Evolution of tsaheylu

[Clarke]

Originally Posted by Human No More

Amazing how suddenly you can lose all respect for someone; I just did.

How is that at all different from the old 'irreducible complexity' BS that creationists like to spout off in all its demonstrably flawed reasoning and incorrect premise? If it was only present in Na'vi and not any other species; then it would be far less plausible, but that isn't the case (and again, as with the typical uninformed hipster, he completely ignores the clear evolutionary line as well as the basic and blindingly obvious fact that the film never went into archaeology and so such a line was never explored anyway). He also answers his own questions, in the same paragraph. It's also got more factual errors than I could count in a quick scan.

It adds another layer on to the "irreducible" argument; not only are all these different species sharing the same organ, which - unlike the flagella, eye, and basically every other "example" of IC - is not obviously an optimal way to do things*, but they share the same organ precisely. (Otherwise Na'vi wouldn't be able to talk to ikrans.) This isn't merely, "Oh look, the eye is too complex to have evolved!" It's more like, "Every single species that has eyes at all has precisely the same type, backwards retina and all!" When evolution converges on a solution that doesn't appear to be preferable for any reason*, you've got to either 1) find a reason why it converged on that, and it better be a good one, 2) say, "Something's messed with this!" (But without making the mistake of saying that God is that something. It's far more likely to be aliens. )

*Tsaheylu includes a network protocol, and the possible protocols are so varied that it doesn't make sense for them to converge by evolution alone. After all, if you find an OSI specification on the ground, you expect an engineer, don't you? (This is ignoring the fact that having a queue at all doesn't seem to have any evolutionary benefit for anyone except the Na'vi.)

However, there's a very very sketchy possibility as to why pali can bond with the Na'vi without problems: they're domesticated. They've adapted to the Na'vi tsaheylu's "language" well enough to understand it, possibly by learning it from their domesticated parents, as aurora mentioned. However, this doesn't make sense for the Tree of Souls or ikrans, since respectively, why would anyone try?, and ikrans being caught wild.

Also, you're calling PZ Meyers an ignorant hipster? Does the concept of "expertise" mean nothing?