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Common Creationist Arguments - Pseudoscience
http://www.stardestroyer.net/Creationism/Arguments/Pseudoscience.shtml ^

Posted on 03/13/2002 4:47:26 AM PST by JediGirl

Common Creationist Arguments

Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience is a scientific-sounding argument which in fact has no scientific validity whatsoever. This type of argument is based on the fact that the average layperson knows so little about science that he or she is liable to judge a scientific argument solely on its style and presentation (eg- "does it sound scientific?", or "does it incorporate scientific-sounding terms?") for lack of any other method of judging its validity.

Suggested Tactics

This type of creationist argument is difficult for most people to defend against, unless they are fairly knowledgeable about science (that's why it's so popular with creationists- they may not know anything about science, but they're gambling that you don't either). In my case, I simply call upon my knowledge of certain basic scientific principles that I learned in university, but I can't instruct everyone to do this, since not everyone has a technical background.

Therefore, it's difficult for me to recommand tactics for laypeople to counteract this sort of argument, but we should keep in mind that creationist pseudoscience arguments are almost never generated out of the mind of the creationist himself. They all tend to come from the same widely distributed pool of creationist literature, which is one of the reasons that creationists all over the world tend to spout the same pseudoscience arguments. I can offer the following suggestions:

    Remember that if your opponent has no direct knowledge of the science involved, and is merely claiming truth because "I read it somewhere", this constitutes a fallacious appeal to authority. Point this out to him. One should always be able to explain the logic and science behind one's argument rather than simply making vague reference to an anonymous source.

    Since these arguments are actually second hand arguments, demand to see the original source for his claim. When you see the source, check the credentials of the author. If they aren't fraudulent, check up on the university where the author got his degree. Odds are that the degree is either honorary, or it comes from a cheap diploma mill (or worse yet, one of the many church-run schools set up expressly for the purpose of handing out degrees to creationists). If you don't have the resources to check up on universities, try looking up the Talk.Origins website at www.talkorigins.org, which maintains a list of discredited creationist "experts" and their bogus credentials.

Examples follow:

"Occam's Razor is a scientific principle which says that when faced with two theories, we should always choose the simplest theory. Evolution theory requires billions of years of chemical reactions, environmental effects, and genetic mutations. Creation theory simply says "God did it". Creation theory is obviously simpler, therefore Occam's Razor demands that we must select Creation theory on scientific grounds."

This is perhaps the single most moronic creationist idea I've ever heard (it's also been used to "prove" the existence of God, by arguing that the concept of God is much simpler than the study of science). It's a classic example of creationist pseudoscience. They learn the term "Occam's Razor" and they learn just enough about its definition to abuse it, but they make no effort whatsoever to learn its true meaning.

"Choose the simplest theory" is an oversimplification of the concept of Occam's Razor. The term is named after the 14th century philosopher and theologian William of Occam. It might strike some as strange that a scientific principle might have come from a theologian, but good scientists do not practice appeals to authority or ad hominem attacks. If an idea makes sense, it doesn't matter who it came from, and the universal acceptance of Occam's Razor is a perfect example of that philosophy.

In any case, he argued that we should never "multiply entities unnecessarily". In other words, cut out extraneous terms from an equation. He used that principle (which is really just an argument against redundancy) to show that it was impossible to deduce God's existence through reason alone, so one would have to take it purely on faith. The irony is that a theologian realized that there was no logical basis for God's existence more than 600 years ago but modern fundamentalists still can't figure it out, and actually use his name to "prove" the exact opposite of what he himself argued!

For those who cannot appreciate the simplicity of Occam's Razor in its original form, Isaac Newton restated it thusly: "We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances." In plain English, when faced with two scientific theories which make the same predictions, choose the simpler theory. Or, as Stephen Hawking put it: "Cut out all the features of the theory which cannot be observed." (taken from A Brief History of Time).

Like all scientific principles, Occam's Razor is accepted not because William of Occam said it, but because it makes sense. You don't need to appeal to authority or take its validity on faith. If you are faced with two competing theories between which you have no other method of deciding, is it not obvious that the theory containing extra or unverifiable terms must therefore contain redundancies? The fact that the simpler theory can accomplish the same descriptive and predictive feats while utilizing fewer terms and not relying on unverifiable or unobservable phenomena is evidence of superiority.

