Posted on 02/12/2006 10:32:27 AM PST by PatrickHenry
MORE THAN A CENTURY and a half since Charles Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species," evolution remains a controversial concept among much of the population. The situation is quite different in the scientific community, where evolution is almost universally accepted. Still, attacks on the teaching of evolution continue.
The more recent criticism of evolution comes from proponents of intelligent design, a new label for creation "science." They claim ID is a valid scientific alternative to explaining life on Earth and demand it be taught in science classes in our schools along with evolution.
Although intelligent design is cloaked in the language of science and may appear at first glance to be a viable theory, it clearly is not. In fact, intelligent design is neither a theory nor even a testable hypothesis. It is a nonscientific philosophical conjecture that does not belong in any science curriculum in any school.
A theory in the scientific sense is quite different from how the word is often used in conversation.
Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. They are based on extensive data and their predictions are tested and verified time and again.
Biological evolution -- genetic change over time -- is both a theory and a fact, according to paleontologist Stephen Gould. Virtually all biologists consider the existence of evolution to be a fact. It can be demonstrated in the lab and in nature today, and the historical evidence for its occurrence in the past is overwhelming.
However, biologists readily admit that they are less certain of the exact mechanism of evolution; there are several theories of the mechanics of evolution, which are supported by data and are constantly being refined by researchers whose work is subject to peer review.
But there are many established facts concerning evolution, according to R.C. Lewontin, Alexander Agassiz Professor Emeritus of Zoology at Harvard University. He, as do virtually all biological scientists, agree that it is a fact that the Earth with liquid water has been around for more than 3.6 billion years and that cellular life has been around for at least half of that period.
We know for a fact that organized multicellular life is at least 800 million years old and that major life forms now on Earth did not exist in the past.
It is considered a fact by biologists that all living forms today come from previous living forms.
A fact is not the same as absolute certitude, which exists only in defined systems such as mathematics. Scientists consider a "fact" to be something that has been confirmed to such a degree of reliability and logic that it would be absurd to think otherwise.
Denying the facts of evolution is akin to denying that gravity exists. What is debatable, with both evolution and gravity, are the theories of the mechanics of how each operates.
Supporters of intelligent design vehemently disagree, but they do not offer alternative theories or verifiable data. Instead, intelligent design proponents attack evolution with misinformation, half-truths and outright falsehoods.
Intelligent design does not develop hypotheses nor does it test anything. As such, intelligent design is simply a conjecture that does not hold up to scrutiny.
False arguments
Unfortunately, intelligent design has considerable credibility outside the scientific community by making specious claims about evolution. Below are some of the leading charges made by intelligent design and creationist proponents in the past several years.
• Evolution has never been observed: But it has. Biologists define evolution as a change in the gene pool of a population of living organisms over time.
For example, insects develop resistance to pesticides. Bacteria mutate and become resistant to antibiotics. The origin of new species by evolution (speciation) has been observed both in the laboratory and in the wild.
Some intelligent design supporters admit this is true, but falsely say that such changes are not enough to account for the diversity of all living things. Logic and observation show that these small incremental changes are enough to account for evolution.
Even without direct observation, there is a mountain of evidence that confirms the existence of evolution.
Biologists make predictions based on evolution about the fossil record, anatomy, genetic sequences and geographical distribution of species. Such predictions have been verified many times, and the number of observations supporting evolution is overwhelming and growing, especially in the field of genetics.
Biologists have not observed one species of animal or plant changing quickly into a far different one. If they did, it would be evidence against evolution.
• Evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics: It clearly does not. This law of physics states essentially that disorder increases in a closed system. Some intelligent design and creationist proponents say this means that the order required in the evolution of simple life forms to more complex ones cannot take place, at least not on a long-term basis.
What critics of evolution don't say is that the Earth's environment is not a closed system. It absorbs enormous heat energy from the sun, which is all that is required to supply fuel for the evolution of plants and animals.
Order arises from disorder in the physical world as well, in the formation of crystals and weather systems, for example. It is even more prevalent in dynamic living things.
