Replies

I still don't get it, sorry.

First of all, I'm awed by your ability to write Ichneumon
off as a "snotty wordsmith." Give the man some credit, and try to understand at least one point he succinctly made in his response to your original post 151. In his 241, he provided you several links. You asked a ton of broad questions in your post 151, then remark that someone is a "wordsmith?" What did you expect? A simple comic book version of things like you're used to getting from AiG or ICR? Sorry, Phaedrus, but actual science has rigorous demands placed on it, and sometimes the answers don't come in cute little pictures of arks with brontosauri on them.

Anyway... At least you are not a YEC, as you mention "millions" of years. Good, you're not a total kookball. But I honestly don't understand what you mean by "fully formed species." I can guess you're saying something like a coelacanth is a coelacanth is a coelacanth, which would make some sense, I suppose. And the SARS virus is the same as it will be next month?

Why do you anthrompomorphize "species?" They don't "think." They don't "act." They just "ARE." And if environmental pressures become such that a certain trait is selected for or against, changes may either occur within the species, or a new species will come into being. It's really not all that difficult to conceptualize. Island biogeography demonstrates this very well. And "island" means "island" in the sense that some (usually) geographical has cut-off one group of species A from another group of species A. On the geologic time scale, this has happned innumerable amounts of time. Some large scale (Australia and its cornucopia of distinct species) and some tiny (seasonal desert ponds in the arid SW US).

Just *think* about this. Since you like to anthropomorphize, think of yourself as a toad (R. Phaedrusian) on the Big Island of Hawaii. You are enjoying life eating mostly slow leaf-hoppers. Mauna Kea has a new eruption event. lava flows near your home and wipes out 95% of the plants your favorite meal used to alight upon. A big crevasse opens up 20 feet west of your home all the way to the ocean. You and half of your fellow R. Phaedrusians are now on an "island" due to this event. Those on the other side of the crevasse (on their "island") continue to enjoy the same leaf-hoppers on the same plants because they weren't hit by the flow. You and your population, however, must now *adapt* or die. (That's NOT to say each toad adapts, the POPULATION adapts). Fortunately, for you, you were born with a slightly longer and faster tongue, so you can get to a different type of insect that feeds on hardier, taller plants that survived the flow. You live. 10% of your crew lives with you. Your genetic pool is drastically reduced. You mate with a fellow longer/faster tongued toad. You are fully formed. Your children are fully formed when they are born with the same longer/faster tongues. Due to the lack of variation in your gene pool, your progeny struggle to survive, but they do. Due to the drastically reduced population, there are many more viable mutations than usual. Other new modifications present themselves over generations... say, faster birthrates (typical), a greater need to care for newborns, sleeker body design, better feet for lava rock hopping, etc. This continues over a few hundred generations. The original plants that fed the original leaf-hoppers cannot grow in the new lava/soil.

Years later, Lava flows fill in the crevasse. Your progeny is reunited with teh previously unaffected R. Phaedrusians. However, they don't recognize each other anymore. WestSide Toad story plays out but, these Sharks can't mate with these Jets anymore to produce viable offspring. You have become distinct species... both fully formed, both with a fossil record.

Simplistic yes, but believe it or not, not far-fetched.

Evolution.