[ExI] Worshiping that Divine Blowhard.

[BillK]

On 3/31/09, John K Clark wrote:
>  Everyone here agrees that Darwin was right, but nearly everybody here also
>  thinks inelegant behavior can tell us nothing about consciousness.
> Evolution
>  can't see consciousness, it doesn't give a rat's ass about it, it's only
>  interested in behavior; and yet here we are (or rather here I am) conscious
>  beings. Something does not compute.
>
>  This FACT is never ever addressed by those who insist that consciousness is
>  something infinitely mysterious, something that can never be explained and
>  for some strange reason is just tacked onto biological intelligence that a
>  machine could never hope to emulate. And remember, these people say they
>  scrupulously believe in Evolution.
>


You seem to be talking as though 'Evolution' was designing something.

Half the stuff in humans is garbage hangovers from previous adaptions.
If you were going to 'design' a human properly you wouldn't include
all the failings and design errors that are currently present. Look at
all the problems caused by putting the sex organs next to the waste
organs. What idiot thought that was a good idea?

Just because humans have 'x' ability doesn't mean that Evolution was
aiming towards developing 'x'. For example, 'x' might have been useful
to a previous ancestor without eyes and is just a hangover that a
better adaption hasn't quite got rid of.

As wikipedia says 'However, many traits that appear to be simple
adaptations are in fact exaptations: structures originally adapted for
one function, but which coincidentally became somewhat useful for some
other function in the process'.

Evolution is a complete kludge. We're lucky we can walk and chew gum
at the same time. (And some of us can't do that).  :)


BillK