Wesley J. Smith: Human exceptionalism is as close to a self-evident truth as one can find

_{Denyse O'Leary

April 9, 2019

Human evolution, Intelligent Design, Mind}

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He is reflecting on a recent claim that, from an “evolutionary perspective,” the idea that humans are exceptional is “preposterous:

No. One doesn’t have to believe in the soul to understand that we are not just another animal in the forest.
If the distinction between us and fauna is just a matter of degree — which I dispute, it is also of kind — then that difference is akin to the Matterhorn versus a small hill in the flatlands of Kansas.
After all, what other species in the known history of life has attained the wondrous capacities of human beings? What other species has transcended the tooth-and-claw world of naked natural selection to the point that, at least to some degree, we now control nature instead of being controlled by it? Wesley J. Smith, “Transhumanism, the Lazy Way to Human ‘Improvement’” at Mind Matters

Increasingly, the “scientific” view of many questions involves looking reality in the face and spitting at it. Why is that?

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See also: I spy AI. And AI spies on me… The true threat posed by AI is the greatly reduced cost and risk of mass surveillance and manipulation. Some people are quite sure that the world would be a better place if they knew more about our business and policed it better. Mass snooping creeps up unnoticed and becomes a way of life. Then it explodes.

Comments

The Tiger isn’t also thinking about creating a highbred tiger and lion to prove to the Lions that the lions aren’t the kings of the jungle and that they’re nothing more than another feline. The tiger is simply worried about it’s next dinner and where I can sleep to be safe and a possible mate I only know of one species that stupid to think that. It astounds me that the ones that claim that we are nothing but animals are the same ones that prove we are nothing of the type, but I guess they look down on everybody is being less than themselves through their sheer arrogance I think I’m going to go play my animal made PlayStation 4 after I’m done sending this message to you all on my magical mirror screen thats records my voice, and sends you all my messages Oh wait because we slowly progressed to gain the knowledge to create these lovely little devices it obviously indicates that we’re only smarter by degrees Except we are the only species that knows how we got here in the first place....... For being just animals we sure seem to have a lot of exceptionsAaronS1978_{April 9, 2019
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Brother Brian:
Does anyone honestly think that a tiger doesn’t think that it is not just another animal in the forest?
Does anyone honestly think that a tiger contemplates its existence?ET_{April 9, 2019
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No. One doesn’t have to believe in the soul to understand that we are not just another animal in the forest.
Does anyone honestly think that a tiger doesn't think that it is not just another animal in the forest? Or a lemur, or a mole?.Brother Brian_{April 9, 2019
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Peter Clarke wants to “properly orient ourselves on the evolutionary tree” in order to disabuse ourselves of the ‘preposterous’ notion that we are made in the image of God. There are a few small problems for Peter Clarke and other Darwinists who are offended that they may be made in God’s image. Problem number one, despite its widespread acceptance, the experimental evidence for the feasibility of human evolution is non-existent For instance, Darwinists have never changed one kind of bacteria into another kind of bacteria, much less have they ever changed one kind of animal into another kind of animal. In the following paper, Alan H. Linton – emeritus professor of bacteriology, states that ‘Bacteria are ideal for this kind of study, But throughout 150 years of the science of bacteriology, there is no evidence that one species of bacteria has changed into another,,, Since there is no evidence for species changes between the simplest forms of unicellular life, it is not surprising that there is no evidence for evolution from prokaryotic to eukaryotic cells, let alone throughout the whole array of higher multicellular organisms.’
Scant search for the Maker – 2001 Excerpt: But where is the experimental evidence? None exists in the literature claiming that one species has been shown to evolve into another. Bacteria, the simplest form of independent life, are ideal for this kind of study, with generation times of 20 to 30 minutes, and populations achieved after 18 hours. But throughout 150 years of the science of bacteriology, there is no evidence that one species of bacteria has changed into another, in spite of the fact that populations have been exposed to potent chemical and physical mutagens and that, uniquely, bacteria possess extrachromosomal, transmissible plasmids. Since there is no evidence for species changes between the simplest forms of unicellular life, it is not surprising that there is no evidence for evolution from prokaryotic to eukaryotic cells, let alone throughout the whole array of higher multicellular organisms. – Alan H. Linton – emeritus professor of bacteriology, University of Bristol. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=159282
And although the purported evidence for human evolution is far more illusory, even deceptive, than most people realize, it is interesting to note exactly where leading Darwinists themselves admit that they have no clue how evolution could have produced a particular trait in humans.
Leading Evolutionary Scientists Admit We Have No Evolutionary Explanation of Human Language – December 19, 2014 Excerpt: Understanding the evolution of language requires evidence regarding origins and processes that led to change. In the last 40 years, there has been an explosion of research on this problem as well as a sense that considerable progress has been made. We argue instead that the richness of ideas is accompanied by a poverty of evidence, with essentially no explanation of how and why our linguistic computations and representations evolved.,,, (Marc Hauser, Charles Yang, Robert Berwick, Ian Tattersall, Michael J. Ryan, Jeffrey Watumull, Noam Chomsky and Richard C. Lewontin, “The mystery of language evolution,” Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 5:401 (May 7, 2014).) Casey Luskin added: “It’s difficult to imagine much stronger words from a more prestigious collection of experts.” http://www.evolutionnews.org/2014/12/leading_evoluti092141.html
Tom Wolfe was so taken aback by this honest confession by leading Darwinists that he wrote a book on the subject. Wolfe provided a précis of his argument:
“Speech is 95 percent plus of what lifts man above animal! Physically, man is a sad case. His teeth, including his incisors, which he calls eyeteeth, are baby-size and can barely penetrate the skin of a too-green apple. His claws can’t do anything but scratch him where he itches. His stringy-ligament body makes him a weakling compared to all the animals his size. Animals his size? In hand-to-paw, hand-to-claw, or hand-to-incisor combat, any animal his size would have him for lunch. Yet man owns or controls them all, every animal that exists, thanks to his superpower: speech.” —Tom Wolfe, in the introduction to his book, The Kingdom of Speech
That humans should master the planet due his unique ability to communicate information is completely contrary to the ‘survival of the fittest’ thinking that undergirds Darwinian thought. i.e. Although humans are fairly defenseless creatures in the wild compared to other creatures, such as lions, bears, and sharks, etc.., nonetheless, humans have, completely contrary to Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ thinking, managed to become masters of the planet, not by brute force, but simply by our unique ability to communicate information and, more specifically, infuse information into material substrates in order to create, i.e. intelligently design, objects that are extremely useful for our defense, basic survival in procuring food, furtherance of our knowledge, and also simply for our pleasure. What is more interesting still about the fact that humans have a unique ability to understand and create information, and have come to dominate the world through the ‘top-down’ infusion of information into material substrates, is the fact that, due to advances in science, both the universe and life itself, are now found to be ‘information theoretic’ in their foundational basis. Vlatko Vedral, who is a Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, and is a recognized leader in the field of quantum mechanics, states,
“The most fundamental definition of reality is not matter or energy, but information–and it is the processing of information that lies at the root of all physical, biological, economic, and social phenomena.” Vlatko Vedral – Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, and CQT (Centre for Quantum Technologies) at the National University of Singapore, and a Fellow of Wolfson College
It is hard to imagine a more convincing proof that we are made ‘in the image of God’, than finding both the universe and life itself are ‘information theoretic’ in their foundational basis, and that we, of all the creatures on earth, uniquely possess an ability to understand and create information, and, moreover, have come to ‘master the planet’ precisely because of our ability to infuse information into material substrates.bornagain77_{April 9, 2019
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