on evolution having a purpose because they
totally miss the point of what evolution actually is.

Evolution is the following process: 1. Tiny random changes occur in
egg/sperm cells. 2. These have an effect on the subsequent individuals. 3.
External forces reward good changes and punish bad.

The "reward" is that some changes lead to more future offspring
that inherit the tiny random change. The "punishment" is that
other changes lead to less offspring.

That's it! Evolution is nothing more than the above. The reason so much is
written about it is that there are a lot of details.

In point 1, it is vital to understand that the changes are TINY and RANDOM.

Tiny is important because if you take any complex machine/animal and make
almost any single change that is not tiny you will get a disaster.

Random is important because it tests ALL possible development paths. This
is BETTER than intelligent design because literally all tiny changes are
tested.

Evolution does not occur "to" a particular animal or whatever. An
animal is the way it is because of the environment that existed (and
evolved) as the animal developed. So, humans could not have evolved if
dinosaurs had not gone extinct. Bruce Willis et al did not kill the
dinosaurs - it was just dumb luck (or part of the divine plan if you like -
but NOT intelligent design!).

John

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