Was Evolution on Earth Probable?
On Earth, the sense of sight evolved in response to light, particularly to reflected light.
Was (and is) that evolution inevitable? No. Is it probable? Yes, and the evidence is that we know the eye evolved independently in many different animal lines, and that evolution created three very different types of eyes – Compound, Convex, and Reflector. Also, as we have seen, evolution created many variations within each type.
Why was an Evolution of the Eye Probable?
Because the eye is an emergent complex system that empowers organisms in ways that are consistent with the laws of physics and chemistry. We can say that sight exploits light, the same way that biology exploits carbon’s ability to readily combine with other elements, and with other atoms of carbon itself — Life exploits the chaining ability of carbon.
Is any part of evolution inevitable? It is inevitable that all Earthly life forms must be adapted to the force of Earth’s gravity, to the other three fundamental forces as they are found on Earth, and to the laws of physics and chemistry. (The four fundamental forces are gravity, electromagnetism, and the so-called “strong” and “weak” nuclear forces.)
A Principle of Evolution: Life Tends to Explore, and so do Culture and Technology
On Earth, we see that many forms of Life make every effort to explore, experiment, and create. Animals (and even a number of plants) find many different ways to see, to hear, to feel, and to smell. Creatures did not just evolve eyes, but ever-more sophisticated and effective eyes according to each species’ environment.
Can we say light “caused” sight? Or that gravity “caused” muscles, bones, tendons and exoskeletons? No, but there is a strong, almost irresistible exploration of, and adaption to, all four of the Fundament Forces. That’s why we humans have evolved our five senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
The modern duck-billed platypus and some species of fish also have the ability to generate electric fields and sense the locations of objects that interrupt these fields. Some animals, including bats and toothed whales, can find objects using sound in a process called echolocation.
For Religious Naturalists, there is no supernatural intent behind the evolution of the senses, because there was no “super-mind” back before the animal minds evolved. (However, we cannot disprove the existence of an abstract, Deist conception of God who “wound up the system and then set it running, to go wherever it might.”)
Our Senses Versus Dangerous Radiations
It would be nice if we humans could see infrared and ultraviolet, or if we had the power of echolocation (like bats and whales), but we don’t. Nevertheless, the five senses we do have are wondrously emergent. Wondrous, but not miraculous. Life seeks to exploit all the available transmissions and radiations (e.g., light sounds, and smells are not deadly or damaging (like radioactivity). We humans strongly experience this drive to explore, experiment, and create within our own natures. Today, we use our brains and technology to harness even those radiations that are harmful to us. Nature’s Continuing Creation focuses on all these creative, secular-spiritual, sensing experiences.
— J.X. Mason, ContinuingCreation.org