I think it's a fresh look at the intelligent design thing, very much like the "multiple designer" idea that Panda's thumb were talking about a while back. Unfortunately (like multiple designers) I don't think it stands up to scrutiny. There are just too many extinctions.
If you look at the fossil record, and assume that a Designer wanted things to adapt to the environment then the only conclusion you can make is that ninety-odd percent of all life on earth was very badly designed. There are whole branches of the tree of life that could not adapt quickly enough and have no living representives, hardly a case of intelligence, and definitely a case of "D'Oh!!".
The only way around it I can think of is that the designer simply designed the process of random mutation and natural selection, but then there is always the question of how far back that can take us: first cell, first sort-of-cell, first self replicator? If you take it far enough back it's gonna be quite tricky to convince people that a designer is required at all.
How are you finding London BTW?
This message has been edited by Ooook!, 15-04-2005 10:14 PM
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