Evolutionary Explanations: Substance, Seasoning, or Storytelling?

CEH ^ | April 7, 2009

[GodGunsGuts]

Evolutionary Explanations: Substance, Seasoning, or Storytelling?

April 7, 2009 — A scientific theory should explain why certain phenomena in nature are the way they are.  This layman’s view, though simplistic, expects that a theory should also predict new phenomena before they are observed.  In many science reports on evolution, however, one finds evolutionary theory tacked on as an explanation after the fact, when the theory had virtually nothing to do with the research or the conclusions (for examples a year ago, see 04/04/2008).  The evolutionary interpretation also begs the question that it is the only explanation adequate to explain the phenomena under observation.  Other research projects that are motivated by evolutionary theory, and claim success of the theory, leave sizable loopholes for critics.

1. Dog lab:  The dog has been man’s best friend for years, but is it because of evolution?  MSNBC News surprised readers with the title “Dogs (not chimps) most like humans.” 

   Lest one conclude that we evolved from dogs, or they from us, the article launched into a discussion of dog-human co-evolution.  “Now, perhaps for the first time, students of animal behavior, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, philosophy and veterinary medicine will unite to provide deeper insights into the evolution of dogs and the evolution of humans,” said Marc Hauser of Harvard.  If you thought you were training your dog with intelligent design, maybe Darwin was at work on both of you.

2. Spliceosome marvels:  The spliceosome, one of the most sophisticated molecular machines of all, was unveiled in unprecedented detail recently by scientists at Brandeis University and Cambridge.  This machine clips RNA transcripts and reassembles them before they get translated into proteins.  It’s an exquisite process that must be performed thousands of times without error, lest serious disorders develop.  Science Daily reported on the detailed look at this machine, then quoted a researcher who said this about it: “In human cells one gene can be made into a variety of proteins, so if the process just goes slightly wrong, the genetic alteration can lead to incredible disaster; yet on the other hand, this incredible complexity has led to our amazing evolutionary progress,” said Pomeranz Krummel [Brandeis U]. 

   “....The fundamental difference between us and the earthworm is that our cells have evolved to utilize this process of RNA splicing to generate a whole other dimension to the transmission of genetic information.”

3. Insect flight:  Last month, Science Daily told about a researcher at U of Arkansas who searched for the evolution of insect flight.  He and his coworkers dropped wingless bristletails, thought to be ancestors of winged insects, from treetops and watched them control their descent with their tails.  “The existence of aerial control ability in a wingless insect and its habitat in trees is consistent with the hypothesis of a terrestrial origin for winged flight in insects,” he said – but he did not connect the tail structure with the wings and muscles of flying insects.  Nor did he consider the possibility that bristletails are secondarily flightless.

4. Sponge ancestor not:  You can breathe a sigh of relief.  The sponge is not your ancestor.  Science Daily said that an international team has put sponges on a separate evolutionary branch all their own: “scientists report that all sponges descended from a unique sponge ancestor, who in turn was not the ancestor of all other animals.”  To tell this story, they had to stretch credibility: “Since the comb jellies already have nerve and muscle cells, this would suggest that these features developed several times independently in animal history, or that they were lost in sponges and placozoans.”  The article says that molecular and morphological studies contradict each other’s evolutionary inferences and the work remains “controversial.”
5. Game theory:  Explaining the evolution of cooperation by game theory is still a hot topic.  PhysOrg claimed that “Cooperative behavior meshes with evolutionary theory” based on work by two MIT students.  To make this work, it seems the evolutionists need to ascribe free will to the members of a population – even to yeast cells:

   The same rules apply to the cheating and cooperating yeast: Like the driver who grudgingly gets out and shovels so that both she and her fellow motorist – snug inside his car – may continue on their journeys, the yeast who cooperate do so because there is a slight benefit for themselves.  However, when most of the yeast are cooperating, it becomes advantageous for some individuals to cheat, and vice versa, which allows co-existence between cheaters and cooperators to arise.

What would you rather have: scientists concerned about curing cancer and building green technology, or lazy guys dropping bugs out of treetops so that they can tell stories about how technology invented itself?  Re-read the principles in the 04/04/2008 commentary.  The Darwinian storytellers have still not repented.

[DevNet]

Who said I was doing science in relation to this topic? I certainly didn’t.

You are assuming facts not in evidence again.

[tacticalogic]

Why not?

Because you're being rude and insulting.

[editor-surveyor]

News media propaganda cannot stand in for science, and often what makes its way into news print has little resemblence to the press releases from which they glean their stories.

News writers are as a group, oriented toward sensationalism, while few scientists are of that bent. The problem we are coming up against has little to do with science, but much to do with the vocationally trained teachers that are writing very agenda driven text books, in the same manner as the news writers do their articles.

[editor-surveyor]

Just disregard DevNut; he’s just here to disrupt the flow of useful facts.

[allmendream]

Christs message was one of redemption of sin, not one about the age of the Earth.

You have lost the baby and are intent on sifting through the bath water.

[DevNet]

When you talk about some aren’t you supposed to ping them as well?

[onewhowatches]

Not unlike the kind and civil folks over at DC that we've heard about from their own who have left?

Who have you heard from, who has left DC?

[metmom]

It’s been posted on FR a couple times by the person himself.

I’ll notify him of this inquiry and see if he has any comments. It was just over two months ago.

[GOPJ]

DevNet - I’ve read some of your replies - my question: Are you a believer?

[DevNet]

Define believer.

[GOPJ]

One who believes in God. What's your definition?

[metmom]

nail.....jello.... wall.......

[metmom]

OK. I heard back.

Follow the conversation from this link on.....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2173647/posts?page=1094#1094

[tpanther]

Too many people are onto you.

Still.

[tpanther]

Where and when have you EVER “done” science?

Too many people are onto you, growing as you type...

[tpanther]

Because you're being rude and insulting.

How so?

[tacticalogic]

How so?

I don't owe you any explanations.

[tpanther]

You don’t have any explanations, owing has nothing to do with it, per usual.

[tacticalogic]

This is why these threads get ugly.