Newly found species fills evolutionary gap between fish and land animals

EurekAlert (AAAS) ^ | 05 April 2006 | Staff

[Conservative Texan Mom]

I agree about them being separate because of methods. Actually, the whole philosophical reasoning by logic makes absolute sense to me. If I'm going to engage in a debate. I pretty much follow this line of thinking. But, as for me personally, it seems that we loose something when we try to me so methodical. I'm not referring to philosophy, or science as a profession, but as people, in our daily lives. I guess I just don't agree, from a personal perspective, that faith is irrational. It can be! I think it's wrong to generalize it though. Many people have had "experiences" in life where faith has been the only thing to guide them through a course of action. Sometimes we do illogical things, because of faith, because we believe that it's what's right. Humans are emotional beings. Philosophy doesn't rule out emotion, but nearly. Emotions are only rational if they can be reasoned. If you go along that line of thinking, then love is very often an illegitimate emotion. It hurts us, at times, we will sacrifice far more for it then is reasonable, it clouds our judgment, it's unpredictable, yet we crave it. For most people, it's needed. There is something about us that is elusive when it comes down to mapping the thought process in a logical manner. I dare say that it could be "spirituality". I don't know! We just seem to become very flat, two dimensional, when we try to capture, reason, and understand everything about us. I think there is a great deal about humanity that we do not know.

I have a good story to go along with this, but before I tell it let me add that I do not believe I'm psychic.

My son got a tent for his 11th birthday. We lived, at the time, in a gated subdivision with a neighborhood watch, and a zealous homeowners association. My son was so excited about the tent. He couldn't wait to sleep in it. So, he asked if it would be okay to sleep in the back yard. I told him yes. He happily set it up, and then prepared his little camp site for that evening. As it got closer to bed time, I began to have this almost sick feeling. It was kind of like something pounding in my head and twisting my gut. I just really felt "wrong" about him sleeping outside. I had no reason to! He'd done it before with an older tent. This feeling would not go away. I called him into my room and told him that I preferred he not sleep outside this particular night. He asked why, and all I could say was, "I don't know. For some reason my Mommy Alarm is going off." Pretty silly huh! Mommy alarm, how logical is that? Anyhow, he's a good boy. He giggled at my new term, and then said,"Okay." He didn't fuss with me. Which was a good thing, since I had no logical reason, I probably would have let him. The following morning his tent was gone. It had not been windy. We looked all over. there was no sign of it. I felt quite glad about him sleeping inside that night.
Now this was a mystery. I did believe the tent had been stolen, but I had no clue who would have done it, or if my son would have been in harm's way had he slept in the tent. We have moved since then, but about 4 months ago, my former neighbor told me about some incidents with a 19 year old boy in the house behind our former residence. His family moved into the subdivision about a year before we moved away. It seems this young man had some mental problems. He had been caught stealing stuff from other neighbors yards in the past. This would have been around the same time as my son's tent, I was just unaware of this. Apparently things had escalated with him though. His neighbor's house, which was directly behind my former neighbor's house, had a very nice outbuilding full of all kinds of stuff. One night while the family was asleep in their house, their outbuilding was set ablaze. It burned to the ground, burned a good portion of the house, and also caught the boat on fire. The young man was arrested for arson. It turns out that this was not this young man's first incident with the law. He had, as a stated before, mental issues, and had been in and out of treatment. I believe that some of his prior incidents were attributed to his mental condition. They did involve violence. There are other things that I have heard about him as well, but I know that unsubstantiated rumors tend to fly around in cases like this. I don't know if this young man was the one who took my son's tent, or if he would have harmed him in the process. That same gut feeling says that both of those things would have been so. Either way, I was quite thankful for my Mommy Alarm that night. It would not have been worth finding out whether or not I was wrong.



Having said all this about faith, and intuition, because it is what I personally "feel", I don't know another way to reason through subject matter with others then through philosophy. It's good to be free to depart from time to time in my own life though.

[Dimensio]

Thank you for your admission that you have absolutely no evidence or facts to present for your claims.

[js1138]

Useless to further discuss this placemarker.

[Fester Chugabrew]

You have it a%^-backwards. You want the law of the land to recognize your clearly subjective claim (ID).

I am not the one asking for exclusivity of a philosphy by law. You and your buddies are.

[js1138]

Workin' in a quote mine
Goin' down down down
Workin' in a quote mine
Whop! about to slip down
Workin' in a quote mine
Goin' down down down
Workin' in a quote mine
Whop! about to slip down
Five o'clock in the mornin'
I'm all ready up and gone
Lord I am so tired
How long can this go on?

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"I am not the one asking for exclusivity of a philosphy by law."

Science isn't philosophy; evolutionary biology is science, not philosophy. You are trying to get a philosophical/theological claim (ID) forced into a science classroom. The affect will be to weaken rational thinking. It's a direct assault on Man's reason.

[Conservative Texan Mom]

As we all tend to view new information in terms of our persuasion, and how it relates to it. It would be interesting to see what new hypothesis might arise if there was no theory of evolution. Perhaps this fossil would lead to that very theory, or not?
Just a thought.

[atlaw]

IOW, the simplest explanation is not necessarily the truest one.

Agreed. Although this does not pertain to the inherent incongruity I pointed out -- i.e., the claim that introduction of an unexplained and inexplicable supernatural agency is consistent with Occam's Razor.

In fact, it is evolutionists who throw up their hands and say "We don't know, and what cannot know, what is behind this mere 'appearance' of organization."

Really? You mean, for example, that crystallization is explained by the "mere appearance of organization"? That growth from seed or embryo to full biological maturity is explained by the "mere appearance of organization"? That hurricane formation is explained by the "mere appearance of organization"? I had no idea that magic was such a central concept in science.

[freedumb2003]

ANd you have a source for this where... You are hoping that the Bible is all mythology... that is not true, it is an accurate history book. Being a SCIENTIST, you must have your evidence of this fact you state.

I need "prove" nothing. Please provide the scientific qualifications of the authors of your text. "God" is not a scientific answer.

[balrog666]

Nuts-and-ID-flakes placemarker.

[atlaw]

The truth would be that the two boards can be joined, not in the how.

Which only serves to prove my point. Truth is not absolute in all, or even most, conceptual or practically applicable circumstances.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

Wow. This is a great find! Now we know how animals went from living on land to living in the seas! Their forearms, shoulders, and wrists eventually gave way to fins!

By taking that one sentence out of context, I can see how one could arrive at this conclusion. But, the rest of the article makes it clear that, with this fish, at least, it happened the other way around.

Now, whales on the other hand, did adapt from living on land to living in the sea. (See: Living whales found with hindlimbs)

[eleni121]

Darwinism and evolution are a joke and a sick one at that. That should be simple enough for you to understand.

[Dimensio]

Darwinism and evolution are a joke and a sick one at that. That should be simple enough for you to understand.

Why is evolution a joke?

[js1138]

It would be interesting to see what new hypothesis might arise if there was no theory of evolution.

Feel free to make one. Hypotheses are made, not discovered.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"Darwinism and evolution are a joke and a sick one at that. That should be simple enough for you to understand."

Now that was a deep and penetrating analysis. lol

[Alamo-Girl]

My beef is with those who distort or deny physical evidence in an attempt to prove something that they cannot possibly know.

Indeed. Thank you for your reply!

[eleni121]

You guys work in tandem. LOL

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"You guys work in tandem. LOL"

Brilliant rebuttal! lol

[muawiyah]

Not all Christians worship the Bible like it's some kind of idol.

Your statement is false on the face of it.