Greetings, pockles!
I decided to talk through this one instead of writing. It allows for more exploration and is a more personal way to communicate. I have more mind-bending topics to explore like this before I’ll know how I want to write about them.
I’m sorry about the popping and clicking sounds in the background. I did run a “click remover” tool on them, to no avail, and I did the first obvious round of troubleshooting. I will keep investigating for next time. For now, it’s not too bad if you stay some distance away from the speakers.
I mention evolution in passing, so here are a few points for background:
“Micro” evolution is not in dispute. This is the fact that offspring have traits from their parents, and therefore a population’s traits can shift gradually over time. Dog breeders prove this on a daily basis.
“Macro” evolution, or “molecules to man” evolution is the theory that life arose naturally from non-life, due to certain molecular structures’ tendency to replicate themselves. Because it is a historical claim, we are unlikely ever to have more than circumstantial evidence that life actually arose this way, even if we were to prove that it could—which we have not, although there are strong principles of entropy and system stability that might lead in this direction.
The fossil record is purely circumstantial evidence. Future archaeologists might find that the deeper they dig, the more simple are the remains of the cars they find, and at a certain depth, they find only the precursors to cars. This does not prove that cars evolved through a natural process.
I have a lot more to say about evolution and Scientism! They will probably appear in future episodes.
Simulation theory was on my mind because of recent work by my math-busting friend Adam Haman:
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