Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Darwin's 'Special Difficulty' Solved?
Institute for Creation Research ^ | 7-7-14 | Nathaniel T. Jeanson, Ph.D.

Posted on 07/10/2014 8:44:39 AM PDT by fishtank

Darwin's 'Special Difficulty' Solved?

by Nathaniel T. Jeanson, Ph.D. *

Darwin's hypothesis of evolution faced enormous scientific challenges from the very outset of its publication. Recently, a group of evolutionists, publishing in the journal Science, claimed to have simplified one of those challenges. Have they?

In Darwin's seminal work On the Origin of Species he identified numerous examples of biological structures that, at first pass, seem very difficult to evolve. He even wrote a chapter titled "Difficulties on Theory" which he began with this wry comment: "Long before having arrived at this part of my work, a crowd of difficulties will have occurred to the reader. Some of them are so grave that to this day I can never reflect on them without being staggered."1

One organ in particular that has dodged evolutionary explanation for over 150 years is the electric organ—the organ in fishes that generates electricity under water. Evolving this organ in one single species would pose serious challenges to evolution. But the organ is present in several fish species which, under the ancestry constraints imposed by the evolutionary interpretation of the fossil record, implies that the electric organ would have had to evolve, not once, but multiple times, making the naturalistic origin of this structure all the more implausible.2

(Excerpt) Read more at icr.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: creation; electric
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last
To: bigbob

>This crap-science article also ignores the role of spontaneous mutation.

Sure, I’ve seen it happen everyday. Hasn’t everybody? /hand-waving

How about ONCE by anybody? Evolution by spontaneous mutation is crap-science.


21 posted on 07/10/2014 9:44:46 AM PDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (HELL, NO! BE UNGOVERNABLE! --- ISLAM DELENDA EST)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: samtheman

The thing that evolution and global warming have in common is that they both shelter hidden agendas.

The hidden agenda of the warmists is control over people’s lives.

That of evolutionists is atheism, which also reduces to control. Atheists believe that everything has a material cause which they believe science can eventually discover and thus control. The idea of a supernatural cause is anathema to them because that would be outside their control, which makes them extremely uncomfortable.

So in both cases the hidden agenda is control - both are control freaks.


22 posted on 07/10/2014 9:57:55 AM PDT by aquila48
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Ethan Clive Osgoode

And there are quite a few here on FR.


23 posted on 07/10/2014 10:00:22 AM PDT by autumnraine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Revolutionary

Fittest does not solely mean fastest. It also means healthiest and smartest, among other things, so your supersonic supposition is off-base.


24 posted on 07/10/2014 10:05:27 AM PDT by sakic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: aquila48

The creationists also have an agenda.

Everyone has an agenda.

Why couldn’t God have given us evolution?

Why are these considered mutually exclusive by narrow minds on both sides?


25 posted on 07/10/2014 10:11:10 AM PDT by sakic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: PapaNew
"transfer between major animal groups?"

What are you talking about?

26 posted on 07/10/2014 10:11:28 AM PDT by mlo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: fella

For the JVC journal this was an exception for the warmist rags it’s probably the rule - they don’t even have to make up names.


27 posted on 07/10/2014 10:12:26 AM PDT by aquila48
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: mlo
What about transference between major animal groups don't you get?
28 posted on 07/10/2014 10:14:32 AM PDT by PapaNew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: aquila48

I didn’t join FR in 2001 to argue about evolution so the only thing I will say is: I disagree with you.


29 posted on 07/10/2014 10:15:44 AM PDT by samtheman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: sakic

***Why couldn’t God have given us evolution?***

Actually sakic, it is an untenable position for a Christian.... and for many reasons. Not the least of which is this:

Mark 10:6-7 says: 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife

John 1, Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 all tell us that Jesus Christ is the Creator. So in this passage, the Creator of the universe told the Pharisees that He created man and woman “from the beginning of Creation.”

If you look up “beginning” in Strong’s Concordance it sends you to the appendix. In other words, according to Strong’s, the definition of beginning is so obvious that they see no reason to define it.

Mark 10:6 leaves no room for a Christian to hold to evolution. If Christ is your Savior, belief in evolution is tantamount to calling Him a liar (based on this passage).


30 posted on 07/10/2014 10:36:26 AM PDT by schaef21
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: sakic

” The creationists also have an agenda.”

