Flaws in Evolution
Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 6:50 pm
Found this and thought it was helpful. Just wanted to share it with you guys. I want to share it with a friend of mine. Any flaws I should know about?
Evolution
Evolution
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." (Psalm 19:1)
https://discussions.godandscience.org/
Hmm, I liked the website beyond that article (which I didn't read, because I simply don't believe in evolution ). Great articles to read.Mystical wrote:Found this and thought it was helpful. Just wanted to share it with you guys. I want to share it with a friend of mine. Any flaws I should know about?
Evolution
this is actually one good line amidst plenty of ignorant remarks. the transitional fossils that so many are looking for will never be found because all organisms are transitional. every organism that ever lived is just a little bit different than the last, that is how evolution works.Have you heard of the "Missing Link"? A title like that makes it sound as though if we could just find one more link between apes and men we'd have it made. Not true. The truth is, they're all missing!
that is because the theory of evolution does not concern this. the theory of evolution only concerns the differentiation of organisms through reproduction and natural selection.Evolution has no good explanation for how something as complex as life arose from nothing.
evolution posits that complex life only comes from life. the origin of life is thought by many to have been a long process of developing organisation of certain chemicals that are able to keep their form. they developed much like how evolution happens, merely because they were able to 'survive' or stay intact.Simply stated, life either comes from life or it does not.
i simply don't see how you believe this. evolution states that life does not come from life? complex life does not come from non-life, but it is quite apparent that life developed from non-life because we are all made of non-living particles. it is possible for our bodies to be broken down into non-living molecules.Creation and all empirical evidence teaches the former, evolution teaches the latter.
life is made up of non-living particles. we are made of the same things as the rest of the universe, which is described as non-living. it seems to me then that life is a characteristic of complexity, not simply of being. life is the organisation of non-living particles. in this way it is easy to see that life originally developed from non-life. life has since been increasing in complexity because complexity has served for better survival.For evolution to be true, life had to come from non-life at some point in the past. Pasteur showed over 100 years ago that this does not happen (remember the flies-coming-from-garbage theory?). What we see in reality is that life does not spontaneously generate from non-life. Life from life, kind from kind, just as the Bible teaches.
the idea missed in this argument is that there are neccessary 'ingredients' missing in a dead organism. a plane cannot fly without fuel. the difference between a live body and a dead one is that the dead one does not have energy flowing through it.Another thing missed in this idea of parts is that life cannot come into being just by getting the right ingredients together. An airplane is millions of non flying parts put together by design to fly. In the same way, we are millions of nonmoving parts that live! Life cannot evolve from death. The only difference between a live body and a dead one is . . . what? It just stops being alive. Making the physical parts necessary for life does not make life.
so a chemically enriched ocean surrounded by numerous gases is a less likely place for chemicals to organise into life than a desolte rock with no atmosphere and no liquid water? or is the author here trying to say that because anyone can come up with theories based on what humanity has recorded to have observed, then this one theory that gets you uptight must be incorrect?Many scientists recognize this fact, and the naturalist theories conjured up to explain the problem only highlight evolution's bankruptcy as a theory. Fred Hoyle, the originator of the steady state universe theory (which he later abandoned), in his book Lifecloud: the Origin of Life in the Universe, lists evidence why it would be impossible for life to begin here on earth, and then presents a theory that life originated on comets! Francis Crick, who received the Noble Prize for his discovery of the DNA molecule, fills the first half of his his book, Life Itself, with reasons why life could not originate on our planet—and then he proceeds to suggest that it came from outer space on rockets ("panspermia")!
the author here forgets that science does not posit that everything is up to chance. in fact, just the opposite is implied. everything has a cause. it would take a lot less time than 800,000,000,000,000 years for 1,000,000 monkeys to type shakespeare because the monkeys would evolve and learn higher levels of thinking and one of them would grow up in the right environment to start writing dramatic and sometimes tragic and ironic plays. Wait, this is what happened, isn't it?Time and chance are the creators of evolutionists. The idea is that given enough time, anything possible will happen. But will it really? Consider: How long do you suppose it would take 1,000,000 monkeys typing at 100 wpm for 24 hours a day to type the first four words of a Shakespeare play by chance? Estimates are somewhere around 800,000,000,000,000 years. That's a long time for four words! Now imagine a DNA strand containing the equivalent of 500,000 pages of words being formed by chance (chance cannot actually "do" anything of course - it is merely a description of odds). The actual odds of the DNA of a simple microorganism randomly reaching required specificity is 1 in 10 to the 78,000th power. How high are these odds? Consider that the number of atoms in the entire universe is about 10 to the 80th power. And it gets even worse.
Really? Then why are there such stark contrasts between...say, birds and dinosaurs?this is actually one good line amidst plenty of ignorant remarks. the transitional fossils that so many are looking for will never be found because all organisms are transitional. every organism that ever lived is just a little bit different than the last, that is how evolution works.
But the purpose of evolution is to explain how life came to be naturalistically...so if the first life can't be explained naturalistically, you have a problem. Dawkins obviously knows this, as he felt complelled to write a book begging the question in order to defend his views.that is because the theory of evolution does not concern this. the theory of evolution only concerns the differentiation of organisms through reproduction and natural selection.
What one thinks is now synonymous with evidence?evolution posits that complex life only comes from life. the origin of life is thought by many to have been a long process of developing organisation of certain chemicals that are able to keep their form. they developed much like how evolution happens, merely because they were able to 'survive' or stay intact.
No, it is not apparent. It's reading your philosophy into the evidence. A car is made out of several naturally occuring materials, but it is not "apparent" that the car came to be naturalistically.i simply don't see how you believe this. evolution states that life does not come from life? complex life does not come from non-life, but it is quite apparent that life developed from non-life because we are all made of non-living particles. it is possible for our bodies to be broken down into non-living molecules.
A computer is not alive. A man with a bullet hole through his head is not living, even though he has not lost any complexity. Also, you're begging the question. Something must be alive for more complexity to make it survive better.
life is made up of non-living particles. we are made of the same things as the rest of the universe, which is described as non-living. it seems to me then that life is a characteristic of complexity, not simply of being. life is the organisation of non-living particles. in this way it is easy to see that life originally developed from non-life. life has since been increasing in complexity because complexity has served for better survival.
You seem to miss the point of the odd explanation. It's that dumb animals by random chance cannot type out Shakespeare. You're using intelligence in your version to get the works produced.the author here forgets that science does not posit that everything is up to chance. in fact, just the opposite is implied. everything has a cause. it would take a lot less time than 800,000,000,000,000 years for 1,000,000 monkeys to type shakespeare because the monkeys would evolve and learn higher levels of thinking and one of them would grow up in the right environment to start writing dramatic and sometimes tragic and ironic plays. Wait, this is what happened, isn't it?
Infinite causual regression. Now you're talking nonsense. And, nothing can go on infinitely-the universe is only 14-15 billion years old.the flaw in the logic this author is using is that change within the system does not occur, or that it is too small to be noticable. one thing causes another and that causes another thing and so on and all these causes and effects affect each other. this goes on infinitely. nothing is random, it is caused by something, which is caused by something else before it. in this way, if there is even the slightest chance that life could develop from chemicals, then we could be that small chance. if there is a chance, it can still happen, no matter how remote the chance is.
i might be back for more refutation, but this article is a bit assinine and its late.
Wait, you're saying logic transcend the individual? But aren't you a materialist-everything has its root in some physical thing (for lack of a better word) meaning that logic is somewhere, physically, in a man's head. So, you are now contradicting yourself. Great work team.the flaw in the logic this author
because there are millions of years between them. there might have existed proto-birds at the time of the dinosaurs, but that was in the jurassic or cretatious; dinosaurs were around for about 200 million years, thats plenty of time for them to differentiate drastically. you are making god out to be a pansy without any ability to do anything if you think he has to design each and every thing himself. rather than that, he is able to know how every cause brings and effect and what that effect will be. he is able to guide the universe without actually interfering with it (except in the case of jesus, but that was neccessary).AttentionKMartShoppers wrote:Really? Then why are there such stark contrasts between...say, birds and dinosaurs?