• There are no transitional fossils: This argument is a flat-out falsehood. Transitional fossils are ones that lie between two lineages with characteristics of both a former and latter lineage. Even though transitional fossils are relatively rare, thousands of them have been found.
There are fossils showing transitions from reptile to mammal, from land animal to whale, the progression of animals leading to the modern horse, and from early apes to humans.
• Theory says that evolution proceeds by random chance: This is an example of a half-truth perpetuated by intelligent design and creation supporters.
Chance is an important element of evolution, but it is not the only thing involved.
This argument ignores other forces such as natural selection, which weeds out dysfunctional species, and is the opposite of chance.
Chance takes place in genetic mutations, which provide the raw material of evolutionary change, which is then modified and refined by natural selection. But even at the genetic level, mutations occur within the framework of the laws of physics and chemistry.
Opponents of evolution argue that chance, even enhanced by natural selection and the laws of physics, is not enough to account for the complexity of DNA, the basic building blocks of almost all life forms. (RNA is the foundation of some microbes). However, there literally were oceans of organic molecules that had hundreds of millions of years to interact to form the first self-replicating molecules that make life possible.
Irreducible complexity
The attack on evolution that intelligent design proponents use most often today is one based on "irreducible complexity." This has become the foundation of their attempts to cast doubt on evolution.
They argue that certain components of living organisms are so complex that they could not have evolved through natural processes without the direct intervention of an intelligent designer.
Michael Behe, a leading proponent of intelligent design, defined irreducibly complex as "a system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning."
In other words, irreducible complexity refers to an organism that does something (a function) in such a way that a portion of the organism that performs the function (a system) has no more parts than are absolutely necessary.
The argument made is that the entire system with all its parts, such as an enzyme used in digestion or a flagellum used to propel a bacterium (an example Behe favors in his defense of irreducible complexity), would have to come into being at one time -- a virtual impossibility.
If one of the parts were missing, Behe argues, the system would not be able to function, and thus a simpler, earlier evolving system could not exist.
It is not as easy as it may appear at first glance to define irreducible complexity because there is not a good definition of what a part is. Is it a particular type of tissue, a cell, or segment of DNA? Behe is not clear. But even if he were able to define a true IC system, his argument would fail.
There are several ways an irreducible complexity system could evolve. An early version could have more parts than necessary for a particular function. The individual parts could evolve. Most likely, an earlier version of the system could have had a different function.
This is observed in nature. For example, take the tail-like flagellum of a bacteria, which Behe says supports irreducible complexity. It is used for functions other than motion. A flagellum can be used to attach a bacteria to a cell or to detect a food source.
Thus, a precursor to a more complex flagellum could have had a useful, but different, function with fewer parts. Its function would have changed as the system evolved.
Simply put, the irreducibly complex system argument doesn't work. Most, if not all, of the irreducible complexity systems mentioned by intelligent design adherents are not truly IC. Even if they were, they clearly could have evolved. That is the consensus of almost all biological scientists.
Intelligent design is not science
The theory of evolution and common descent were once controversial in scientific circles. This is no longer the case.
Debates continue about how various aspects of evolution work. However, evolution and common descent are considered fact by the scientific community.
Scientific creationism, or intelligent design, is not science. Believers of intelligent design do not base their objections on scientific reasoning or data.
Instead, it appears that their ideas are based on religious dogma. They create straw men like irreducible complexity or lack of transitional fossils, and shoot them down. They fabricate data, quote scientists out of context and appeal to emotions.
Intelligent design disciples do not conduct scientific experiments, nor do they seek publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Still, they have had an impact far beyond the merits of their arguments.
One of their most persuasive arguments is an appeal to fair play, pleading to present both sides of the argument. The answer is no. They do not present a valid scientific argument.
Within the scientific community, there is virtually no acceptance of intelligent design. It has no more place in a biology class than astrology in an astronomy class or alchemy in a chemistry class.
But do they know the difference between "corn" and "corn"? :))
I missed your first post and I'd like to express my condolences. I know how painful the loss of someone close can be. It really puts things in perspective. But you still have the memories of all of the good times.
I missed your first post and I'd like to express my condolences.
Same here. I'm very sorry for your loss.