Consider the analogy of two mechanical devices for making widgets. Both perform exactly the same function. In repeated, exhaustive tests, both are shown to produce exactly the same quality of widget, at the same rate, with the same raw materials. Both produce the same amount of waste. Both consume the same amount of electrical power. They cost the same. In other words, their performance is identical in every measurable way. The only noticeable difference is that device #1 is much simpler than device #2. It contains fewer components and mechanisms, and its operating principle is therefore simpler. Which one would you choose?

Suppose the salesman for device #2 is quite upset that you are leaning toward device #1, and he promises to do better. The next day, he returns with a new device (we'll call it device #3) which is completely sealed in black plastic (the classic "black box"). He says it's the latest, most advanced widget-making machine in the world. You feed it electricity and raw materials, and it spits out widgets. Its performance is no different from device #1 and device #2, but it is not user servicable. You can't see inside to figure out how it works, and the salesman refuses to let you see diagrams or schematics, ostensibly because the operation of the machine is beyond both your intellectual capacity and his. The salesman argues that device #3 is actually simpler than both device #1 and #2 because it has just one component: the black box. Does this make sense to you? Again, which device would you choose?

Occam's Razor is merely a name given to a logical and intuitively obvious thought process of eliminating redundancies. It cannot be used to choose between competing theories whose predictions are vastly different, any more than the simplicity of a drill press can be used to prove that it's superior to a fighter plane. Now that we are equipped with an understanding of the reasoning behind Occam's Razor, we can list some of the reasons that it cannot be used to support either creationism or the existence of God:

  1. Occam's Razor is a method of choosing between competing scientific theories. It is irrelevant when comparing a scientific theory to the concept of God or creationism because God and creationism are not scientific theories. There are no objective terms in the concept of God. No equations. No mechanisms. No limits. No methods through which it can be used to predict the outcome of natural processes. No methods through which it can be tested, or disproven. The concept of God is actually the antithesis of a scientific theory, in that one resorts to the divine only when one's reason has either failed or been voluntarily suppressed. In the analogy above, Occam's Razor was used to evaluate a pair of machines. It couldn't be used to evaluate a machine versus, say, a piece of music.

  2. "God" is actually not a "simpler theory" than science. "God" is merely a three-letter name which is affixed to a deity whose machinations are supposedly so complex that they are beyond mortal comprehension! If God's methods are inscrutable and incomprehensible to humans (as claimed in the Bible and by all Christians), then what business does anyone have claiming that they are "simpler" than a theory which humans can understand? In the analogy above, the concept of God is very much like the "black box". The salesman may argue that it's simpler because it's a nice smooth black box instead of a set of gears and motors, but that's a childish superficiality at best, and a bald-faced lie at worst.

  3. Occam's Razor is not invoked unless the competing theories make identical predictions. It is a method of eliminating redundancies, as William of Occam first reasoned, and it only applies when the performance of the competing theories is identical. When two theories make vastly different predictions (as is the case with science and Biblical literalism), then Occam's Razor is completely irrelevant. In the analogy above, Occam's Razor was used to evaluate a pair of machines whose performance was identical. If the two machines made widgets of vastly different characteristics, Occam's Razor would be irrelevant.

The use of Occam's Razor to "prove" the existence of God or the validity of Biblical literalism is a classic example of creationist pseudoscience, because it is so emblematic of their method: take a real principle and grossly misinterpret it to mean the exact opposite of what it truly means.

"The second law of thermodynamics makes evolution impossible. It states that complexity cannot be spontaneously created, so it is impossible for natural processes to create a complex organism from a simple organism!"

This is one of the oldest, and most popular creationist pseudoscience arguments. It's been kicking around for more than a century, thanks to general public ignorance of thermodynamics. In fact, it's wrong on so many levels that it's hard to know where to start! Perhaps we should start at the beginning, with the definition of the second law of thermodynamics. According to my engineering thermodynamics textbook, the second law of thermodynamics has two basic postulates:

  1. All physical processes create entropy (microscopic disorder).

  2. The entropy of a closed system cannot decrease, ie- entropy can be created but not destroyed.

That's a lot different from "complexity cannot be spontaneously created", isn't it? Big surprise- creationists don't know anything about thermodynamics. Now that we've established their bizarre misconception about the second law of thermodynamics, we should try to understand what strange mental contortions were necessary to go from "the entropy of a closed system cannot decrease" to "complexity cannot be spontaneously created."

