I did not say it never happens, it does. But it is not common at all and it is certainly a lot less common that plain point mutations. My argument is not at all that any of the steps mentioned are totally impossible by random chance. Heck a person can buy one lottery ticket in their life and get the big prize, but it does not happen very often.
Re #6 (post#1605) - You are still greatly underestimating the ability of the genome to respond to change! Who are you to say that when new genes arise naturally that they will not be tolerated by the genome?
You are completely missing the point I am making. Let me repeat - a new gene will do absolutely nothing unless it is expressed. So a) you still do not have your 'selective advantage' to help it be perfected - even it miraculously hit on the exact code completely at random. Now this totally separate from the gene. It requires (for evolutionists) some more mutations, genome additions, etc to make the gene work. It needs in other words to become an integral part of the organism and everything that implies. In other words, what I am saying is that even a single gene is an irreducibly complex entity which needs the help of many other functions, systems, in the organism. It needs to be expressed in certain cells. Those cells need to be formed specifically in the correct quantity, in the correct places (amongst the 3 trillion or so sells in a human), they need to get nourishement, they need to be connected to the system that sends messages back and forth to other cells, they need to be turned on and off at the proper time when the function is needed and not needed, they need to be put in the correct order when a baby is growing and during other stages of human development, etc., etc., etc. Now by what magical, miraculous process are you saying that this happens in a materialistic, evolutionary way?
If you purchased a lottery ticket once a day for the next 50 years....maybe not. If you purchased a lottery ticket once a day for the next 50,000 years.....it would be a virtual certainty. And that would be a blink of an eye in the time frames we are dealing with.
Let me repeat - a new gene will do absolutely nothing unless it is expressed.
Often they are expressed. If the upstream promoter elements are duplicated as well then what is the problem? Remember the example of the bacteria in xylose I gave you before? Those duplicated genes were expressed just fine and confered a definite survival advantage. In time enough changes will take place on the duplicated genes so that those enzymes will have a higher affinity for the xylose metabolites than for glucose.
Here is the key - those changes which will optimize the gene for xylose metabolism do NOT have to happen all at once. You (and many others) have a hard time with this concept. If just ONE point mutant now allows the gene product to metabolize xylose more efficently, it will quickly predominate in the population. Now ANOTHER mutation makes the site have an even higher affinity. Keep in mind, during this time, there are MANY MORE mutations which have a NEGATIVE effect on the xylose binding site will cause the bacteria carrying them to die - we will never see the "mistakes" . Over many generations eventually you end up with a gene which was apparently "designed" to metabolize xylose.
In other words, what I am saying is that even a single gene is an irreducibly complex entity which needs the help of many other functions, systems, in the organism.
Why are you having such a hard time conceptualizing that even a change as simple as a duplication could not be tolerated by the system? You end up with a slightly different animal perhaps. You just cant predict what will happen when you start deleting or adding genes to the genome! I remember several instances where a gene which was shown in tissue culture to be important in many diverse processes in a variety of cell types. Many predicted its loss would have a drastic effect on development and function of the adult mouse. Yet Lo and behold, they knockout the gene and the mice are perfectly viable. The genome has a lot of built in redundancy. Conversely, extra genes can and do sometimes find a role in the system. The genome isnt a delicate house of cards or even a "blueprint" in a strict sense.