Why did god do this?

[bernee51]

This article begins "Scientists have unveiled the genetic code of the chimpanzee, showing that humans are biologically distinct from apes thanks to a small handful of important differences in DNA."

It goes on: "Of the chimp's 3 billion base pairs, a mere 35 million of them (less than 4 per cent) are different from a human's. Yet these scant differences have a huge impact. They have given humans an outsized brain, the ability to walk upright on two feet, develop complex language skills, adapt quickly to changing environments, as well as other uniquely human features."

It also notes that "...one ape gene, caspase-12, produces an enzyme that appears to protect the animal from Alzheimer's disease but does not exist in modern humans."

My question. Why would god do this?

Why would he obviously have the hardware to protect those "made in his image" from a debilitating disease of old age yet only give it to a 'lower' animal?

[Bro Dave]

This article begins "Scientists have unveiled the genetic code of the chimpanzee, showing that humans are biologically distinct from apes thanks to a small handful of important differences in DNA."

It goes on: "Of the chimp's 3 billion base pairs, a mere 35 million of them (less than 4 per cent) are different from a human's. Yet these scant differences have a huge impact. They have given humans an outsized brain, the ability to walk upright on two feet, develop complex language skills, adapt quickly to changing environments, as well as other uniquely human features."

Would that not be considered intelligent design?
(Opps, sorry, it is of course just a happy accident. What was I thinking? )

It also notes that "...one ape gene, caspase-12, produces an enzyme that appears to protect the animal from Alzheimer's disease but does not exist in modern humans."

My question. Why would god do this?

Why would he obviously have the hardware to protect those "made in his image" from a debilitating disease of old age yet only give it to a 'lower' animal?

In the strictest sense, God didn’t leave that gene out of humans. Normal planets evolve to the point where a final modification of the DNA creates the first true humans. They are allowed to procreate, and when they have sufficient numbers, a final DNA “boost” is given which protects against most diseases and other maladies. Unfortunately, our little planet had a rebellion problem, and the “boost” was incomplete, leaving us with many problems. This is being addressed, but from a different direction, and will take time to resolve.

Bro Dave

[bernee51]

Would that not be considered intelligent design?
(Opps, sorry, it is of course just a happy accident. What was I thinking? )

Sounds more like a 'intelligent' evolution to me - certainly no accident, happy or otherwise.

It also notes that "...one ape gene, caspase-12, produces an enzyme that appears to protect the animal from Alzheimer's disease but does not exist in modern humans."

Why would he obviously have the hardware to protect those "made in his image" from a debilitating disease of old age yet only give it to a 'lower' animal?

In the strictest sense, God didn’t leave that gene out of humans. Normal planets evolve to the point where a final modification of the DNA creates the first true humans. They are allowed to procreate, and when they have sufficient numbers, a final DNA “boost” is given which protects against most diseases and other maladies. Unfortunately, our little planet had a rebellion problem, and the “boost” was incomplete, leaving us with many problems. This is being addressed, but from a different direction, and will take time to resolve.

Bro Dave

Ah I see Earth (or whatever you know it as) is not a 'normal planet'. It had the cheek to rebel so god didn't get a chance to finish the job with the DNA.

Lets's see you are 65. I'm a decade younger. What are the chances that we will get a software update to fix the bugs before we forget what we need it for?

While your at it do think these fixers can fix a couple of other design faults. Like the one that has us eating, breathing and talking out of the same orifice. Oh and the one that has all our vital organs vulnerable when we walk on two legs. That will do for starters.

[Jose]

Why would he obviously have the hardware to protect those "made in his image" from a debilitating disease of old age yet only give it to a 'lower' animal?

What a silly notion, bernee. He gave it to our cousins, who aren't "lower" at all.

Of course, one can also ask why that danged gene went away in our lineage, but not theirs. Maybe their evolution was smarter than ours. (Huh?)

Or maybe god took it away from us when we were bad, so we'd forget what we did that was bad, and then do it again, whatever it was.

Would that not be considered intelligent design?

I dunno...Does an intelligent designer do the same thing over and over and over, with minor changes, kinda like a sloppy xerox machine, or does an intelligent designer actually design new things each time? Maybe it depends on your definition of intelligence--whether it's measured as creativity (new designs each time) or as finding the easy way out (tweak the DNA a bit, and send it out as if it's a new design). Maybe what we have is a journeyman designer, rather than a master designer.

Lets's see you are 65. I'm a decade younger. What are the chances that we will get a software update to fix the bugs before we forget what we need it for?

need what for?