Upon further questioning, creationists invariably reveal the following beliefs about the second law:

  1. "The entropy of a living organism can't decrease."

  2. "The creation of complexity requires the destruction of entropy."

  3. "The second law of thermodynamics applies to spontaneous events, but not to the deliberate acts of man (or deity). That's why humans can build a complex structure but natural processes can't."

These three beliefs are all completely wrong, and they all indicate a frightening ignorance of scientific principles. Let us examine each belief separately:

  1. Actually, the entropy of a living organism can decrease, because a living organism is not a closed system. Since it is an open system, entropy can leave and enter. Entropy doesn't have to be destroyed- just moved. The concept of the closed system vs the open system is one of the most basic concepts that we teach kids in high school, and if someone thinks a living organism is a closed system, he must be staggeringly ignorant. Food, water, and energy enter and leave your body all the time, thus making it an open system. Furthermore, an entire species is even less of a closed system than an individual life form, and evolution occurs from one generation to the next, not in a single organism as it ages.

  2. Complexity is not the destruction of disorder or the creation of order. In fact, there is more disorder in complex systems, as any student of chaos theory (or government bureacracies) can tell you. There is far more entropy in a nuclear power plant than there is in an ice cube, and a pretty snowflake has much more complexity than the drop of water from whence it came.

  3. Physical laws apply all the time, to everybody, regardless of intent or intelligence. If the second law of thermodynamics truly prohibited the creation of complexity, then it wouldn't matter whether the complexity is created by "deliberate" acts or by random happenstance- it would be impossible in both cases. It is utterly unbelievable to me that creationist ignoramuses would interpret any physical law to only apply in the absence of deliberate intervention. No other physical laws of physics are interpreted to apply only in the absence of intelligent intervention- does gravity shut off when humans intervene?

This argument has been so thoroughly disproven, so many times in so many ways, that it's almost comical when people keep bringing it up. They might as well just tattoo their foreheads with the words "scientific ignoramus."

"By taking a random mixture of elements and analysing the probability of elements randomly forming into the correct combinations and orientations to make a simple amino acid, I can show that it is probabilistically impossible for the simplest amino acid to form, never mind the first living cell. Therefore, a Creator must have formed the first organisms, if not all of them."

This argument is invalid for the following reasons:

  1. Spontaneous formation of amino and fatty acids has been observed in the laboratory, by subjecting an atmosphere of hydrogen, water vapour, ammonia and methane to electrical discharges and ultraviolet radiation. This simulates primeval Earth environmental conditions, therefore it is an observed fact, and not subject to debate.

  2. Chemical reactions are not random! Elements only bond in certain combinations. Light a match in a cloud of hydrogen and oxygen, and countless trillions upon trillions of hydrogen and oxygen atoms will react to form H2O. Not H8O, and not H5O, but H2O. Purely random combinatorics are a completely invalid way of modelling chemical reactions.

  3. The first living cell did not have to form from raw materials. It would have formed from more primitive components such as RNA, which was proposed many years ago as the first self-replicating molecule. It was even experimentally found to have catalytic capabilities for adding new nucleotides to the end of the chain or removing them, leading to the term "RNA World" to describe the origins of life. But even if RNA is not the candidate we're looking for, there is certainly no need to assume that the first organic self-replicators would have been full-blown single-celled organisms. The early self-replicators (such as RNA, if it was indeed the first self-replicator) would not have left fossils.

  4. This entire attack is a red herring, because evolution theory and abiogenesis (the formation of organic self-replicators from simpler organic materials) are two completely different theories. Lumping them together is just as fallacious as lumping evolution theory with Big Bang theory. The process of evolution is heritable change in populations over multiple generations. Because the process of evolution requires multiple generations to occur, it cannot possibly happen before the first living organism! It doesn't kick in until after the first living organism already exists! Even if abiogenesis could be disproved, evolution theory would still be valid.

I should also note that this argument is generally coupled with the fallacious reasoning that "anything we don't understand is proof of divine intervention." Poorly understood phenomena are not invalidations of science- they are opportunities for scientific investigation. If we treat every gap in our understanding as proof of divine intervention, we would be no better than the tribal primitives who attributed divine intervention to everything from solar eclipses to rain. Visit the Probability page if you want to know more.

"Some older species fossils can be found on top of newer fossils. This inconsistency in your so-called 'progressionism' proves that creation theory is correct, since it means that all species were created at the same time."

More bad science, since this only occurs with animal remains that are on the surface. What happens is that severe erosion or a geological upheaval can occasionally expose strata bearing fossils, and of course, when Skippy the Dog runs away and dies near these old fossils, the "Young Earth Creationist" crowd immediately interprets this as disproof of the entire fossil record, the entire field of geology, the age of the Earth, etc.

As usual, their argument is based on ignorance of proper scientific method. This evidence would be disproof of the fossil record if it was impossible to rationalize its existence with that record. However, that is simply not the case. Geologists can examine patterns in the rock to determine whether a region is old or new, cross-cut, the result of upheaval, etc. It is the creationists who will look at a region, assume its age without using proper methodology, and then use fossil findings in that region to "disprove" geology and evolution theory.

"Evolution can explain changes in a species, but where does a whole new species come from? Speciation is the downfall of Evolution Theory!"

This is another case of creationists projecting their own pseudoscientific attitudes onto evolution theory. In this case, they are predisposed to believe that the creation of a species is a sudden, dramatic event at some fixed moment in time. One moment there's species A, and then the next moment there's species B. Much as God created Man from dust, and Eve from Adam's rib, they imagine that "evolutionists" describe evolution creating a man directly from an ape. But evolution theory does not work that way.

Speciation is not a sudden, miraculous transformation from one species to another. The way creationists envision evolution theory, a pregnant female ape went into labour one day and a human being popped out! It is a gross understatement to say that this is a misrepresentation of the truth. In reality, evolution theory merely proposes that a great many small changes eventually caused an animal population to become intersterile with its ancestors.

Of course, this would mean that there should be fossil evidence of various intermediate stages between successful species, and there is. Naturally, creationists explain all of the evidence away by pointing the finger at their favourite whipping boy: the global conspiracy of evil scientists, who work tirelessly to cover up the truth and fabricate false evidence. These people watch "X-Files" too damned much.

"I know we've observed micro-evolution, but what about macro-evolution? There is no evidence for macro-evolution!"

The creationist invention of the terms "macroevolution" and "microevolution" is a good example of how they try to mutilate the terms of science to their own advantage. Biologists do not differentiate between micro-evolution and macro-evolution, any more than mathematicians differentiate between micro-addition and macro-addition.

Their argument that there is no evidence for "macroevolution" is ridiculous because "macroevolution" is simply the result of adding a lot of "microevolution" together, and "microevolution" is, by their own admission, completely supported by various forms of evidence.

The other problem for this argument is that there actually is evidence to directly support what they describe as "macroevolution", and it's called "the fossil record". It's evidence because it is consistent with prediction. Of course, that's not enough for the creationists- they demand direct observation of massive evolutionary change in living animals, even though they know that we would have to observe living animals for millions of years in order to obtain the evidence they seek. Can you see the problem with this demand? It's pretty obvious- they are deliberately asking for a form of evidence which is impossible to obtain (millions of years of direct observation), and ignoring a form of evidence (the fossil record) which is relatively easy to obtain.

The universe operates on tiny processes, affecting tiny particles, which add up in tremendous numbers to cause large changes. If someone is going to claim that a slow, steady process cannot create large-scale changes given sufficient time, he had better provide some evidence and reasoning, rather than simply stating it as a fact and demanding impossible forms of evidence to disprove it. Are we to assume that all gradual processes eventually hit "brick walls" and stop, for mysterious and unknown reasons?