That’s true, and it’s also true that every one has an agenda - of course. But I referred to a HIDDEN agenda - a means to obfuscate or fool people.

Science agenda is to seek the truth - wherever it may lead - even God and the supernatural. To exclude those possibilities as causes limits its potential for knowledge.

A couple books I read recently that I found intellectually honest in the area of evolution are “Signature in the cell” and “Darwin’s doubt” by Stephen Meyer.


31 posted on 07/10/2014 10:39:26 AM PDT by aquila48
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: fishtank
To date, no one has comprehensively identified the relationships among the molecular components undergirding electric organ function. Until these relationships are elucidated, the plausibility of the evolutionary origin of these structures remains purely speculative and claims of evolutionary "fact" must be rejected because they are without scientific support.

Steve Jone's 1999-2000 book "Darwin's Ghost" is a comprehensive update of Darwin's original work ... covering every chapter of Darwin's orginal. Jones. In his book, Jones mentions electric fishes ... To wit ...

"Pheasants, electric fishes and tree frogs each have ties between their members in Australia, South America, and New Guinea, with more distant links ever as far as Europe, but none are much good at ocean crossings. Three thousand miles of sea are a barrier for an eagle, let alone a heavy breech seed or a flightless bird."

And, somewhere I've read (couldn't find it right away) that the "electric" fish feature is somewhat connected to ... muscles.

32 posted on 07/10/2014 11:34:45 AM PDT by OldNavyVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide

Mutate my post in any of the ways a mutation occurs:
Adding a letter, subtracting a letter, transposing two letters, or changing any single letter,

and show me how it then has more and better information than it did before...

(Just SUPPORTING your post)


33 posted on 07/10/2014 11:39:57 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Revolutionary

” You only have to be just fast enough, just strong enough, just smart enough, etc. to survive. “

No. the only requirement is that you reproduce at least as fast as you die.


34 posted on 07/10/2014 12:36:01 PM PDT by TexasGator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: PapaNew; mlo

Since evolution doesn’t suggest “transference between major animal groups,” it’s fair to wonder what you mean by it. If you mean something like a bird evolving into a cat, well, like I said, evolution neither requires nor suggests any such thing.


35 posted on 07/10/2014 1:00:31 PM PDT by Ha Ha Thats Very Logical
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: MrB
Mutate my post in any of the ways a mutation occurs: Adding a letter, subtracting a letter, transposing two letters, or changing any single letter, and show me how it then has more and better information than it did before...

It doesn't have to have "more and better information," just different. The environment will determine whether the new information is "better" (in the sense of lending a survival advantage) or not.

That said: my post > my pots > my pets > my pegs > mpegs. Words to music in 4 steps! That's a fanciful example, but it illustrates that mutations aren't always a destructive force.

36 posted on 07/10/2014 1:09:21 PM PDT by Ha Ha Thats Very Logical
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Ha Ha Thats Very Logical; mlo
Depends on what kind of "evolution" you're talking about.

Darwinian proposed the Doctrine of Common Descent – that all life on Earth has descended from one original primordial form. This kind of evolution requires transference between major animal groups.

As I said, that's different from changes that evolve within an animal group. But changes within an animal group does not support the Darwinian Doctrine of Common Descent or "Origin of the Species" evolution argument.

37 posted on 07/10/2014 1:15:26 PM PDT by PapaNew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: PapaNew
This kind of evolution requires transference between major animal groups.

Which raises again the question: what do you mean by "transference between major animal groups"? I think I know what you mean (and why you're wrong), but I thought it best to give you the chance to explain what you mean first.

38 posted on 07/10/2014 2:50:58 PM PDT by Ha Ha Thats Very Logical
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Ha Ha Thats Very Logical

You know what I mean. This is not rocket science. The common understanding that things like fish are in a different major animal group from things like lions.


39 posted on 07/10/2014 3:26:10 PM PDT by PapaNew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: PapaNew
The common understanding that things like fish are in a different major animal group from things like lions.

Okay, there's part of the answer: now we have some idea of what you mean by "major animal group." (But only some idea. Are wolves a different major animal group from lions? Are lizards?)

Now can you say what you mean by "transference"?

40 posted on 07/10/2014 4:21:16 PM PDT by Ha Ha Thats Very Logical
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson