"Michael Ragland"  wrote in message
news:cbivm5$1djb$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org...
> JM:-
> But, in any case, there is no danger of interpreting JMS's language as
> an attempt to sneak a proof of creationism in on the sly. I would have
> hoped that the same would apply to myself and Bob Maas. Apparently not.
> Meanwhile, on another thread, complete nonsense regarding the direction
> of natural selection is spouted without even a hint of protest from the
> local language police.

> MR:-
> Instead of criticizing the thread in a separate thread why don't you put
> your money where your mouth is and respond directly to the Life's
> Direction" thread. That way we get the opportunity to read your ideas
> and responses and that leaves the door open for others to respond to
> you. You're not scared of that are you?

Touche.

You are correct.  The way I placed that criticism of Tyler, et. al. into
this thread was inappropriate.  Also inappropriate was my criticism
of Wilkins and Moran for not speaking out on "Life's Direction", when
I failed to do so myself.

However, in a weak defense of all three of us, that is Tyler's thread,
devoted to discussing Tyler's essay, and I believe that Tyler is
already aware that Wilkins and Moran disapprove of the title, and
that I disapprove of the thermodynamics.

As it happens, I am also in disapproval of the title, though for
a slightly different reason than Wilkins and Moran.  To explain
this, it is convenient to use a theological metaphor.  Tim
seems to be espousing an intentional Gaia, or at least a teleomatic
Gaia.  I believe that we need to postulate a distinct goddess for
each species, perhaps with Gaia reigning over them.  The specific
goddesses are fully intentional in my use of the word, with the goal
of maximizing the average individual fitness.  But, I am not
sure that Gaia can be characterized telos-wise at all.  There
certainly doesn't seem to me to be any teleonomy, and I have yet
to see a coherent teleomatic characterization.

There, I have done it again.  Inserting a criticism of ideas
expressed in one thread into another thread.  But the door is
certainly open for anyone to respond to this - perhaps by
initiating a third thread.
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