it can be explained naturalistically, it just hasn't been proven. there have been many experiments which have formed life out of mere chemicals, electricity and seawater. it is possible.But the purpose of evolution is to explain how life came to be naturalistically...so if the first life can't be explained naturalistically, you have a problem. Dawkins obviously knows this, as he felt complelled to write a book begging the question in order to defend his views.
i could say the same for religion. but i try not to be condescending to other's belief's; it goes against everything jesus taught humanity.What one thinks is now synonymous with evidence?
reading your philosophy as evidence is believing that god is real based only on the bible. you are still using the argument that something complex cannot come from uncomplexity. i agree with you, but that doesn't disprove evolution. actually, it agrees with evolution. of course a car cannot occur naturally, but the metal used to make a car occurs naturally. single cells did not form from chemicals. the nucleotides and RNA formed from chemicals. the RNA formed structure. the structure became a cell. the cell began living communally (the ones that did were more likely to survive). the multicellular became varied. they became complex. this is how life formed.No, it is not apparent. It's reading your philosophy into the evidence. A car is made out of several naturally occuring materials, but it is not "apparent" that the car came to be naturalistically.
a car without gas will not run. yes it must be alive, that is why evolution depends on survival. why do you think a rabbit runs from a wolf. a bullet in the head disrupts the structure that controls the body. without fuel pumping through the body, cells no longer recieve vital nutrients. when the brain is dead, there is no longer a structure through which energy can flow.A computer is not alive. A man with a bullet hole through his head is not living, even though he has not lost any complexity. Also, you're begging the question. Something must be alive for more complexity to make it survive better.
yeah, i agree with that. but the logic he uses is ignorant to many facets of reality. just by walking around outside, in nature, one can see that the world does not work like he interprets it. and what difference does intelligence make? we are more intelligent than our beastly cousins, are we not? we became intelligent, most likely, through a process of survival. those who were smarter, survived because they could figure out how to. given a few million years and the ability to survive that long, a bunch of monkeys will evolve, most likely intelligently, but it all depends on their environment. the reason nothing intelligent evolved for billions of years before is because there was no need to. organisms survived without having to become intelligent.You seem to miss the point of the odd explanation. It's that dumb animals by random chance cannot type out Shakespeare. You're using intelligence in your version to get the works produced.
i know that. i'm glad you do too, though. but there must have been something before the big bang, even before god. either that, or god must be eternal. existence cannot exist with a beginning because that means that there was nothing and nothing is something so that means that there was always existence.Infinite causual regression. Now you're talking nonsense. And, nothing can go on infinitely-the universe is only 14-15 billion years old.
the flaw in the logic this author
stop putting words in my mouth. the way i see the world might be labeled materialistic, but in actuality, its just another way of explaining the same things you observe. logic is one's own way of leading one cause to an effect. it is based on that person's entire experience. therefore it is truth in the mind of the person, but not neccessarily truth in reality.Wait, you're saying logic transcend the individual? But aren't you a materialist-everything has its root in some physical thing (for lack of a better word) meaning that logic is somewhere, physically, in a man's head. So, you are now contradicting yourself. Great work team.
There is no evidence for any transition. And don't go off and attack something else.because there are millions of years between them. there might have existed proto-birds at the time of the dinosaurs, but that was in the jurassic or cretatious; dinosaurs were around for about 200 million years, thats plenty of time for them to differentiate drastically. you are making god out to be a pansy without any ability to do anything if you think he has to design each and every thing himself. rather than that, he is able to know how every cause brings and effect and what that effect will be. he is able to guide the universe without actually interfering with it (except in the case of jesus, but that was neccessary).
Dogmatic claims, undogmatically defended. And if you're referring to the Miller-Urey experiment...that's been shown wrong for several decades. If you'referring to something else, to tell what it is.it can be explained naturalistically, it just hasn't been proven. there have been many experiments which have formed life out of mere chemicals, electricity and seawater. it is possible.
