On Dec 4, 2007 8:33 PM, Charlie Bell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Nah-ah. Just a fact. No-one knows everything in a field, and lay- > people often think they have a far better grasp of a technical field > than they do.
Sure. But you don't know what I have or haven't studied about evolution and Darwinism, so there was no basis for you to evaluate what I said. The fact that I know how complexity relates to it might have suggested that I have a more than passing acquaintance... eh? > > > One doesn't have to be an expert in evolutionary biology to > > understand the state of knowledge. I'm not an expert software > > engineer, but > > I have a pretty good idea of what is possible and what isn't. > > Really? I *am* a biologist, and I wouldn't claim to have a grasp on > the state-of-the-art. What I meant was, it depends greatly on your > sources, and what you're reading. You don't know which major questions have been answered and which haven't? You don't have a good overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the generally accepted theories? That's the sort of knowledge I'm talking about when I say that you don't have to be an expert to have a good idea of what is possible and what isn't. > In any system with finite resources, > there will be competition. You are correct of course. But you are correct in the way that television network explain their programming -- "We only show what people want." Trouble is, it's not *all* they want. The fact that you can find competition happening doesn't mean other things aren't going on. > > > But calling phenomena > > "emergent" may be saying little more than "this doesn't come about > > by any > > mechanism we can understand other than the way the universe operates." > > It's defined well enough as "complex-appearing behaviours or > attributes which arise from a few simple rules or characteristics". > > But that explains EVERYTHING, so it is trivial. Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages: 408-904-7198 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
