Biological Evolution- What is being debated

In an earlier post I showed that ID is not anti-evolution. http://theskepticalzone.com/wp/intelligent-design-is-not-anti-evolution-2/

So is ID is not anti-evolution then what is being debated?

Evolution has several meanings. The meanings of evolution, from Darwinism, Design and Public Education:

  1. Change over time; history of nature; any sequence of events in nature
  2. Changes in the frequencies of alleles in the gene pool of a population
  3. Limited common descent: the idea that particular groups of organisms have descended from a common ancestor.
  4. The mechanisms responsible for the change required to produce limited descent with modification, chiefly natural selection acting on random variations or mutations.
  5. Universal common descent: the idea that all organisms have descended from a single common ancestor.
  6. “Blind watchmaker” thesis: the idea that all organisms have descended from common ancestors solely through an unguided, unintelligent, purposeless, material processes such as natural selection acting on random variations or mutations; that the mechanisms of natural selection, random variation and mutation, and perhaps other similarly naturalistic mechanisms, are completely sufficient to account for the appearance of design in living organisms. see Coyne- https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/natural-selection-and-evolution-material-blind-mindless-and-purposeless/

The debate isn’t as black & white as saying it is evo #6 against IDists, Creationists and theistic evolutionists. However it is obvious that evo #6 is what is being debated.

(Theistic evolutionists are a different breed. They don’t seem to acknowledge that evo #6 is what is being taught in our public school system. And therefore don’t appear to understand the issue. The TE’s I have debated with tell me that humans were an intended outcome of the evolutionary process, which is OK for evo #5 but defies evo #6. IOW TE’s are closet IDists.)

Creationists go with 1-4 (above), with the change in 4 being built-in responses to environmental cues or organism direction as the primary mechanism, for allele frequency change, culled by various selection processes (as well as random effects/ events/ choice of not to mate/ unable to find a mate). The secondary mechanism would be random variations or mutations culled by similar processes. IOW life’s diversity evolved from the originally Created Kind, humans included. Science should therefore be the tool/ process with which we determine what those kinds were.

With Creation vs. “Evolution #6” the 4 main debating points are clear:

1) The starting point of the evolutionary process. (What was (were) the founding population(s)?)

2) The phenotypic & morphological plasticity allowed/ extent the evolutionary process can take a population (do limits exist?).

3) The apparent direction the evolutionary process took to form the history of life. (ie from “simpler” bacteria-like organisms to complex metazoans)

4) The mechanism for the evolutionary process.

With ID vs. Evo #6 it is mainly about the mechanism- IDists go with evolution 1-5, with the Creation change to 4 plus the following caveat in 5: Life’s diversity was brought about via the intent of a design. The initial conditions, parameters, resources and goal was pre-programmed as part of an evolutionary algorithm designed to bring forth complex metazoans, as well as leave behind the more “simple” viruses, prokaryotes and single-celled eukaryotes.

IDists understand that if life didn’t arise from non-living matter via some blind watchmaker-type process, there is no reason to infer its subsequent diversity arose solely due to those type of processes (point 1 up top).

What does the data say? Well there isn’t any data that demonstrates bacteria can “evolve” into anything but bacteria. Therefore anyone who accepts evolution 5 or 6 has some splaining to do. Preferably splainations with scientific merit.

Throwing time at an issue does not splain anything:

 

If one desires to extrapolate small changes into large changes by simply adding time, one requires independent evidence to justify this move. The problem is that we really don’t know how evolution occurs. And when talking about the evolution of the mammalian middle ear bones, we should not forget that we are still basically in the dark in trying to explain how both a mammalian and reptilian zygote actually develops the middle ear and jaw bones, respectively. Without this knowledge, attempts to explain such a transition as a function of a series of small, incremental changes stretched across time are rooted in ignorance. That is, we don’t truly understand neither the process of development nor the process of evolution and without such knowledge, there is no reason to think we are on safe ground when employing (1).

Attempts to justify this move by appealing to the use of (1) in astronomy and geology fail because biotic complexity differs in both structure and formation.

One may assume (1) to explain evolutionary change as a working hypothesis, but we should keep in mind that large changes in evolution are basically a “black box” and a series of small incremental changes may play only a trivial, fine-tuning role in any transition (there is no evidence to think otherwise). What’s more, bacteria, as the predominant life forms on this planet, which have experience the most evolution of all life forms, tell us clearly that (1) need not apply to biological evolution.

