Are Natural Systems Smart

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@Jase4224 "Also as for the incomplete skeleton, if you have studied thousands of skeletons from hundreds of species then it is ok to make educated assumptions on how the rest of a creature may look based on 10% of its skeleton because nature tends to repeat itself. Of course even any given creature may have features we are unaware of but we do understand that when we draw an entire creature from a small amount of physical evidence that we are comparing what we have previously seen to be true."

Number one we agree that there are very few complete skeletons to study in the fossil record...fact. Number two nature repeats itself on this we agree. But nature does not cross the Genera boundary. That is where a huge hole is in the single origin ancestry theory.

There are parts of skeletons that is all we can agree to. What they belonged to is in question due to the lack of complete skeletons. Even Paleontologist agree on this point. So it becomes a guess at best. I agree with you on that. Try that on you next space trip to the moon...a guess at best...you want to experience space travel or flight in our atmosphere based on a best guess? I would prefer science in that endeavor how about you? Let's just be honest and say we have less than 10% of the animal and it may or may not look this way.

So now educated assumptions are settled science? Is that what you are trying to get me to believe? Then you are trying to talk me into having faith in your understanding of how the animal looked or behaved based on less than 10% of the evidence. Seems more like religion than what you want to call science. Let's be honest evolution is religion and not science to the masses who believe in the astronomical possibility for organized chaos without any boundaries or natural laws to govern those boundaries. Tell me how many evidences are there for spontaneous generation? That is right absolutely none and it is a disproved theory. But if evolution of that type did exist there should be some evidence. Does gravity not work the same way in every observable part of our world, solar system, or observed universe? So that is more science than guessing with only 10% or less of the observable information. How about mathematics does the answer ever change to the simple rules applied to addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division? If it did we could not depend on our science at all...it would be based on a guess not a repeatable result.

You assume I do not believe in some form of evolution and that is not true. I believe we are seeing mutation all the time and that is evolution. However there are no proven mutations in recorded history that have become a new Genus. This is where the evolutionary tree is rotten to the core and falls on its own weight. New species is another animal all together. Look at all the designer Clownish that are available today that never existed in the wild. Look at the designer Guppies as another example. Ever witness a cross between a monkey and a fish? I know a Monk-fish right? They are quite tasty with lobster butter too.

You also assume that the bible and all organized religion teaches the earth is 6000-7000 years old. That is false period. The bible is silent on the time between creation and the fall of man. No time period is given. Also no time period is given between that and the establishment of cultures that are verified by historical record such as Babylon. There was an attempt to make the genealogy listed in Genesis into a estimated guess as to the approximate age of human activity on the Earth. Again what about the time before creation? Even the bible records something being here before the creation story. So even the record of the bible is silent as to the age of the Earth. Humans made one of those educated assumptions you mentioned above to arrive at that period of time. And like you they depend on faith to make it work. To be honest we do not know how old the Earth or humanity is on the planet. The elements that make up our earth and life forms could be quite old and since the bible is silent on that it is of very little import to the main message contained there. This does not diminish the possibility of God or creation in any way shape or form. We honestly just don't know period. There is a lot in science and religion that is a
mystery. We can agree on that.

The problem with creation is that people don't understand it either just like your claim about evolution. Again you miss the point of no trans-species fossils. In other words there are no fossils crossing Genera. From a fish to a monkey or related. There are fish today that have limbs like the African Lung Fish...so you point is? I have never seen one develop into a dog have you? There is the Platypus but are there any instances of it becoming a duck? Can it mate outside of its species...nope. See the problem I have with macro evolution or single source ancestry? It like spontaneous generation has never been observed or recorded in fossil or historical documents.

