[Junior]

You might also point out the role of common descent in picking out suitable test subjects for certain medical or clinical experiments and trials.

[unlearner]

"You might also point out the role of common descent in picking out suitable test subjects for certain medical or clinical experiments and trials."

Obviously common descent exists. That is what causes ethnic features to emerge. Wouldn't you expect more recent heritage to have a greater impact than the ancient?

Humanity has a universal common ancestor. Most likely felines have a universal common ancestor. I don't dispute that.

My dispute is with the axiomatic assumption that there was a universal common ancestor of all animals including people.

If common features between humans and animals are helpful for medical research, it really makes no difference whatsoever what caused those likenesses. Whether it was UCD or ID will not change such observable qualities.

How do you falsify UCD? Do you require finding life with no DNA? Do you need life that is not carbon based? I hope your assumption of UCD is based on more than broad general characteristics. What specific characteristics can only be explained by UCD and not ID? What features would exist if UCD is untrue? Besides telling me what we would not find, tell me what we would find if UCD is false.