[Taxacom] teleology example

[Michael Heads]

There is some interesting literature on this is in media studies. They've
analysed all the teleology in the Attenborough shows (watched by huge
numbers of people) and the early education people are also following it up
because teleology is used for just about everything by infants.
   In this case Wikipedia has it right and Dawkins is wrong:

   Wikipedia: Evolution does not "plan" to improve an organism's fitness to
survive.[203]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions#cite_note-203>
[204]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions#cite_note-204>For
example, an incorrect way to describe giraffe evolution is to say that
giraffe necks grew longer over time because they *needed* to reach tall
trees. Evolution doesn't see a *need* and respond, it is instead a goalless
process.

   Dawkins 2009: Greatest show on Earth. Caption to Fig. A, colour page 26
(spider monkey with prehensile tail): ‘When a tree-climbing animal
*needs*a fifth limb it doesn’t grow it afresh but presses into service
what is
already there’.

   Dawkins (2006 [1996]) Mt Improbable. p. 14: ‘Animals with similar
*needs*often resemble each other...’.



   Paleontology recognised long term trends in morphology years ago and the
genetic mechanisms of non-random evolution are discussed in a lot of papers
e.g.Lartillot 2013 in Mol Biol Evol: 'GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC) is a
major evolutionary force shaping genomic nucleotide landscapes, distorting
the estimation of the strength of selection, and having potentially
deleterious effects on genome-wide fitness [of course it could also enhance
fitness, depending on environment]....Across placental mammals, variation
in gBGC strength spans two orders of magnitude, at its lowest in apes,
strongest in lagomorphs, microbats or tenrecs, and near or above the nearly
neutral threshold in most other lineages'.


 Michael Heads

On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 5:24 PM, Jim Betts <jimbetts at xtra.co.nz> wrote:

> In a properly rigorous argument, there shouldn't be recourse to teleology.
> We probably all think teleologically sometimes, & mostly this is inocuous.
> Is a properly constructed argument, any apparent or residual teleology
> should be reframed, even if the explanation is longer.
> It will be longer, but will have more weight, as oppesed to zero weight.
> If the teleology can't be reframed, then the thought expressed has a flaw,
> or else we are at the limits of science.
>
> Systematic attempts to import teleology are interesting but problematic.
> Pierre Teilhard de Chardin died in 1955.
> I don't know if he used teleological explanations in his purely technical
> papers.
>
> There is a parallel with computers.
> When someone says: <<The computer won't let me do that>>.
> Obviously the computer has no opinion or intention.
> But we understand what the speaker means.
> A more precise description of the process is available - and is necessary
> - in the proper literature.
>
> (Jim Betts)
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Grehan" <calabar.john at gmail.com>
> To: "taxacom" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 3:12 PM
> Subject: [Taxacom] teleology example
>
>
> At various times I have raised, in this and other lists, the continued
> presence of intelligent design theology in science in the form of explicit
> teleology. Often the response is "that is not what they really intended".
> Here's a nice explicit example: "it’s hard to see how these hair-like
> processes would evolve if they didn’t serve a purpose." This from David
> Winter, "a PhD student in evolutionary genetics who very occasionally
> thinks he has something that the internet simply needs to know…" See
> http://sciblogs.co.nz/the-atavism/tag/new-zealand/
>
> John Grehan
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