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Atheists - Where does the intelligence of life come from?

knockknock

Member
Forgive me if this has been discussed before but I want to ask those who do not believe in any Gods or creators, what do they think is the driving force behind life. What I'm trying to say is, we argue about evolution v creation as regards the evidence we have but, say if evolution is true, then what is the intelligence behind the cells changing and re-organising themselves, who or what is directing them? Curious to know how you think
 

tumbleweed41

Resident Liberal Hippie
1.) Why is this question directed only at Atheists? There are many belief systems that accept science and reason over dogmatic adherence to reveled revelation. Not to mention individual Christians who accept ToE.

2.) Why must there be an "Intelligence" behind evolution? The ToE stands on its own without any need of intelligent guidance. So your question is meaningless.
 

knockknock

Member
1.) Why is this question directed only at Atheists? There are many belief systems that accept science and reason over dogmatic adherence to reveled revelation. Not to mention individual Christians who accept ToE.

2.) Why must there be an "Intelligence" behind evolution? The ToE stands on its own without any need of intelligent guidance. So your question is meaningless.

I beg to differ, my question is not at all meaningless and if you have no answer then why bother replying!

I directed the question towards atheist because anyone else would most probably belief in a higher force of some kind. I am interested in genuine answers from people who believe that everything was just a big accident and all came into being through pure chance.
 

knockknock

Member
The driving force behind evolution is natural selection. There's no intelligence involved.

"There's no intelligence involved" WOW! That's a bold statement! Are you sure you mean that? I know what natural selection is, it's simply survival of the fittest or most efficient which then prosper. However, I'm talking how life suddenly appeared and evolved.
 

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
"There's no intelligence involved" WOW! That's a bold statement! Are you sure you mean that? I know what natural selection is, it's simply survival of the fittest or most efficient which then prosper. However, I'm talking how life suddenly appeared and evolved.

That is the driving force between how life evolved. That couples with mutations is what evolution is.

As far as how life appeared, there's still no intelligence needed. Some particles formed in a certain way to produce something that could self-replicate. After that evolution took over.
 

fantome profane

Anti-Woke = Anti-Justice
Premium Member
Forgive me if this has been discussed before but I want to ask those who do not believe in any Gods or creators, what do they think is the driving force behind life.
What do you mean by driving force? There is no evidence of an intelligence behind life. And what do you mean by “behind life”? Natural selection is the driving force behind evolution, no intelligence is needed to explain it.
what is the intelligence behind the cells changing and re-organising themselves, who or what is directing them?
Again there is no evidence of a intelligence behind cells changing or organizing, it is part of natural biological development.

Now I am pretty sure I have not answered your questions, but that is the best I can do. Can you try to rephrase your question or give us examples of what you are talking about?
 

tumbleweed41

Resident Liberal Hippie
Can you prove that?

Asking someone to "prove" lack of divine intervention is asking to prove a negative.
The need for empirical evidence rests upon those making extraordinary claims of the supernatural.

So, can you "prove" intelligence in design?
 

Jose Fly

Fisker of men
what is the intelligence behind the cells changing and re-organising themselves
Your question carries the assumption that there is some sort of "intelligence" behind the chemistry of life. However, you have not provided any evidence to support this assumption. Thus, you are asking a baited question.

If you wish to pursue this further, please provide support for the assumption that there is some sort of "intelligence" behind organic chemistry.

who or what is directing them?
Same thing. You're assuming that chemistry is "directed", yet you've provided no support for this assumption.
 

knockknock

Member
Asking someone to "prove" lack of divine intervention is asking to prove a negative.
The need for empirical evidence rests upon those making extraordinary claims of the supernatural.

So, can you "prove" intelligence in design?

I didn't ask for proof of a lack of divine intervention, I asked for proof of the theory that we all came from a soup of chemicals that just hapened to react and fuse into 'life'. After all there are enough people who throw the 'show me the proof' argument at people who do believe in the supernatural, why shouldn't it be the same the other way around? Is there definitive proof or is it just a case of having 'faith' in the soup theory?

If you don't think life is intelligent then how do you define your own intelligence?
 

Luminous

non-existential luminary
The Intelegance of the robots we created who will go back in time and seed life. jk. the O.P. question is like asking "atheists, why did God create you?"
 

tumbleweed41

Resident Liberal Hippie
I didn't ask for proof of a lack of divine intervention, I asked for proof of the theory that we all came from a soup of chemicals that just hapened to react and fuse into 'life'. After all there are enough people who throw the 'show me the proof' argument at people who do believe in the supernatural, why shouldn't it be the same the other way around? Is there definitive proof or is it just a case of having 'faith' in the soup theory?

1. the fossil record of change in earlier species
2.
the chemical and anatomical similarities of related life forms
3. the geographic distribution of related species
4.
the recorded genetic changes in living organisms over many generations

This is not "faith". These are facts that support Evolution and the ToE.

If you don't think life is intelligent then how do you define your own intelligence?
When did anyone say life is not intelligent? The claim was the supposed intelligence behind the evolution of life.
 
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