I'm very sorry to hear of your loss, dear friend. And I join with the others here lifting her loved ones up to God for His blessing, peace and guidance as they adjust to her homegoing.
Thank you!!!! :-)
Now I feel like fool. Sigh.
It's just been a tough week. My apologies to all.
I've been waiting for you to come up with the Columbus thing. You've come up with many of the other sillier creationist canards so it was only a matter of time.
Educated men the world over knew long before the Columbus that the world not flat. Anyone living near the sea can see this easily. The ancient Greeks calculated the size of the sphere to a reasonable degree of accuracy. Columbus was badly wrong about the size of the globe, despite the availability of techniques for calculating it; he hoped to reach China, and would have starved with his crew long before getting there. Luckily for him the Americas got in the way. I'm not familiar with the Isaiah passage that you refer to, though I've seen references to an Isaiah passage that refer to a circle, a completely different thing from a globe. Numerous other biblical passages are consonant with belief in a flat earth. For example Satan takes Christ to the top of a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world. Not possible on a sphere. Indeed the Bible gives no clue of the scale of the world at all. Outside a small area of the middle east nothing really seems to exist at all in it.
Purified gold is not transparent. That is simply nonsense that someone has fed you. Sorry to disappoint you.
So I'd say that the Bible is pretty much ahead of the ball on physics and science.
Um no, its full of scientific error. Like references to stars "falling to earth". And bats referred to as a kind of bird.
This is the internet. We're all fools.
placemarker
Purified gold is not transparent? Prove it.
White gold is only about 75% gold. It's mixed with other metals, including nickel. (As someone who is allergic to nickel, I can attest to this firsthand!)
If Renaissance thinkers had bothered to read Isaiah, they would have noticed that God said that He holds up the "sphere of the earth"
Isaiah did not mention a "sphere." It mentions a "circle." (Isiah 40:22). The Earth, of course, is neither a circle nor a sphere.
oblate spheroid :-)
...and an irregular one, at that.
I've posted this before; I'll probably have to post it many times more:
I've done a bit of looking into Strong's Concordance for the King James version:
Isa 40:22I've underlined the phrase with the word for "circle" [chuwg] (Strong's 02329). Here are the only other verses that use the same word (also underlined), none of which implies a "sphere":
[It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in
Job 22:14Word Search Results for "sphere" -- NONE
Thick clouds [are] a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.Pro 8:27
When he prepared the heavens, I [was] there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth
Word Search Results for "ball " [duwr] (Strong's 01754). Here are all verses that use the word for "ball" [NOTE: Two verses are in the same book as the "circle of the earth" passage, so the author of Isaiah had both words at his disposal]:
Isa 22:18
He will surely violently turn and toss thee [like] a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory [shall be] the shame of thy lord's house.Isa 29:3
And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.Eze 24:5
Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, [and] make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.
[The Hebrew lexicon gives this meaning as "a burning pile, a round heap of wood"]
That's some good stuff, PH. Good job.
Not true.
From here:
http://webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/9.html
"When light falls onto a piece of iron, the electrons below the Fermi surface can also become excited into higher energy levels in the band by absorbing the energy from the light, as in Fig. 19, producing electron-hole pairs. The light is so intensely absorbed that it can penetrate to a depth of only a few hundred atoms, typically less than a single wavelength. Since the metal is a conductor of electricity, this absorbed light, which is, after all, an electromagnetic wave, will induce alternating electric currents on the metal surface. These currents immediately re-emit the light out of the metal, thus providing strong reflection of a polished metal surface."
"The efficiency of this process depends on the selection rules that apply to the atomic orbitals from which the energy band had formed. If the efficiency of absorption and reemission is approximately equal at all optical energies, then the different colors in white light will be reflected equally well, thus leading to the "silvery" color of polished iron and silver surfaces. However, if the efficiency decreases with increasing energy, as is the case for gold and copper, the reduced reflectivity at the blue end of the spectrum results in yellow and reddish colors, respectively."
"The colors of alloys follow a similar pattern, but are difficult to predict a priori. For example, the addition of 25 percent silver to pure gold produces a green alloy while a similar amount of copper produces a red one."
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