.... Ernst Mayr called ring species "the perfect demonstration of speciation"
I'm not quite sure how ring species prove that dogs came from non-dogs, or that mankind came from goo (via the zoo.)
All a ring species proves is that due to drift in the DNA codes, two genetic lines can become non-interbreed-able. That doesn't mean that they are a different kind of animal, however. (Now I realize some say that if it cant breed its a different species, so I use the word kind here.)
I don't know how much you know about DNA or IT, (The latter being my main field of interest) but when the internet began to expand, smart programmers figured out how to add checksums to files, so that when a file was downloaded, a calculation on all the bytes could be performed and compared against the included checksum number. If they matched, the file was probably in tact. If they didn't match, then the file got corrupted along the way.
As I said, IT, not genetics, is my familiar field of research, so I will here use IT terms and concepts to discuss DNA since I am familiar with those. (Yes, DNA contains information and interpreters.) Quite similarly to computer files, DNA also contains checksums, except they are more forgiving. When two DNA sets are joined in conception, a set of comparisons are made to make sure that not only is it the same species, but to make sure that the information isn't too far different. If a given set of DNA codes do not match close enough between the two sources, then that DNA code is disregarded and another is used instead. This is why inbreeding causes defects -- because if both parents have the same genetic defect, the comparison compares them and finds them the same, and assumes that they must be good, so then a corrupted DNA code is used, resulting in deformed offspring.
So what happens in the case of a ring species is that due to copy errors and radiation caused DNA code mangling/corruption, eventually the "Checksums" of the two non-interbreeding ends of the ring become enough different that they fail the checksum test, and can no longer interbreed. It doesn't mean that they are a different kind, they just have different checksums -- due to accumulated errors in the DNA data -- that the DNA error checking prevents conception.
So I don't see how the ring species provides any evidence as to where the species came from beforehand or what will happen with it. To believe that it proves anything beyond sure looks like a faith to me.
How does it prove that humans came from rocks (via goo and the zoo) without resorting to the false idea that "If it could be, it is be...?"
Just what does it prove without moving into the realm of faith?
Thanks,
Jesse
Ring species are an example of speciation, or macroevolution as creationists are fond of calling it.
Creationists believe that speciation is impossible, and that there are no transitionals (or intermediates). Ring species show that this religious belief is incorrect. Ring species also show that "macroevolution" is not only possible, but show the mechanism, with intermediate populations still living.
Ring species do not, as you point out, show "where the species came from beforehand or what will happen with it" -- but the example of ring species I provided was not intended to show that. It was intended only to show how incorrect are the religious beliefs that there are no transitionals and that speciation is impossible.
But I fully expect that no amount of evidence will convince creationists of this. They are fully committed, for religious reasons, to their beliefs and no amount of evidence will change those beliefs. I post mainly for the lurkers, who may still be willing to look at the evidence.