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RE: Proving Evolution
there are many videos with wim hof in them, but i just picked the TED one since people are conditioned to think that TED = intelligence. there are better videos of him available where the experiments are shown in more detail regarding his conscious ability to alter his immune systems.
lmaoooooooo, TED does not equal intelligence hahaha. Maybe we're on the same page there, because as soon as I saw this I was like; oh god don't tell me all this guy has is a ted talk...
I generally find TED talks to involve people addressing intelligent topics but in a low detail way - or worse, they are just repeating what they heard somewhere else and don't really add anything (while attempting to 'take credit').
That said though, they do sometimes have decent speakers.
I do generally avoid them, but since I didn't know much about you - I took the 'lowest common denominator' approach ;)
Finally, I finished the video I can make the comment.... what does this have to do with evolution? His children will not be born with any of the ability he exhibits, UNLESS they are trained to do so. So even if we all attempted to follow his teachings and learn these abilities... our species hasn't evolved in the traditional sense.
This in a way is a whole other argument because there is some debate over whether this constitutes evolution for our species going forward, such as transhumanism and the likes. However, even if every single person on the planet in knew his teachings, everyone could control their immune systems and such, every child born would still be born with the immune system we have right now. Evolution doesn't work in that if enough generations meditate, children will be born with pre-meditated enlightenment, that just doesn't follow in the evolutionary model. What Hof pretty much describes is talents individuals can learn to adapt themselves, but nothing that will ever pass on to children or become heritable widespread through the global population... therefore not evolution.
he is demonstrating the reality that we have been disconnected from significant aspects of self. VERY significant aspects are mostly unconscious in most people - sitting latent and waiting to be felt and used again.
to make such blanket claims as 'evolution doesn't work like that' - is quite short sighted. as short sighted perhaps as saying "we cannot modulate our immune systems through consciousness" ;)
so i am asking again, what proof is there that children do not receive inherited patterns that have been initiated through consciousness of an ancestor?
i appreciate you taking the time to respond even though you don't feel comfortable doing so. i only asked for scientific evidence because you made a concrete claim about 'what is true' without backing it up. i hate dogma and i challenge any concrete claims that i think are incomplete, so that i can examine the details. that is not wrong, it is very much a part of the scientific process in fact.
i only asked for proof because you rejected my proposition purely on the claim that 'evolution doesn't work like that'. I'm sure you can agree that as a rebuttal to an idea, that response alone was never going to 'hold water'.
what you are not grasping about wim hof is this:
he has demonstrated that we have abilities that were previously scientifically undocumented (despite many ancient and modern psycho-explorers noting similar things - and teaching how to do them). this, to me - IS evolution - using the pure form of the word 'evolution':
" A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. See Synonyms at development.
n.
The process of developing.
n.
Gradual development."
it is only when a rigid dogma is place around the word 'evolution' that conflict arises. Evolution in it's pure form is not inherently connected to inherited change.
however, returning to the thread pertaining to inherited change, what i am saying is that despite there having been a few noted individuals who have altered their systems sufficiently to repeatedly demonstrate 'uncommon' human ability - the numbers are sufficiently low that it is not surprising that there are no noted studies into them and their children/dna. the absence of studies is not proof of the absence of a discoverable phenomena.
To be clear, I am not saying "I can prove to you that consciously directed evolution is inheritable through DNA". What I am saying is that the nature of the methods that are used to activate the extended abilities in us is such that they include the bridging of a gap between the conscious self and the unconscious self. By making this connection it is possible to effect the body and it's cells directly - which obviously also allows for DNA manipulation internally - provided the intention and understanding is present within the one doing the manipulation.
I am simply pointing to how i perceive the situation and that, due to my own experiences, I am pretty clear now that this is possible. I would certainly support scientific testing of the idea - but that might be a major challenge since it would theoretically require groups of evolving beings being monitored over more than one generation. Totally do-able, but not a short term project.
I guess what you are saying is true, when we apply rigid dogma to Evolution, Hof not longer fits. However I would argue that this is exactly what we need. If you want to hold onto that definition, you are somewhat justified in doing so, however this is definitely not the definition in the scientific field of biology.
In biology, the definition is : Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. Evolutionary processes give rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation, including the levels of species, individual organisms, and molecules.
Note the key concepts in this definition; that "Evolutionary processse give rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organization". In this definition it is not the biological organisation of individual organism that gives rise to evolutionary process, but evolutionary process that gives rise to biodiversity of biological organisation.
Addressing this final claim : "What I am saying is that the nature of the methods that are used to activate the extended abilities in us is such that they include the bridging of a gap between the conscious self and the unconscious self. By making this connection it is possible to effect the body and it's cells directly - which obviously also allows for DNA manipulation internally - provided the intention and understanding is present within the one doing the manipulation."
Where does it follow in this argument that this allows DNA manipulation. You say "obviously" as if there is some *obvious* reason to believe this. But there isn't? The placebo effect is often highlighted as one of the more intriguing examples of mind over body, but I have never read any reputable studies that suggest that the placebo effect ever induces permanent change to DNA structure. Even If I give you that Hof has "evolved" and improved his immune system, it STILL doesn't give any reason to believe that this immune system change is inherent to his genetics. If you could've mapped Hofs genome before and after his training, and prove that particular bases had been change in his DNA that directly corelate to the transcription of expressed genotypes in his immune system.... now THAT would be a good read.