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To: darbymcgill
"Well maybe I'm not getting your point. Are you saying that a new Wollemi pine mutated or spontaneously generated itself somewhere in remote Australia?"

No, I am saying that in 1990 there was no scientific evidence that the Wollemi pine was still extant. Do you think that it would have been correct for scientists to have said in 1990 that the pine WAS still around even when there was no evidence available to support that claim? Scientists make claims based on available evidence, not on all possible future evidence that may or may not exist. You are asking science to bend the rules for ID and sneak it in before it can make any testable claims. That is Behe's position too, which is why he said that science would need to be redefined to allow ID.
660 posted on 03/08/2006 2:37:20 PM PST by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is grandeur in this view of life...")
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To: CarolinaGuitarman
No, I am saying that in 1990 there was no scientific evidence that the Wollemi pine was still extant.

This is what usually happens when folks jump into a tete-a-tete that has been ongoing for a few hours.... I make the same mistake my self sometimes....

I will at the risk of being redundant (spam.. hee hee) go over my point again. I was somewhat tersely chastised in the recent past for providing evidence that the Wollemi pine was declared extinct by scientists. I was informed in so many words the "few scientists" would ever say that the Wollemi pine was extinct, they instead would say "thought extinct" or "believed to be extinct".

Whilst reading early (very early) on in this thread, I noted a "scientist" posting unequivocally that there is "no scientific evidence that points to an intelligent design of life". There was no qualifying "we have found no evidence" or "we believe there to be no evidence"... And it just so happened to be the same poster who taught me part 1.

My point being, that just because someone had not found or knowingly observed a Wollemi pine doesn't mean that evidence of its existence was not available. It just meant they "thought" none existed or they couldn't find any. Oh, and btw, they were mistaken weren't they? So when said scientist makes an unqualified claim that "there is no evidence" it gives me pause as to whether I was being jerked around in my first lesson or am I being jerked around now....

I was simply seeking clarity and consistency from my teachers....
672 posted on 03/08/2006 3:24:13 PM PST by darbymcgill (FRevolution: The science of mutating concepts and definitions while tap dancing)
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