Biology, Geology, and Physics only point to man's understanding of the subject. Again not a proof against creation at all. Creation is a possible answer to all these disciplines and could be the result of intelligent design. In fact the laws of probabilities actually favors creation over the randomness needed for single origin evolution. You are advancing dogma not settled science. Because it depends on faith in human interpreters to have gotten the evolutionary tale just right and then goes looking for evidence to support its assumptions. Like the O.J. Simpson trial you want me to accept the fallacy of the assumed premise. There is no creator so only evolution can answer the question. That is just as much a faith based quest as you claim I am on. Science is a development of men to try and describe what they cannot control or completely understand. Kind of sounds like religion to me how about you? It is anything but concrete and settled. If you doubt that take a long hard look at the history of science. It was not to long ago in terms of time that the earth was flat and settled science. In my life time many theories of science have been disproved and replaced with actual results and observation. In my life time the Human Genome was mapped and what was not understood was called "junk DNA" now we call it Epigenetics. None of this disproves or proves creation or evolution as an incontrovertible truth period. It is just two schools of thought as to how we arrive at where we are today. I prefer to believe one that ennobles Humanity as children of the Creator versus a result of accidental slime. Which picture is more ennobling and uplifting? Which one actually portrays us as equals that deserve respect, civility, nurture, and hope of a future? Versus survival of the fittest...the most base, coarse, lie ever perpetrated on the human race. One leads to selfless living and the other to selfish living. I know which one is better in that outcome. I know which area of thought will ensure my children's and your children's survival and it is not survival of the fittest. Let's admit freely that we all choose to believe one way or the other and neither is settled. That is probably the only true agreement we can have on this subject. I will not convince you and you will not convince me. There is it settled.

Now what difference does it make? If I am wrong I have lived my life with a hope for a future and lived a life with respect to others. I have gained a good life. If you are wrong you missed out on the greatest adventure in the universe, living with and meeting someone who can answer all your questions and provided you all you needed to arrive there safe and happy. You will miss out on the actual realization of what love is and what love does. Which one of us has the most to lose? See there is an end to all our experience on earth and we agree no one avoids it. But what if there is something more?
But we do know old the Earth is. It's 4.6 Billion years old. It's just you that doesn't know. Zircon dating is a well established field with a very small margin of error.
 
Well I feel the same about god as I’m sure most people feel about the turtle.. how would anybody actually believe that?

Have you watched the talk Julian Sprung did at MACNA I think it’s called small stories 2 (or something like that) it’s on the BRS YouTube channel. Apart from being enjoyable to watch the end is very interesting as Julian talks about a marine biologist (can’t remember the name) has studied natural reefs and come to the conclusion that macro algae is harmful to coral and reduced the health and growth of coral. Julian points out the fact that reefers use algae to FILTER our aquariums and our corals thrive! I found this very interesting and thought you might too. Sorry I don’t have a link but it’s worth searching for.

Yes I can totally have two conversations at once lol

I saw the Julian Sprung video and have all three of “Reef Aquarium” Volumns. I had breakfast with Julian 20 years ago at my first MACNA conference in Dallas. It was an enjoyable, enriching experience.

I must take exception to your last sentence in the first paragraph of this post where you said,
“how would anyone believe that.” With the emphasis on the word ”that”. Please be specific about your meaning of the word “that” in your context. Is your reference of ridiculous directed to “the tortoise holding up the universe”, because that was addressed in the first sentence or is ridiculous directed to a
“belief system in God”.
 
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I saw the Julian Sprung video and have all three of “Reef Aquarium” Volumns. I had breakfast with Julian 20 years ago at my first MACNA conference in Dallas. It was an enjoyable, enriching experience.

I must take exception to your last sentence in the first paragraph of this post where you said,
“how would anyone believe that.” With the emphasis on the word ”that”. Please be specific about your meaning of the word “that” in your context. Is your reference of ridiculous directed to “the tortoise holding up the universe” or is ridiculous directed to a “belief system in God”.
I had " Reef Aquarium" 1&2 volumes, never got vol. 3. Lots info.
 