I'd agree. Atheism has no evidence for it (because there can be no such thing as evidence for a belief that something does not exist). Christianity does have evidence though. So please, learn just A LITTLE bit about Christianity before you go and mock it.i could say the same for religion. but i try not to be condescending to other's belief's; it goes against everything jesus taught humanity.
http://www.arn.org/docs/odesign/od171/rnaworld171.htmreading your philosophy as evidence is believing that god is real based only on the bible. you are still using the argument that something complex cannot come from uncomplexity. i agree with you, but that doesn't disprove evolution. actually, it agrees with evolution. of course a car cannot occur naturally, but the metal used to make a car occurs naturally. single cells did not form from chemicals. the nucleotides and RNA formed from chemicals. the RNA formed structure. the structure became a cell. the cell began living communally (the ones that did were more likely to survive). the multicellular became varied. they became complex. this is how life formed.
Once again, just storytelling. And there is no goal of evolution, so why are you using the word need?yeah, i agree with that. but the logic he uses is ignorant to many facets of reality. just by walking around outside, in nature, one can see that the world does not work like he interprets it. and what difference does intelligence make? we are more intelligent than our beastly cousins, are we not? we became intelligent, most likely, through a process of survival. those who were smarter, survived because they could figure out how to. given a few million years and the ability to survive that long, a bunch of monkeys will evolve, most likely intelligently, but it all depends on their environment. the reason nothing intelligent evolved for billions of years before is because there was no need to. organisms survived without having to become intelligent.
Nonsense. Pure nonsense. That which begins to exist had a cause, God did not have a cause, therefore God does not have a cause. God is eternal. Universe, though, is 14-15 billion years old though.i know that. i'm glad you do too, though. but there must have been something before the big bang, even before god. either that, or god must be eternal. existence cannot exist with a beginning because that means that there was nothing and nothing is something so that means that there was always existence.
So, if I believe life didn't evolve...that's still somehow true? Even though it contradicts your "truth?" I think your statement is self-defeating. You're saying truth is subjective...but if that statement is true, then truth is not subjective! This is awesome, I love this stuff!stop putting words in my mouth. the way i see the world might be labeled materialistic, but in actuality, its just another way of explaining the same things you observe. logic is one's own way of leading one cause to an effect. it is based on that person's entire experience. therefore it is truth in the mind of the person, but not neccessarily truth in reality.
every fossil is evidence, every living organism is evidence. evidence does not have to prove something, it just has agree with our model for our model to be accurate. if a piece of evidence doesnt agree with our model, then we change the model.AttentionKMartShoppers wrote:There is no evidence for any transition. And don't go off and attack something else.
i dont remember the others, but the miller-urey experiment more than showed the possibility that life formed from chemicals through completely natural causes. i don't know of a scientific refutation of the experiment though, could you please supply one?Dogmatic claims, undogmatically defended. And if you're referring to the Miller-Urey experiment...that's been shown wrong for several decades. If you'referring to something else, to tell what it is.
i agree that atheism has, nor ever will have any evidence for it. and i was not mocking christianity, i actually believe in what jesus taught.I'd agree. Atheism has no evidence for it (because there can be no such thing as evidence for a belief that something does not exist). Christianity does have evidence though. So please, learn just A LITTLE bit about Christianity before you go and mock it.
sorry i got caught up in the creationist method of argument.And I do not believe God exists JUST because of just the Bible. Stop attacking me without knowing what I believe. You make me up as you go along.
oh, well it seemed like you were saying life is too complex for it to have evolved when you likened it to an airplane occuring naturally. the fact that we are only made of elements that can be found anywhere in the universe is not proof of evolution, but evidence for its possibility. the sole purpose of my posts in this thread were to refute some of the outrageous and irrational claims in the link the thread starter posted. i am not trying to disproove christianity, or god, or any religion. i am only here to clear up misconceptions of the theory of evolution.And my argument is not, once again, based on "it's too complex"-my statement was to show that you claiming that the fact that life is made out of non-living matter somehow proves we evolved from non-living chemicals!