Do we question tectonic plate theory on the basis that we've observed small-scale tectonic plate movement but not large-scale tectonic plate movement? Do we insist that no one should believe in tectonic plate theory until we've been able to observe it for millions of years, so we can see long-distance movements firsthand? Do we deny the possibility of large-scale rock erosion because we've only seen small scale rock erosion? Why would a gradual process like tectonic plate movement, rock erosion, or evolution suddenly stop after an arbitrary length of time? What would make it stop? Why make this ridiculous distinction between "micro-evolution" and "macro-evolution?" Where is the line drawn between the two? What causes the barrier? These are questions that the creationists don't attempt to ask or answer, because like O.J. Simpson's defense lawyers, they're not serious about uncovering the truth. They just want to create "reasonable doubt" in the minds of a gullible audience.

The "microevolution vs macroevolution" argument is an example of creationists projecting their own mentality onto evolution, and then attacking the resulting strawman, ironically, for the very aspects that come from creationism. Creationism describes separate and distinct species: "each according to its kind". Creationists therefore make the same assumption: species are separate, indivisible, and disconnected. When they project this mentality onto evolution, they run into an obvious problem: there is no way for the process of evolution to "jump" over the invisible "barrier" between species. The problem is that they are assuming that this barrier exists! The terms "microevolution" and "macroevolution" are not found in biology; they are creationist inventions. Gradual changes eventually add up, and can turn one species into two, or they can cause a species to change so much that it becomes a distinct species from its predecessors.

As a thought experiment, consider human beings. It is generally assumed that any male/female pair of healthy human beings can produce children. But biological reproduction is a complex process, and it requires great genetic commonality. We know that two modern human beings can produce children, but what about a modern woman and a man from ten thousand years ago? What about a modern woman and a man from fifty thousand years ago? Is there still enough genetic commonality? Species are not delineated by distinct, clear boundaries. Rather, they are defined by intersterility and overt physical characteristics, and there is no "barrier" between species for the process of evolution to hurdle.



TOPICS: General Discusssion
KEYWORDS: crevolist
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To: PatrickHenry
Now as for the so-called "irreducible systems like the eye and the flagella," if evolution had an explanation for those, would you then abandon ID?

I've probably heard it before. But feel free to post a link.

701 posted on 03/19/2002 10:20:03 AM PST by Aquinasfan
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To: Doctor Stochastic
“The degree of complexity tells us one is designed and one is not. Similarly, we know a rock bridge can form by natural processes alone, but the Golden Gate Bridge was designed.

Some will say that this analogy is true for art and engineering, but not for biological systems. Even though a fine painting or the Golden Gate Bridge obviously didn't just happen by chance, biological systems have ongoing processes that don't occur with paints or bridge components. I agree that this contention has some truth. However, as noted above, even in biological systems, undirected evolution of functional complexity still has theoretical problems (ie the math situation mentioned above). Therefore, I still contend that complexity, whether in biological or nonbiological systems, can give evidence for design.

One more comment. Some scientists simply say that an intelligent design hypothesis has no place in science. However, this assumption is generally made without scientific support as to why it is true. In fact, the search for intelligent design is used all the time in certain aspects of science. For instance, forensic science tries to discern if a possible crime was an accident or "designed." Similarly, archeological science looks for evidence of design and seeks the identity of the designers.

Some people counter this argument by saying that for archeology or crime cases, we know there could be an intelligent person behind the observation (ie we know that people commit crimes or make artifacts). On the other hand, in the case of living systems, we haven't ever seen one originated by a personal designer.

One flaw with this response is that the same criticism can apply to saying evolution produced very diverse creatures. We have never seen a new creature arise simply by random, natural processes. In making this statement, I am excluding small developments created by artificial breeding. This would include fruit fly "species" that cannot mate with each other, as well as some plant breeding phenomena. These developments involve very small effects compared to what must happen to start with slime molds and evolve biochemists and race car drivers.

There is another flaw with the "we never saw this" statement. Just because one has never seen a divine designer, doesn't automatically mean one does not exist. Unless there is reason to rule out the possibility of a designer for living species, then one is possible. “

Robert DiSilvestro, Ph.D. Biochemistry

702 posted on 03/19/2002 10:24:42 AM PST by Heartlander
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To: Junior
Why? If the situation is stable, so should be the critters adapted to take advantage of that situation.

Because by definition every creature descended from some other creature by small variation. These transitional forms should fill the fossil record. Instead, all we see is morphological stasis.