The Reef Aquarium Volume Three: Science, Art, and Technology

Reefkeeping science involves the interplay of biology, chemistry, and physics. However, a reef aquarium is not simply a product of scientific knowledge. The application of engineering and its product technology, makes it possible to duplicate the specific biological, chemical, and physical requirements of a coral reef in a relatively small volume of water. This third volume in The Reef Aquarium series, provides the most thorough description of the science behind the creation of a captive reef, and critically reviews and explains the different philosophical approaches to reef aquarium design. It also describes and illustrates the existing as well as emerging technology for building reef aquariums, to help guide the selection of equipment, its proper use, and installation.

While science and technology afford the blank canvas and tools to build a suitable life support system, the plants, animals, and of course the aquarist provide the final ingredient that we call art. This art also involves the system design as it relates to the living space, the aesthetic appearance of the display, and its ease of maintenance, safety, and functionality. To this end, this book provides a wealth of information regarding aquascaping techniques, which combine art, biology, and physics; and invaluable information regarding plumbing, electrical, and other aspects of the aquarium design that combine art and engineering. Lastly, this book discusses the benefits and potential environmental impacts of the marine aquarium hobby, the challenges for its future, and possible new directions.

The Reef Aquarium volume three is the essential manual for all reef aquarium hobbyists, professional aquarists, and coral reef researchers who study, create, and enjoy coral reef ecosystems in the confines of an aquarium.


PS: I especially like the the title: Science, Art and Technology

PSS: An all time favorite for me is “The Natural Reef Aquarium” by John Tullock and his quote,
“Less technology/More biology
 
The Reef Aquarium Volume Three: Science, Art, and Technology

Reefkeeping science involves the interplay of biology, chemistry, and physics. However, a reef aquarium is not simply a product of scientific knowledge. The application of engineering and its product technology, makes it possible to duplicate the specific biological, chemical, and physical requirements of a coral reef in a relatively small volume of water. This third volume in The Reef Aquarium series, provides the most thorough description of the science behind the creation of a captive reef, and critically reviews and explains the different philosophical approaches to reef aquarium design. It also describes and illustrates the existing as well as emerging technology for building reef aquariums, to help guide the selection of equipment, its proper use, and installation.

While science and technology afford the blank canvas and tools to build a suitable life support system, the plants, animals, and of course the aquarist provide the final ingredient that we call art. This art also involves the system design as it relates to the living space, the aesthetic appearance of the display, and its ease of maintenance, safety, and functionality. To this end, this book provides a wealth of information regarding aquascaping techniques, which combine art, biology, and physics; and invaluable information regarding plumbing, electrical, and other aspects of the aquarium design that combine art and engineering. Lastly, this book discusses the benefits and potential environmental impacts of the marine aquarium hobby, the challenges for its future, and possible new directions.

The Reef Aquarium volume three is the essential manual for all reef aquarium hobbyists, professional aquarists, and coral reef researchers who study, create, and enjoy coral reef ecosystems in the confines of an aquarium.


PS: I especially like the the title: Science, Art and Technology

PSS: An all time favorite for me is “The Natural Reef Aquarium” by John Tullock and his quote,
“Less technology/More biology

"The Natural Reef Aquarium” by John Tullock", sounds familiar, I had so many books before the internet came along, the book sounds familiar.

Catchy phrase

"Less technology/More biology"
 
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"The Natural Reef Aquarium” by John Tullock", sounds familiar, I had so many books before the internet came along, the book sounds familiar.

The main theme is to set up a compatiable eco system as a theme tank or as a pivitol species. A pivitol species could be that must have specimen, like an octopus. A theme tank could be high energy, high light SPS dominate or it could be a low energy lagoon with numerous filter feeders.
 
The main theme is to set up a compatiable eco system as a theme tank or as a pivitol species. A pivitol species could be that must have specimen, like an octopus. A theme tank could be high energy, high light SPS dominate or it could be a low energy lagoon with numerous filter feeders.
Here's one see if you remember this one, the natural aquarium, by a guy with the last name Lee I believe. Last name I might of spell wrong? Uses only live Rock or under gravel filter system?
 
