Why does this creature have legs?

[tas8831]

Another example of perfect design?

 

[Tree of Life]

If you made this creature, how would you have done it?

 

[tas8831]

If you made this creature, how would you have done it?

I would not have made its skeleton like this:

 

[brinny]

Another example of perfect design?

Ummmm....what "legs"?

 

[Tree of Life]

It's easy to criticize someone else's work. It's more difficult to create something of your own. What would you have done instead that would be better? How would you improve the seal?

 

[tas8831]

Ummmm....what "legs"?

Exactly.

 

[tas8831]

It's easy to criticize someone else's work. It's more difficult to create something of your own. What would you have done instead that would be better? How would you improve the seal?

I've never claimed to be able to 'create' anything. I am told, rather frequently, that God's designs are "perfect."


How would I improve the seal? I never said the seal was 'bad,' I just asked why a seal has legs. Whales, while mammals, do not have legs (and why are their marine mammals in the first place?) - 2 femurs, 2 tibiae, 2 fibulae, 2 coxal bones, etc.. It seems inefficient, sloppy.

 

[Tree of Life]

I've never claimed to be able to 'create' anything. I am told, rather frequently, that God's designs are "perfect."


How would I improve the seal? I never said the seal was 'bad,' I just asked why a seal has legs. Whales, while mammals, do not have legs (and why are their marine mammals in the first place?) - 2 femurs, 2 tibiae, 2 fibulae, 2 coxal bones, etc.. It seems inefficient, sloppy.

If it seems "sloppy" or "inefficient" then you must have some standard in your mind of what a perfect seal would be like. Just because it "seems" sloppy to you does not mean it's actually sloppy. You just don't like it for some reason.

 

[brinny]

I've never claimed to be able to 'create' anything. I am told, rather frequently, that God's designs are "perfect."


How would I improve the seal? I never said the seal was 'bad,' I just asked why a seal has legs. Whales, while mammals, do not have legs (and why are their marine mammals in the first place?) - 2 femurs, 2 tibiae, 2 fibulae, 2 coxal bones, etc.. It seems inefficient, sloppy.

Haven't you seen a seal swim?

Superb form.

 

[akaDaScribe]

Hmmm... 15 mil year run? sounds like a pretty solid design to me.

 

[tas8831]

If it seems "sloppy" or "inefficient" then you must have some standard in your mind of what a perfect seal would be like. Just because it "seems" sloppy to you does not mean it's actually sloppy. You just don't like it for some reason.

Or perhaps you have a rationale for having a pair of otherwise normal lower limbs fused together?

I was asked in another thread, in effect, if I was so smart how would i have designed the eye without a blind spot. I had a rather simple answer. The response I got was along the lines of 'well why don't you make and eye then'.

My 'answer' to the seal 'design' is that it is not designed - it is much better understood as a result of evolutionary processes than 'design.'

Were I the designer of life, first of all there would have been no seals to try to achieve, so I wouldn't have designed a seal at all. Nor whales - why consign an air breathing creature to life in the middle of the ocean when fish are far better adapted to such an environment.

 

[tas8831]

Haven't you seen a seal swim?

Superb form.

So no answer to why it has legs (leg bones)?

As expected.

 

[tas8831]

Hmmm... 15 mil year run? sounds like a pretty solid design to me.

Dinosaurs must have been suboptimal...

 

[Tree of Life]

Or perhaps you have a rationale for having a pair of otherwise normal lower limbs fused together?

I was asked in another thread, in effect, if I was so smart how would i have designed the eye without a blind spot. I had a rather simple answer. The response I got was along the lines of 'well why don't you make and eye then'.

My 'answer' to the seal 'design' is that it is not designed - it is much better understood as a result of evolutionary processes than 'design.'

Were I the designer of life, first of all there would have been no seals to try to achieve, so I wouldn't have designed a seal at all. Nor whales - why consign an air breathing creature to life in the middle of the ocean when fish are far better adapted to such an environment.

Is it hard to be so disappointed with the world that you live in?

 

[brinny]

Seals are par excellence in water...it's almost like they were "made for it".

 

[tas8831]

Is it hard to be so disappointed with the world that you live in?

Not so hard as it is to be condescending. In fact, that seems pretty easy. I am not disappointed at all. In fact, I find acknowledging the ultimate success of evolution in the extant creatures we see to be very heartening and joyous.

As Darwin wrote:

"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."


Far more grand than merely being the one 'chosen' tribe...

 

[tas8831]

Seals are par excellence in water...it's almost like they were "made for it".

I get that you cannot answer my question. Thanks.

 

[brinny]

So no answer to why it has legs (leg bones)?

As expected.

They appear to be the necessary bones for their appendages for flippers, that they are expert at using in marvelous ways.

But "legs"?

Have you seen them on land?

 

[brinny]

I get that you cannot answer my question. Thanks.

I thought i did answer?

My response was/is, that seals do not have "legs".

 

[A_Thinker]

Another example of perfect design?

Who claims perfect design ?

At best, God said that it was "good".

And, as an engineer, due to the species' endurance and capability, I'd have to agree that the design was good.

Other factors to include in a determination of good design are interest, artistry, niche/fit within the natural order, etc.