The fact doesn't contradict your beliefs, yes, nor mine, but it doesn't prove yours is right over mine!
sorry, forgot you folk only like one story. there is a goal in evolution, the same goal every living thing has; to survive.Once again, just storytelling. And there is no goal of evolution, so why are you using the word need?
depends on what you define as the universe. can you imagine nothing? can you imagine something created from nothing? no? then you agree that there must have always been something. maybe what you call god is this something that has existed eternally and put our universe in motion 14 billion years ago. i don't doubt the age of our universe to be just that, but i do doubt that there was nothing before the big bang.Nonsense. Pure nonsense. That which begins to exist had a cause, God did not have a cause, therefore God does not have a cause. God is eternal. Universe, though, is 14-15 billion years old though.
every fossil is evidence, every living organism is evidence. evidence does not have to prove something, it just has agree with our model for our model to be accurate. if a piece of evidence doesnt agree with our model, then we change the model.
So, since evolution is no longer falsifiable, it is no longer science. Every evolutionist seems to admit this-it's not falsifiable. Amazing.The famous philosopher of science Karl Popper wrote that all scientific theories
must be falsifiable.
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article5.htmli dont remember the others, but the miller-urey experiment more than showed the possibility that life formed from chemicals through completely natural causes. i don't know of a scientific refutation of the experiment though, could you please supply one?
http://www.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_ch ... iller.htmlBut the Miller-Urey experiment, important as it was, had a flaw. Urey had based his primitive-Earth atmosphere on astronomical data just then coming in, the first spectra from the giant planets in our Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These characteristic bands of color showed that the giants were swathed in atmospheres rich in methane and ammonia, thought to be left over from the planets' formation.
At the time, people thought all of the planets had once shared a "primordial" atmosphere, the result of their common birth. Because of their stronger gravity, the giants were believed to have retained this early atmosphere, while the atmospheres of Earth and the other, smaller planets had lost some of their lighter gases, hydrogen among them, to space. Thus, Urey reasoned, an early Earth atmosphere, before its hydrogen had escaped and the life-driven process of photosynthesis had boosted its oxygen, would have been a lot like a present-day giant's.
Shortly after the Miller-Urey experiment was published, however, geologists came up with new findings on Earth's volcanic emissions - and threw the old reasoning for a loop. "What comes out of volcanoes is not methane and ammonia," Kasting said, "but about 80 percent water vapor, 15 to 20 percent carbon dioxide, and traces of carbon monoxide and molecular hydrogen." James C. G. Walker, one of Kasting's graduate advisers at the University of Michigan during the 1970s, took these emissions data and balanced them against the rate at which hydrogen would be expected to escape from a planet with Earth's gravity. ("He did all this stuff on the back of an envelope," Kasting said.) What Walker came up with was a much different picture of Earth's early atmosphere: an oxygen-rich mix of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapor.
The catch is that oxygen, although an absolute necessity for multicellular, advanced life, is poison to pre-biotic synthesis. Do a Miller-Urey experiment in an oxygen-rich atmosphere, Kasting said, and "you don't form things like amino acids. There are too many oxygen atoms in there." So, over the years, "enthusiasm for the warm little pond theory has waned."
There has been a recent wave of skepticism concerning Miller's experiment because it is now believed that the early earth's atmosphere did not contain predominantly reductant molecules. Another objection is that this experiment required a tremendous amount of energy. While it is believed lightning storms were extremely common on the primitive Earth, they were not continuous as the Miller/Urey experiment portrayed. Thus it has been argued that while amino acids and other organic compounds may have been formed, they would not have been formed in the amounts which this experiment produced.
You said Christianity had no evidence for it other than the Bible. You weren't mocking, you were being ignorant of the facts.i agree that atheism has, nor ever will have any evidence for it. and i was not mocking christianity, i actually believe in what jesus taught.
....why the mocking tone? As if all creationists can't argue?sorry i got caught up in the creationist method of argument.
Like the misconception that evolution is science.i am only here to clear up misconceptions of the theory of evolution.
First, your trying to make your story scientific evidence. Second, you're not understanding me. Evolution has no goal.sorry, forgot you folk only like one story. there is a goal in evolution, the same goal every living thing has; to survive.
