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Is evolution natural if Ebola is so bad for us?

#evolution
Todoeltiempo 4 Apr 7
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Level 8

what has something's being natural got to do with its being good or bad for us egotistical humans? poison ivy is natural. death is natural. what's not natural is coming to an agnostic/atheist website and calling yourself an atheist, an agnostic and religious. something isn't true on that list. that makes you a liar, right? is that natural? is that good or bad for us?

g

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Level 4

Thanks for your posts. It is very important to separate religion from evolution as you all have said because they speak to different kinds of truth. I'm learning so much from everyone. Thanks to all!!!!!

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Level 5

So many people interpret nature in terms of magic; that there is some sort of “guiding hand” running things. This question illustrates the phenomenon. Organisms evolve to take advantage of their biome and reproduce. There is no “plan,” no “reason” for existence. No one, and no magical being, “put them there.” Mosquitoes do not exist to serve as food for bats and birds; lions do not exist to control the antelope population; they exist because they can. This is true for everything. Bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, and prions do not “serve a purpose” other than to make more of themselves (and in that context, note that viruses and prions are not even alive). Ebola exists because it can. It successfully reproduces and spreads. The fact that its hosts die is of no consequence to the virus. It is and will continue to be successful until something happens to make it unsuccessful, just like the smallpox virus. Whether that something is natural immunity (i.e., evolutionary change in the host species) or man-made immunity is immaterial.

So you believe there is no guiding hand I am hearing.

@Todoeltiempo there’s no evidence of any such thing.

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Level 7

Bad for people, but good for the planet.

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Level 6

Yes, evolution (to me) seems to be a natural part of life. Ebola is bad for us but it is here doing something and evolving to a degree just as we are evolving. Cycle of life? Time forward?

Truth!
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Level 8

Evolution can now be manipulated. Ebola has evolved on it’s own. Though, if we get too intimate with the animal kingdom, an opportunistic bacteria, virus, or prion often evolves to span the biological gap..

Varn Level 8 Apr 7, 2019
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Thanks for your sensitive response

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Level 8

With all due respect, do you undetstand what evolution is? What background besides grad school do you profess on the subject.

Evolution is the development of new beasts from 'older' beasts that are less complicated.

@Todoeltiempo. Not necessarily. Less complicated is the wrong way to think about. It is finding the best fitness given new environmental conditions. Things can become too complex and are made extinct. In fact efficiency in an organism by the simplification can on occasion improve the organism.

@t1nick Correct. Species evolve to adapt to their environments. Those changes may be more “complex” (whatever that means) or not. Many obligate parasites become simpler in structure because they can depend on their hosts for some functions.

@Rghurst so.....whats your point????

@t1nick The idea that evolution moves “upward” is part of the problem I discussed earlier: the attribution of some sort of “plan” or “purpose” to a mindless natural process. Trying to excise religion from science is a difficult and never-ending process. It’s insidious and pervasive and results in the anti-science craziness that seems to be on tne rise. I saw someone on the news today saying that vsccination is an attempt to “correct god’s will.” In other words, viruses were placed here by god, so we should just go ahead & die.

@Rghurst the scientific paradigm and the religious paradigms are mutually exclusive. Trying to serve two madters means you do not do justice to neither. One or the other not both. You do not undetstand the evolutionary principles.

@t1nick apparently you didn’t understand either of my posts. I explicitly said that the science of evolution cannot be explained using religious terms such as “plan,” and “purpose,” and in fact efforts to describe evolution in such anthropomorphic (i.e., religious) terms is fundamentally wrong. You appear to agree with that analysis, but then state that I don’t understand evolutionary principles. Please explain.

My grad school was in intellectual history so we did not study evolution haha haha! Obviously I have a lot to learn. Than you for your answers. I hope you and the other poster can resolve yiur disputes.
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