One especially abrupt appearance of new forms occurred in the Cambrian explosion.

703 posted on 03/19/2002 10:25:00 AM PST by Aquinasfan
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To: Heartlander
So you are claiming that rock bridges are not designed, but natural? Formed by natural processes? No designer at all?
704 posted on 03/19/2002 10:29:00 AM PST by Doctor Stochastic
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To: Aquinasfan; junior
Me: "Now as for the so-called irreducible systems like the eye and the flagella, if evolution had an explanation for those, would you then abandon ID?"

You: I've probably heard it before. But feel free to post a link.

Junior has all those links at his fingertips. Perhaps he'll take the time to give them to you. However, you really didn't answer the question, which I now repeat: "... if evolution had an explanation for those, would you then abandon ID?"

705 posted on 03/19/2002 10:33:55 AM PST by PatrickHenry
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To: Junior
The entire population of the daughter species is reproductively isolated from the parent species. It doesn't work with one individual -- you need a breeding population.

OK. I don't get it.

As far as I can tell, the "daughter species" gets isolated geographically from the "parent species." Over time, members of the daughter species mutate. Eventually the cumulative effect of the variations makes it impossible for members of the daughter species to mate with members of the parent species.

So far so good?

My problem is, somewhere along the line one member of the daughter species mutated enough to become reproductively isolated from the parent species. But at the same time that creature must necessarily be reproductively isolated from the other members of the daughter species, unless an opposite sex member of the daughter species mutated comparably simultaneously.

706 posted on 03/19/2002 10:34:35 AM PST by Aquinasfan
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To: PatrickHenry
"... if evolution had an explanation for those, would you then abandon ID?"

It would certainly affect my opinion. I don't know whether it would be decisive. Like everyone else, my judgement is based on my assessment of all of the evidence that I have seen. As in the case of the woodpecker, I usually find the ID or Creationist explanation to better conform to the evidence.

707 posted on 03/19/2002 10:37:48 AM PST by Aquinasfan
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To: Doctor Stochastic
”…we know a rock bridge can form by natural processes alone…

I am quoting my initial quote.
To answer your question, yes, a rock bridge can form by natural process.

708 posted on 03/19/2002 10:41:02 AM PST by Heartlander
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To: Heartlander
What features show the rock bridge to not be designed?
709 posted on 03/19/2002 10:42:50 AM PST by Doctor Stochastic
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To: Aquinasfan
My problem is, somewhere along the line one member of the daughter species mutated enough to become reproductively isolated from the parent species. But at the same time that creature must necessarily be reproductively isolated from the other members of the daughter species, unless an opposite sex member of the daughter species mutated comparably simultaneously.

Not only does that sort of thing not happen in nature, but they sat there for years trying to cause that to happen with fruit flies which produce new generations every few days and could not figue a way to. Kind of like saying that a time machine or a faster than light volkswagon is too complicated for man to build but, if you wait long enough, it'll just sort of come together naturally...

710 posted on 03/19/2002 10:44:16 AM PST by medved
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To: Aquinasfan
No, no, no. At one point a member of the isolated daughter species mutates just enough not to interbreed with the parent species, but not enough to not interbreed with the rest of the daughter species. The daughter species has been moving genetically away from the mother species all that time.

Don't picture a breeding population as a point along a spectrum, picture them as a cloud of dots, denser in the center and sparser on the fringes. When a daughter population is split from the group, picture that dense center splitting and gradually moving apart. For awhile the fringes are quite capable of intermixing, but as the dense centers move farther and farther apart the fringes become less and less interactive until there is nothing linking the two clouds any more.

711 posted on 03/19/2002 10:55:22 AM PST by Junior
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To: Doctor Stochastic
The same features as a sand dune.

We are about to embark into a circular argument that can go both ways. The question is Intelligent Design and I understand the natural design argument that you are about to pose…

But your argument is that everything occurred naturally – Life, the Universe, and everything. That being the case, I will stick with Douglas Adams’ answer of 42 – it makes as much sense. It is meaningless.

712 posted on 03/19/2002 10:57:01 AM PST by Heartlander
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To: gore3000
So first of all, I am very suspicious of that statement.

