Philosophy Now Forum

Thanks for your words. As random I always mean "aleatório" for which there is an equivalent word in English, aleatory. A lottery is random to me in this sense. Well, the male rat story published in Nature was impressive to scientific community because it showed a character may be acquired...

So, since you do not want to discuss what you find wrong with determinism, I don't see what more is to be said. I said determinism is an unanswered question and no one is obliged to accept it. That's new to me that determinism is scientific. Recently, an article on determinism was published in Scie...

Me: Natural selection is non-random in the sense that it is one aspect of a deterministic universe. No, it's non-radom in the clear sense that whether the universe is deterministic or, natural selection culling genetic variation is not, not, NOT random! That is a very difficult sentence to construe...

Finally, if Paulol does not understand that is the fault of whoever should be explaining to him. There is nobody who does not want to understand. If Paulol is a creationist that is the fault of his teachers. I'm not a creationist and you can't substantiate that. The first requisite of science is fa...

Belinda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2017 6:38 pm This puzzles me. Are the mutations undergone by genes truly random(uncaused) or are they 'random' (inexplicable) ? Can anybody recommend a decent website with this information, please?

That's a very big question.

That's the most sense you have ever made. Unlike many people I like learning something new. It's refreshing. I knew that about so-called 'psychopathy' though, and suspect it's far mor common that people think. It might even be the default human condition, with empathy and compassion being a matter ...

Hobbes' Choice wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2017 8:11 pm You are really confused aren't you?

Perhaps not as much as you are.

[...] there is so much that NS seems not to explain, such as the appendix, male nipples, and psychopathy. Those are soft questions for NS. The appendix is now believe to be a reservoir of intestinal flora, and probably has other roles not yet found (but not vital roles for sure as people can live w...

Things are getting so metaphysical one can't even trust dice any longer. Yes, DNA is the most fantastic molecule in universe. Without it, how could there be self-replication? Whether natural selection applies to individuals or populations, it doesn't change much. Individuals are within populations a...

Maybe you're right about capitals and I'm confusing that with rules in my own language. I checked a US source, I hope that applies to British English, too. Even if a random event is deterministic, it's result is random anyway. Can you find a balanced die which, following large numbers theorem, does...

I gave you an example where observer's mental status cannot have any role whatsoever, like Euromillions or PowerbBall, but you contradict that and didn't even concede those are random events (in the sense aleatory). Universe is written in capital letter in English to the best of my knowledge, like ...

DaVIdm fails a lot explaining cogently natural selection, so he's now trying language instead. I think he has talent here, but he's making the thread quite off-topic.

Will you please resume "The Theory of Evolution - perfect?".

I'd risk to say that linguists already knew about natural selection well ahead of Darwin. Some renown scientists also claim that Universe evolved by natural selection. A chemical reaction is natural selection, too. Only the right reagents will do. I hope this won't become another "Everything&qu...

Belinda, many thanks. It's correct, aleatório and não causado as my keyboard allows for diacritics. I understand random as aleatório only. Random comes from Anglo-French through Middle English meaning to run, while aleatório comes from Latin alea, aleae meaning chance, risk, gambling, dice (like al...