Peter Borst wrote:
> Evolution, as properly understood, has no purpose and is a
>mechanism that results in the weeding out of individuals unfit for a
>particular niche.  Breeding is purposeful human activity with little
>or no parallel in nature.

        Good to see what many haven't grasped  -  that Natural Selection
can only *narrow* the variance.  In the std neoDarwinist theory of
evolution, all the creativity must come from mutations (an *big ask*).
        But the assertion cannot pass without comment that 'proper'
understanding of evolution reveals it to be purposeless.  The mainstream
Christian understanding of evolution is that it is God's method of
creation.  Evolution reflects  -  in this view  -  God's purposes.  It is
anything but purposeless.
        Then we have to ask, are we agents in (v recent) evolution.  I
believe we are  -  for good or ill, according to how we conduct our
breeding & other expts.

        In this context, Peter raises the question of gene-tampering in
bees (and thinks none is yet being attempted  -  glad to hear it Pete).
The dispute whether evolution is purposeless has enormous practical
significance.  If life is purposeless, then gene-jiggerers can ethically
slam into plants genes from other kingdoms.  On the other hand, if nature
is as purposed by God, lately modified over a dozen millennia or so by
humans, then we should be v careful before turning loose the mid-1970s
methods of mutation now called genetic "engineering".  These radically
novel techniques overwhelm the many natural mechanisms against
inter-kingdom crossings, and could cause novel toxins in pollen, etc etc.
I do urge understanding of the much-misrepresented Showa Denko L-tryptophan
history: http://www.connectotel.com/gmfood/trypto.html   Although the
evidence is not conclusive, this constitutes a grave warning which we
ignore at our peril.

R