I remember talking to Julian Sprung on the phone when he worked at JP Burleson way back when the Earth was flat. Even then he had an unusual grasp of the reef aquarium. His employers, John and Patty Burleson made some of the best filtration equipment at the time and I am sure that dedication to quality helped to shape Julian's commitment to excellence. I always admired that company and their products. I will have to collect volume 3 and read it.
 
BREAKING NEWS!!!!
This is a worm!!!

Screenshot_2018-12-11-08-01-27-1.png
 
Here's one see if you remember this one, the natural aquarium, by a guy with the last name Lee I believe. Last name I might of spell wrong? Uses only live Rock or under gravel filter system?

This is what I have on my 25 year old system: 75G on top and 30G mud / macro filter on the bottom. EcoSystem has been around for > 25 years. The reference “natural aquarium” is > 100 yrs old, it’s a Chinese method using substrate & livestock with air bubbles as the primary mover. You might have gone back to the “Stone Age” with respect to the Chinese’s & mariculture.
upload_2018-12-11_10-10-10.jpeg
 
But we do know old the Earth is. It's 4.6 Billion years old. It's just you that doesn't know. Zircon dating is a well established field with a very small margin of error.

I noticed you said it is an established field with a margin for error that is not 0. Why do you calibrate your refractometer to 1.025. Is it not because we want to calibrate something as close as possible to what we are testing as to ensure close accuracy. There is no known item that you can calibrate to 4.6 Billion years old. You may know something is 1000-2000 years old maybe even older, but you are taking those results and extrapolating to 4.6 Billion. If your measuring tool is off only by a hair the margin of error increases the farther away you are from your calibrated source.

You are also making an assumption that Zircon was 100% at the dawn of time. What if the universe had less than that when it began.
 
I think there mounting evidence to indicate "smart natural systems". The question is do we have any real evidence yet on how entangled these natural systems are? We are just starting to glimpse things like quantum entanglement now.


With new technology, maping is becoming possible. Crosstalk between coral & bacteria is perhaps the largest focus at this time.

Algae has learned how to change DNA expression to either harm coral or taste bad to fish, perhaps @Scrubber_steve can shed some light on that.

There are many links here. Research is emerging.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=holistic+coral+holobiont&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart
 
I noticed you said it is an established field with a margin for error that is not 0. Why do you calibrate your refractometer to 1.025. Is it not because we want to calibrate something as close as possible to what we are testing as to ensure close accuracy. There is no known item that you can calibrate to 4.6 Billion years old. You may know something is 1000-2000 years old maybe even older, but you are taking those results and extrapolating to 4.6 Billion. If your measuring tool is off only by a hair the margin of error increases the farther away you are from your calibrated source.

You are also making an assumption that Zircon was 100% at the dawn of time. What if the universe had less than that when it began.
If you are curious on how geochonology works I encourage you to do some additional reading. As mentioned, it's a well established field. We do have young zircon of known ages to "calibrate" our systems though. I'm not sure why older zircon would start with different isotpoic values than our modern analogs.

Yes, science requires a set of assumptions. The vast majority of the scientific community has agreed on the assumptions of the method. Our assumptions are based on our current observations. Yes, if "god" made it so that the laws of nature functioned differently during pre historical times, our observations would lead to false assumptions. I have not seen sufficient evidence to support your claim though, therefore I will continue to use best available data.

Unfortunately I don't have the time or energy to explain all the material covered in a graduate level geochonology course here.

Here are a few sources if you are truly interested in learning more.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0009254104002074


https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ms...-zircon-geochronology?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Here is a paper on how calibration works.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-908X.2014.00325.x


That being said you do you boo. If you don't want to accept mainstream science that's fine, I won't change your mind. I have accepted that many people do not trust the scientific community.