In the end, appeals to small change + deep time are embraced merely as a matter of convenience, as it happens to be the primary way we can think about evolution at a time when we are just starting to come to grips with it. As we begin to better understand the process of evolution, I predict (1) will one day be viewed as a quaint understanding that served mostly to highlight just how much we didn’t understand evolution.- Mike Gene

However Father Time, Mother Nature and some still unknown natural process does make for an interesting trinity…

1,113 thoughts on “Biological Evolution- What is being debated

  1. Frankie: Except for the fact that no other discoveredsolar system is like ours.

    Argument from ignorance and begging the question. C’mon Joe…you can do better than that.

  2. Robin: Argument from ignorance and begging the question. C’mon Joe…you can do better than that.

    No, he can’t. He can’t even count his fallacies to calculate the CSI in his arguments

  3. Mung:
    Not that I think Robin is begging the question or engaging in special pleading …

    Not that I think Mung actually tried using the search terms…

  4. Robin: Argument from ignorance and begging the question. C’mon Joe…you can do better than that.

    Why, you don’t seem to be able to

  5. Robin: Heddle’s argument (and his position for that matter) as already been “trashed” (by your measures anyway).

    Evidence please- you know you have to do better than that

  6. Flint: Here we have the Adams fallacy, where the puddle wakes up and is amazed that its container is such an absolutely precise fit.

    Nonsense- puddles are not conscious nor would they think they are a perfect fit for the hole.

  7. Robin: Not that I think Mung actually tried using the search terms…

    How then do you explain the search that did turn up a result?

    You need to learn to think like Mung. 🙂

  8. Frankie: Nonsense- puddles are not conscious nor would they think they are a perfect fit for the hole.

    It seems right somehow that the Flint Fallacy would involve water.

  9. Mung: How then do you explain the search that did turn up a result?

    How do you explain my coming up with 41,200 results to your 0? What exactly did you search on and did you bother to use a search engine or simply plug terms into a Magic 8 Ball?

    You need to learn to think like Mung.

    I’d rather not…

  10. Robin: And Hawking’s argument is far more scientific than anything you’ve provided. “The Privileged Planet”? Please!

    You never read the book so your opinion is meaningless.

    Plenty of scientists have made the case the laws of physics is evidence for ID.

    Such is simply question begging, pure and simple.

    Your entire position is question begging.

    Having checked, it is not based on any peer-reviewed scientific work, Joe. None whatsoever. But do feel free to post a link to the scientific journal this “peer-reviewed work” was published in.

    It was Gonzalez’s paper “Wonderful Eclipses,” Astronomy & Geophysics 40, no. 3 (1999): 3.18- 3.20) that got it started

    then there is (G. Gonzalez, D. Brownlee, and P.D. Ward, “The Galactic Habitable Zone: Galactic Chemical Evolution”, Icarus 152 (2001):185-200)

    The fact is,, Heddle’s critique is just plain silly and wrong.

    That is your opinion and it isn’t based on anything rational.

    Things like “unguided”, “purposelessness”, “unintelligent” and “immaterial” are not claims of evolutionary theory; they are the foundations of scientific understanding.

    They weren’t when Newton and Kepler were doing science. And if they are now too bad because they are being challenged. Anyone who tries to limit science is doing a great disservice to it. There is no such rule in science, Robin.

    Science only cares about reality not what biased people say reality is.

    However there are plenty of systems that do exhibit evidence of intelligence, guidance and purpose.

    Begging the question…

    Not really. The design inference is based on our knowledge of cause and effect relationships. And any given design inference can be refuted just by demonstrating those blind and mindless processes are up to the task. But you can’t. You can only assert it.

  11. Frankie: It didn’t even deal with their arguments and evidence. Pathetic

    LOL! actually it does. Perhaps you need to up your reading comprehension…

  12. Robin,

    Things like “unguided”, “purposelessness”, “unintelligent” and “immaterial” are not claims of evolutionary theory; they are the foundations of scientific understanding.

    No, they are the foundations of materialism, which is a failed philosophy.

  13. Robin: LOL! actually it does. Perhaps you need to up your reading comprehension…

    Make the case then. When people just post a bald link and nothing else it is a sure sign that A) it doesn’t deal with the topic or B) they haven’t read or understood it.

    Make your case and I will use the book and the authors to dismantle it

  14. Robin: How do you explain my coming up with 41,200 results to your 0?

    That’s easy. You were not searching where I searched.

    What exactly did you search on and did you bother to use a search engine or simply plug terms into a Magic 8 Ball?

    All the information that you need in order to figure it out is at your disposal. I even gave you a hint in my previous post. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

  15. Frankie:
    Rumrat posted the following and it applies to evolutionists:

    Thanks, rumrat

    Yes, thanks Rumrat, that is an excellent description of Joe Francis.

