Religion has roots in animals..?

[Stranger]

This is something we have discussed many times. Evolution happens everywhere, in man made products also.  There is a 'selection', there are variations and there is increase in complexity.....but there is always an Intelligence behind it....directing the entire process.

This is just getting more and more comical! Confusing the evolution of intelligently designed products with evolution by natural selection is foolish in the extreme.

There is no need for, and no evidence for intelligent involvement in evolution by natural selection.

[Sriram]

I don't see why not!  Merely because you guys say so??!!! 

[Sriram]

Clearly there is intelligence guiding artificial selection, and just as clearly there is no guiding intelligence behind natural selection.  This is why Darwin termed it Natural Selection - to differentiate it from artificial selection.

But Darwin called it Natural selection based on the same principle as Artificial selection. And he was not an atheist and was also influenced by Lamarck. Which means that he probably never thought of NS in the same random terms as you people now do. He probably thought of some form of Intelligence guiding the 'selection'.

This has also now being increasingly evidenced through mechanisms that enable active and intelligent adaptations.

[Gordon]

But Darwin called it Natural selection based on the same principle as Artificial selection. And he was not an atheist and was also influenced by Lamarck. Which means that he probably never thought of NS in the same random terms as you people now do. He probably thought of some form of Intelligence guiding the 'selection'.

This has also now being increasingly evidenced through mechanisms that enable active and intelligent adaptations.

You clearly misunderstand Darwin.

[Stranger]

I don't see why not!  Merely because you guys say so??!!! 

People are just telling you what the evidence says.

But Darwin called it Natural selection based on the same principle as Artificial selection. And he was not an atheist and was also influenced by Lamarck. Which means that he probably never thought of NS in the same random terms as you people now do. He probably thought of some form of Intelligence guiding the 'selection'.

This is utter nonsense. I suspect that you've never actually read On the Origin of Species. If you have, your capacity for misunderstanding is exceptional.

This has also now being increasingly evidenced through mechanisms that enable active and intelligent adaptations.

No matter how much you assert this, there is no evidence for intelligent involvement and no need for it. Natural selection must happened (it's a logical consequence of the relevant conditions) and it involves no intelligence.

[Walter]

I don't see why not!  Merely because you guys say so??!!! 

you should have noticed by now you are quite simply WRONG about most things you post on here , why do you persist ?

[bluehillside Retd.]

Sriram,

I don't see why not!  Merely because you guys say so??!!!

Wrong again. It’s not because “we guys say so” at all. It’s because the arguments that falsify your claim say so. You should try to deal with that rather than seek to avoid the problem you’ve given yourself by personalising it.   

[jeremyp]

People are just telling you what the evidence says.

This is utter nonsense. I suspect that you've never actually read On the Origin of Species. If you have, your capacity for misunderstanding is exceptional.

Have you read On The Origin? If you had, you would know that Darwin does explore the notion of artificial selection in the first chapter. He uses it to illustrate the fact that selection was known to be capable of introducing great variety.

Full disclosure: I haven’t read it either. I know the above from reading other more modern books about evolution.

[Stranger]

Have you read On The Origin? If you had, you would know that Darwin does explore the notion of artificial selection in the first chapter. He uses it to illustrate the fact that selection was known to be capable of introducing great variety.

Yes I have (albeit a fair few years ago), and yes, I know. The point I was making is that there is no hint of the nonsense Sriram went on to claim about Darwin thinking that some intelligence is guiding natural selection.

The point being that (as you said) artificial selection illustrates how significant change can be introduced when only offspring with certain traits contribute to the next generation. Darwin's (and Wallace's) great insight was that the environment itself can act as a filter for those individuals that contribute to the next generation.