There is a whole group of people who do not believe CO2 has any affect on the climate as well...
 
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You presume too much. I never made any claims of "god". I was purely questioning your claim that the universe is 4.6Billion years old. It could be 8 Billion, or 2 Billion. It seems that number keeps changing it used to be in the Millions. Why can you not say that our best guess at this time is _____. And not state things as if they are fact.
 
and vice versa, Einstein's self described "biggest blunder" was his failure to consider the universe was expanding when he introduced his cosmological constant to make his equation fit a "static universe". He didn't accept the validation of his equations until after Hubble's work. In effect, Einstein's barrier to truth in this case was the assumption that "he did not already have it." Ironically, and just to muck up this thread, I once read that his belief that the universe was static was based on religious teachings.

I am not particularly religious and intelligent design doesn't inspire my sense of logic, however my kindergarten understanding of quantum physics and the how energy and matter are interchangeable and that everything likely is made up of same harmonic strings, then it makes sense that IF the supreme being is actually all the energy of the universe that makes up everything, then we are in fact made in his/her/it's image. We are just so egoistical we assumed it is the image in which we perceive ourselves. And thus a religious concept that may appear on the surface totally opposite to logic and science may not be so far fetched when looked at from a different perspective and less limiting parameters of the connotations of the words that define faith based concepts.

IMO, Darwin was right, but that doesn't make the combinations over billions of years that have resulted in planet earth and our self awareness any less of a miracle than what I was taught in religious ed, and I am more that happy to be part of a single everything that returns my energy and matter to this one common beautiful and perfect entity, which also sounds a lot like the basic tenets of those classes at which this man in his youth scoffed as fairy tales.

And perhaps, this is why so much of my reef tank that I cannot see but have faith that it exists captures my interest. It's nothing less than a miracle, and on this, I believe I am in agreement with my friends of faith.

Thus, I most certainly agree that Natural Systems are smart. Perhaps not by design as you conclude, but equally appreciated as a miracle.



(which is why I pulled my skimmer, added a second fuge, refuse to get a UV, )


This is a most insightful post on this thread with respect to being civil with opposite viewpoints.

For differrent reasons, we can see the perfection & beauty in Creation.

With respect to geologic time, after 500 million years what’s a few billion years. I recently saw a movie in which an astranout leaves a 10 year old daughter in Kansas, goes thru a black hole for a few days and returns many years in the future.
 
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You presume too much. I never made any claims of "god". I was purely questioning your claim that the universe is 4.6Billion years old. It could be 8 Billion, or 2 Billion. It seems that number keeps changing it used to be in the Millions. Why can you not say that our best guess at this time is _____. And not state things as if they are fact.
I have no idea how old the universe is, only the Earth. My field of expertise is Geoscience. It would be logical to assume that the universe is older than our planet though.

All I am saying is that we have found rock that is about 4.6 billion years old.

The formation conditions for zircon have been heavily studied, giving us plenty of information on the ratios of U:Pb at its closure temp.

Again, if the laws of nature were different before humans were around then our assumptions are incorrect but we can only work with the information we have.

You are right though, our conclusions are the best we can do with current data. As more information becomes available the community will reevaluate.

I won't say that it is a guess though, it is a conclusion based on available data.
 
This is a most insightful post on this thread with respect to being civil with opposite viewpoints. For differrent reasons, we can see the perfection & beauty in Creation.

With respect to geologic time, after 500 million years what’s a few billion years. I recently saw a movie in which an astranout leaves a 10 year old daughter in Kansas, goes thru a black hole for a few days and returns many years in the future.
I respect that. Obviously science does not disprove the divine. I do feel that it does disprove some of the specific dogma that religious fundamentalists seem to hold onto in regards a literal interpretation of Genesis. Not that my opinion should affect your religious freedom.

And yes, I am sorry if my margin of error was too high for some. As a Geologist it seemed an acceptable margin of error given the time scale.
 
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IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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