You're right, of course. There's no way that mere unintelligent mortals like us can fathom the wisdom of the designer. There is certainly wisdom in designing a leaky lower esophageal sphincter so that we get acid reflux, putting the acid in just the right place for us to aspirate it, irritating our vocal cords so that, once in a while, they just close up tight. If we're lucky, they relax again after we pass out (at least, mine did). That's a really clever design, making use as it does, of the very muscles that other animals use to protect their lungs from foreign junk (like water). We use 'em for that, apparently, but also for making noises that we can modulate as speech. We just can't see the tremendous intelligence involved in designing the system to be so susceptible to damage...unless, of course, the designer simply took some pre-existing structure, and tweaked the sequences of the genes involved in constructing it. I wonder if cosmic rays might be able to tweak the sequences that way...

[Bro Dave]

[quote="Jose

Would that not be considered intelligent design?

I dunno...Does an intelligent designer do the same thing over and over and over, with minor changes, kinda like a sloppy xerox machine, or does an intelligent designer actually design new things each time? Maybe it depends on your definition of intelligence--whether it's measured as creativity (new designs each time) or as finding the easy way out (tweak the DNA a bit, and send it out as if it's a new design). Maybe what we have is a journeyman designer, rather than a master designer.

The “Master Designer”, provided the “tool”, i.e. evolution. This “machine”, grinds along while the “machisists” put in charge, monitor its progress, providing “mid-course corrections” along the way.

Lets's see you are 65. I'm a decade younger. What are the chances that we will get a software update to fix the bugs before we forget what we need it for?

need what for?

You're right, of course. There's no way that mere unintelligent mortals like us can fathom the wisdom of the designer. There is certainly wisdom in designing a leaky lower esophageal sphincter so that we get acid reflux, putting the acid in just the right place for us to aspirate it, irritating our vocal cords so that, once in a while, they just close up tight. If we're lucky, they relax again after we pass out (at least, mine did). That's a really clever design, making use as it does, of the very muscles that other animals use to protect their lungs from foreign junk (like water). We use 'em for that, apparently, but also for making noises that we can modulate as speech. We just can't see the tremendous intelligence involved in designing the system to be so susceptible to damage...unless, of course, the designer simply took some pre-existing structure, and tweaked the sequences of the genes involved in constructing it. I wonder if cosmic rays might be able to tweak the sequences that way...

Your basic assumption that a Creator would start out with perfection, is flawed. He starts out, with a perfect plan. Then He entrusts that plan to a myriad of beings who implement that plan. The plan can unfold in an infinite number of ways, but all those ways ultimately produce a perfect universe filled with creatures that have perfected to meet their design specifications. Our “four score plus ten” year first step participation, distorts our ability to evaluate on universe time scales. For instance, our complete “trip” to becoming perfect, is, speculated to be approximately a couple hundred billion of our years! (no, I am not trying to test your “gag” reflex) As I have said before, we are rather like virus’ on a speck of space dust, with very limited abilities to grasp the large picture. Describing God’s actual universe to us, would be analogous to us teaching string theory to amoebas.

Bro Dave

[Darth Vodka]

This article begins "Scientists have unveiled the genetic code of the chimpanzee, showing that humans are biologically distinct from apes thanks to a small handful of important differences in DNA."

distinct from OTHER apes

[Gun of Sod]

There's no way that mere unintelligent mortals like us can fathom the wisdom of the designer. Bro Dave

Hi Dave, you seem to be privvy to alot more up to date information about the activities of the designer. I was wondering if you could tell me if you think your statements are hypothesis or fact, from your point of view?

[Bugmaster]

Unfortunately, our little planet had a rebellion problem, and the “boost” was incomplete, leaving us with many problems. This is being addressed, but from a different direction, and will take time to resolve.

Is there a phone number I can call to expedite this ? It's been about 6000 years (or millions, depending on what you believe), even Microsoft tech support is faster than this...

[bernee51]

Is there a phone number I can call to expedite this ? It's been about 6000 years (or millions, depending on what you believe), even Microsoft tech support is faster than this...

Acting as Bro Dave's secretary...I believe he will tell you to look here

[Jose]

I dunno...it seems perfectly fine to imagine that god did things so they'd come out just the way they are, complete with evolution. It's even fine to build in mystical reasoning. As long as one's theology allows the world to exist as it is, and as long as none of it can be disproven (unlike The Flood), then I see no reason to suggest that it's weird theology. Sure, maybe god created chimps and humans exactly so that they'd be as similar as they are, and so that the transposable DNA elements would be in the same places, looking exactly the way that natural evolution would look. I think Bro Dave's philosophy falls into this rather broadly defined class of theologies.

What's hard to justify is a theology that denies the facts that god put into the world he created.