Based on what? The universe could not have been eternally expanding and contracting-second law of thermodynamics. Then you have the infinite causal regression again. And then you also can't have the Big Bang's cause and the Big Bang itself cotemporal with each other.depends on what you define as the universe. can you imagine nothing? can you imagine something created from nothing? no? then you agree that there must have always been something. maybe what you call god is this something that has existed eternally and put our universe in motion 14 billion years ago. i don't doubt the age of our universe to be just that, but i do doubt that there was nothing before the big bang.
I don't know if whoever said this originally was ignorant or desperate...but, it's embarrassing.The transitional fossils that so many are looking for will never be found becasue all organisms are transitional.
It's true that everypopulation that doesn't go extinct is transitional to something else, but we have to be careful to be precise about what we mean by transitional.I don't know if whoever said this originally was ignorant or desperate...but, it's embarrassing.
There's quite a number of those. Would you like to learn about some of them?Here are some questions: So every "transitional" being survived just long enough to become something else...that's why we have no fossils of the something before?
Think of it this way; there have been billions of humans in the past. How many fossils of humans are forming now? The bodies of most of us will be entirely gone within a decade of our death. However, there are enough fossil H. Sapiens out there so that there will still be a few left in a few million years. A billion, I dunno. If geology is kind, yes.So, in a billion years (according to evolution) when humans become something else, the new-humans won't find present day human fossils because we are transitioning as we speak?
That is true!...but we have to be careful to be precise about what we mean by transitional.
There are no "transitional forms", my friend. There are what many think are transitional forms.There's quite a number of those. Would you like to learn of some of them?
The point was that: "the transitional fossils that so many are looking for will never be found because all organisms are transitional" is a ridiculous statement. There's not much to think about, is there?Think of it this way...
I'm glad you are concerned about me. The point is to analyze different views on the flaws in evolution.Your first link, BTW, is Muslim...you might want to be careful about things you read there.
DittoYour second...
And? The article is discussing/criticizing evolution. This thread is to discuss those critiques and whether or not they are accurate. So, what about the article and evolution isn't correct? If you want to talk about its portrayal of Chritianity, you might have to start another thread.And the last one?
Hmmm... maybe you should define "transitional." There seem to be a very great number of them. What do you think a "transitional", if it existed, would be:There are no "transitional forms", my friend. There are what many think are transitional forms.
I think a Christian evolutionist is a more reliable witness than a Muslim creationist. But I suppose it depends on which one is more important to you.I'm glad you are concerned about me. The point is to analyze different views on the flaws in evolution.
Again, I suppose it depends whether the creationist/evolutionist or the deist/Christian issue is more important to you.Ditto.
You can't really believe that, do you?And?
Pick a paragraph, and I'll probably be able to show you at least one misconception in it. Just give me the first few words of the paragraph, and I'll see what I can do.The article is discussing/criticizing evolution. This thread is to discuss those critiques and whether or not they are accurate. So, what about the article and evolution isn't correct?
Far as I'm concerned, if they don't get that right, there's a good chance they're wrong about everything else.If you want to talk about its portrayal of Chritianity, you might have to start another thread.
Really? Is that why you seem to be having problems naming even one?Maybe you should define "transitional." There seem to be a great many number of them...
No disrespect, but why do you believe your opinions and thoughts are of any consequence? Again, and for the last time, I don't care who wrote the articles, the question and issue is whether others here believe the information presented is accurate and why or why not?I think a Christian evolutionist is more reliable...But I suppose it depends on which one is more important to you.
Nope, doesn't depend on that at all. Sorry.Again, I suppose it depends whether...issue is more important to you.
I will repeat myself only one more time: the issue is not the authors view on Christianity, but on Evolution. Maybe you would like to start another thread?You can't really believe that, do you?
No. You pick a paragraph. This thread was started so others could pick out what they felt were flaws in the information presented; the articles are available--the information has been presented.Pick a paragraph,...I'll see what I can do.
You might be right, you might be wrong. But, you haven't really proved anything, yet, have you?Far as I'm concerned, if they don't get that right, there's a good chance they're wrong about everything else.
You've said that alot. But, you're wrong again. The question is evolution, not Christianity.But again, it might depend on what's important to the person reading it.