Posted on 12/01/2009 6:39:06 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
Need evidence for Darwinian evolution? Just make it up.
Thats the lesson of Donald Protheros book, Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007). Prothero is a professor of geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles. On November 30, he teamed up with atheist Michael Shermer (founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine) to debate Stephen Meyer and Richard Sternberg of the Discovery Institute.
Shermer wrote the foreword to Protheros book, calling it the best book ever written on the subject. In fact, Dons visual presentation of the fossil and genetic evidence for evolution is so unmistakably powerful that I venture to say that no one could read this book and still deny the reality of evolution.
Of course, evolution can mean many things, most of which nobody would deny even without Protheros book. For example, evolution can mean simply change over time, or minor changes in existing species (microevolution), neither of which any sane person doubts. Both Shermer and Prothero, however, make it clear that by evolution they mean Darwins theory that all living things are descended from a common ancestor, modified principally by natural selection acting on unguided variations (macroevolution).
The modern version of the theory asserts that new variations originate in genetic mutations. Some of the most dramatic mutations occur in Hox genes, which can determine which appendages develop in various parts of the body. On page 101 of his book, Prothero shows pictures of two Hox gene mutations: antennapedia, which causes a fruit fly to sprout legs instead of antennae from its head, and ultrabithorax, which causes a fruit fly to develop a second pair of wings from it midsection. But both of these are harmful: A fruit fly with legs sticking out of its head is at an obvious disadvantage, and a four-winged fruit fly has no flight muscles in its extra pair of wings, so it has trouble flying and mating. Both mutants can survive only in the laboratory; in the wild they would quickly be eliminated by natural selection.
Some Darwinists have suggested that ancestral four-winged fruit flies could have evolved by mutation into modern two-winged fruit flies. But this explanation doesnt work, because a two-winged fly hasnt simply lost a pair of wings; it has acquired a large and complex gene (ultrabithorax) that enables it to develop halteres, or balancers. The halteres are located behind the flys normal pair of wings and vibrate rapidly to stabilize the insect in flight. So the two-winged fly represents the gainnot lossof an important structure. (See Chapter 9 of my book Icons of Evolution).
Prothero ignores the evidence and suggests that ancestral four-winged flies simply mutated into modern two-winged flies. Modern four-winged mutants, he writes on page 101, have apparently changed their regulatory genes so that ancestral wings appeared instead of halteres.
Not only does Prothero ignore the evidence from developmental genetics, but he also invents an imaginary animal to complete the story he wants us to believe. Page 195 of his book carries an illustration of an eighteen-winged dragonfly next to a normal four-winged dragonfly, with the following caption: The evolutionary mechanism by which Hox genes allow arthropods to make drastic changes in their number and arrangement of segments and appendages, producing macroevolutionary changes with a few simple mutations.
Yet there is no evidence that eighteen-winged dragonflies ever existed. There are lots of dragonflies in the fossil record, but none of them remotely resemble this fictitious creature.
No matter. In what Michael Shermer calls the best book ever written on the subject, Donald Prothero simply makes up whatever evidence he wants.
Debate on church doctrine and or threads on specific religious matters may be best posted in the religion forum, but the defense of religious freedom, especially against those who wish to deprive us of same belongs front and center on FR...They banned God and prayer and creationism from public schools and public places, but Ill be damned if theyre gonna ban Him or it from FR!
Jim Robinson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2203455/posts?page=78#78
Ping!
Global warming “scientists” and evo “scientists”...one and the same.
I couldn’t agree more! Although, seeing what the “theory” of evolution has done to society, I would argue that the Darwin’s evo-atheist fairytale has done (and will continue to do) far more damage to civilization.
You can prove evolution is a lie in one sentence. I won’t stick to just one sentence, but you could if you weren’t given to talking too much.
It is a random process, right? Mutations and selective breeding over countless years.
So where are all of evolution’s failures(that’s the one sentence, btw)? Show me the fossil of just one “impossible creature.” There should be an entire branch of science dedicated to them. For every random success...there should be a billion, a trillion, a gajillion failures.
They’re called dinosaurs.
You nailed it. The fossil record is still the biggest enemy of the neo-Darwinian synthesis. Add to that the incredible, evolution-defying discoveries we are making molecular and cell biology, and it is no wonder that so many evos are abandoning the HMS Beagle in search of a new God-denying evolutionary ship!
(Hey, cool! Prandtl-Glauert condensation!)
But, in case you think there were no blind alleys:
Cheers!
I’ll take the P-51!
LOL you really are no different than the climatologists. Who said the dinosaurs were all buried alive at the same time? Don’t tell me “scientists” because you would have to lie to do it.
And to think they were all designed by pond scum + lightening + random processes + survival...Amazing!
Are you saying that the dinos were not killed off in a massive catachlismic event of global proportions?
No matter. In what Michael Shermer calls the best book ever written on the subject, Donald Prothero simply makes up whatever evidence he wants.
So now they've taken to writing science fiction to support the ToE? They actually have to make up imaginary animals to justify it?
This is desperation....
What evidence do you have that “dinosaurs” weren’t evolutionarily viable?
What made them “impossible creatures?” Was there a dinosaur with a brick for wings, instead of an airfoil? Amazing that “evolution” could accidentally get the laws of aerodynamics correct. Wonder where all the fossils are from animals that had shapes that weren’t airworthy? Must have been literally billions of them before it “accidentally” got it right.
Was there a dinosaur who eschewed traditional bony armor (which is itself quite a concept...how did “evolution” discover that armor was...well...armor?) in favor of bacon? How about the dinosaur evolution evolved into an efficient breeder/feeder that used its own testicles for baiting other carnivores(the females went hungry)?
Your same evolutionist scientists claim the dinosaurs died out to a major catastrophic event...as you well know. Now they’re claiming that dinosaurs became birds. So even your cult leaders don’t claim that dinosaurs weren’t viable.
In other words, you don’t know jack s**t. But you have seen a little on TV.
And speaking of the scientists who fabricated the phony global warming scare, last I checked they also happen to be fanatical evos who have made “mother earth” their god, and charlie darwin its messenger.
How about the intermediate species. The ones with the half formed wings or fins? Or, *snicker* eighteen wings?
Explain the Cambrian Explosion, where there is the sudden appearance of fully formed fossils. Where are the fossils of the creatures that led up to them?
They have been making stuff up for a long time...far longer than the global warming alarmists and the AIDS alarmists combined. Unfortunately, it’s hard for the average person to go beyond authority, think for themselves, and realize that the evos have been actively duping them for the last 150 years.
I wonder how long it will be before the pictures of the 18 winged dragonflies make it into high school textbooks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.