Question for Atheists ( hoping for a interesting debate)

@Convivial so would you agree that plants in some way are aware or conscious?

@Heavenlywarrior nothing I said goes anywhere near making that assumption

@Convivial If the plant neither knows nor intends anything, how can it be said to have any "purpose" at all? Aren’t you just borrowing purposeful language from conscious beings to describe an unconscious system — and hoping no one notices the contradiction?

@Convivial saying things like “to stop being eaten,” implies function, selection, and prioritization — none of which can be meaningfully claimed without some kind of built-in directional tendency

@Heavenlywarrior things with thorns are eaten less than those without... It's not planned, is just random flukes in reproduction

@Convivial If it’s just flukes, why do the same “flukes” happen across species and ecosystems in functionally useful ways?
How do so many random mutations consistently lead to functionally beneficial traits like camouflage, mimicry, or echolocation, instead of total dysfunction?

@Convivial You’re essentially saying: “Unthinking chaos just keeps stumbling into better and better order.” But in every other context—coding, architecture, art—we call that design or intelligence.

@Heavenlywarrior call it what you will, but many "mistakes" turn out to be beneficial... No architect involved

@Convivial What is the origin of the gene itself?

Genes don’t just “exist.” They are complex, information-rich sequences that store, transmit, and act upon symbolic instructions (e.g., codons to amino acids).

Question: What blind process writes language-like instruction systems that self-replicate, repair, error-correct, and evolve in response to environmental feedback?