If I understand the following reference correctly, the base pairs under discussion are in fact identical.

good discussion of this stuff

Secondly, that would be an example of devolution - making a species less fit. Mutations seem to do that.

True, most mutations are harmful. However, this particualr one did not decrease the fitness of the organism, as it preusmably ate fruit, like modern people and chimps do. It did decrease the fitness of 'limeys' many millenia later (that's how ascorbic acid was discovered)

one mutation made it unworkable in both man and chimp is not to be wondered at. It is a slim chance, but not an impossible coincidence.

Read the article I linked to, this isn't the only such 'coincidence'.

Lastly, the genes of different species are never the same even if they code for the same function

Not true. The genes I'm talking about are a counterexample.

Thanks for a civil reply.

713 posted on 03/19/2002 11:18:55 AM PST by Virginia-American
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To: Aquinasfan
A proof of the Behe school runs, "I don't understand how this could evolve, therefore it was designed."

A reply of the Dawkins school says, "Evolution is smarter than you are."

714 posted on 03/19/2002 12:08:48 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: Aquinasfan
VadeRetro: What is the barrier that prevents "microevolutionary" changes from accumulating indefinitely to "macroevolutionary" in reproductively isolated populations?

[picture of actual fossilized series follows]

Aquinasfan: The minor problem of the lack of fossil evidence, your example of the shell notwithstanding.

No! No! No weasely escapes. The state of the evidence, no matter how you lawyer it, cannot be a real-world barrier.

Darwin was puzzled by the fossil record, but he was only the first evolutionist. Real-deal scientists of today are not particularly baffled by the fossil record we see. For the most part, you just have to know where to dig.

The state of the evidence is not a barrier. What is the barrier?

Just an aside: what if the lurkers aren't as dumb as you're clearly hoping?

715 posted on 03/19/2002 12:17:06 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: Heartlander
If ID cannot be distinguished from natural causes, why add the complexity of a designer?
716 posted on 03/19/2002 12:18:51 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic
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To: VadeRetro; Aquinasfan
Darwin was puzzled by the fossil record, but he was only the first evolutionist.

Strictly speaking, Darwin was only the first Darwinist.

It is a feature of creationist arguments that every puzzlement and every dispute that has ever taken place among evolutionists since 1859 lives on--in creationist arguments.

717 posted on 03/19/2002 12:29:45 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: Doctor Stochastic
On the contrary, ID can be distinguished from natural design. Example = computer vs. rock. The argument as posed above is quite simply; the obvious distinction between intelligent design vs. natural occurrence is not being applied to biology.
718 posted on 03/19/2002 12:43:33 PM PST by Heartlander
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To: medved
Not only does that sort of thing not happen in nature, but they sat there for years trying to cause that to happen with fruit flies which produce new generations every few days and could not figue a way to. Kind of like saying that a time machine or a faster than light volkswagon is too complicated for man to build but, if you wait long enough, it'll just sort of come together naturally...

710 posted on 3/19/02 9:44 AM Hawaii-Aleutian by medved

Too funny---

"a time machine or a faster than light volkswagon is too complicated for man to build but, if you wait long enough, it'll just sort of come together naturally..."

Evolution is the millenium 3000 Brooklyn Bridge--hale bopp!

719 posted on 03/19/2002 12:56:24 PM PST by f.Christian
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To: Aquinasfan
I posted you number 680.

In 706, you told Junior:

My problem is, somewhere along the line one member of the daughter species mutated enough to become reproductively isolated from the parent species. But at the same time that creature must necessarily be reproductively isolated from the other members of the daughter species, unless an opposite sex member of the daughter species mutated comparably simultaneously.
This shouldn't be happening. You don't refute. You just repeat, having ignored every correction of your absurdly bad strawman model of what punk-eek doesn't say.

You don't want to be like gore3000, do you? He's the poster boy for Holy Warriors who brazen too long and can't acknowledge error or even slink away. So now, like the flying Dutchman, he's condemned to twist in the breeze, pretending he can't see requests to explain his false claims.

Don't go there. Learn to read the other side, answer their questions, incorporate new information, correct errors, and be an intelligent participant in an intelligent dialogue.

720 posted on 03/19/2002 1:00:52 PM PST by VadeRetro
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