  16. Frankie,

    I have a challenge for those who want me banned:”

    Nobody here wants you banned. For us people with moderate intelligence levels, reading your comments makes us thankful for the small gifts we have been given.

  17. Frankie: For example my opponent will have to say how to test the claim that vision systems evolved by means of those blind and mindless processes and I will have to say how we determined vision systems were intelligently designed.

    How the designs were implemented as well?

  18. TristanM:
    Why was this turd from 2009 dug up and dropped on our dinner plates?

    Why is it a turd? Please explain. No one forces you to read an OP nor participate in a thread

  19. Frankie:

    No, they are the foundations of materialism, which is a failed philosophy.

    Please explain how to do science without using a 100% materialistic approach. Tell us how to design a science experiment that allows for the unpredictable intervention of a supernatural Loki God.

    You’ve been running from the question for over a decade, every time you make the same dumb claim.

  20. Frankie: No, that is an ID PRATT

    You tell ’em FrankenJoe! ID isn’t about providing mechanisms or scientific explanations or testable hypotheses! ID is only about getting Christian YEC stories sneaked back into public schools!

    Baraminology for the win, right FrankenJoe? 😀

  21. Frankie: No, that is an ID PRATT

    If the implementation of design is off limits for ID, it is off limits for evolutionary theory when comparing the ‘theories’for your debate. Your need to adjust your premises, you are requiring evolution to provide mechanism while declining to provide one yourself.

  22. Adapa: You tell ’em FrankenJoe!ID isn’t about providing mechanisms or scientific explanationsor testable hypotheses! ID is only about getting Christian YEC stories sneaked back into public schools!

    Baraminology for the win, right FrankenJoe?😀

    I doubt Frankie cares whether ID is taught in the schools.

  23. Frankie:
    I have a challenge for those who want me banned:

    A debate on the merits of ID vs evolution by means of blind and mindless processes- see Coyne’s description

    For example my opponent will have to say how to test the claim that vision systems evolved by means of those blind and mindless processes and I will have to say how we determined vision systems were intelligently designed.

    If I lose or cannot support ID I will leave. If you lose or cannot support your position, you leave

    You shortly then write:

    There is no way to test the claim that the system is a product of unguided, unintelligent, purposeless material processes.

    Your challenge is disingenuous in the extreme.

  24. Frankie: The story:

    Once upon a time an anonymous troll came to my blog and started spouting off. The anonymous troll didn’t like the way I responded to its spewage and decided to call me out. It asked where I could be found.

    After pondering it I posted an arbitrary address because wtf? Of course all of my detractors instantly went to google maps/ earth to find where that was. Clueless people. But anyway one of them, again these are people who were not even in the discussion, found a parking lot that may fit that relative address. And then the mob had at it- as if they would freely give up their addresses to an anonymous troll.

    But anyway I say it was fate as the parking lot is the proverbial place to have at it. So now when the drooling mob brings it up- ie that I live some 35 miles away and I am a coward for not posting my actual address- I tell them that I am willing to meet them there. Obviously they want to make this personal and I would rather just get it over with rather than continue to waste the bandwidth.

    The moderators seem OK with letting the personal attacks continue so what better way to stop it?

    I encourage everyone to give Frankie’s summary of the history as much credence as they give his pronouncements on scientific issues.

  25. Frankie: The story:

    Once upon a time an anonymous troll came to my blog and started spouting off. The anonymous troll didn’t like the way I responded to its spewage and decided to call me out. It asked where I could be found.

    After pondering it I posted an arbitrary address because wtf? Of course all of my detractors instantly went to google maps/ earth to find where that was. Clueless people. But anyway one of them, again these are people who were not even in the discussion, found a parking lot that may fit that relative address. And then the mob had at it- as if they would freely give up their addresses to an anonymous troll.

    But anyway I say it was fate as the parking lot is the proverbial place to have at it. So now when the drooling mob brings it up- ie that I live some 35 miles away and I am a coward for not posting my actual address- I tell them that I am willing to meet them there. Obviously they want to make this personal and I would rather just get it over with rather than continue to waste the bandwidth.

    The moderators seem OK with letting the personal attacks continue so what better way to stop it?

    Not even close to true.

  26. “I have a challenge for those who want me banned”

    I’m not terribly familiar with this place, but why would anybody want to ban Joe? There are not many places left to see ID, it having been such a failure. TSZ, UD, and EN&V are the last dying sites.

  27. BTW, I bet 2017 is the year they’re going to go back to calling themselves creationists.

  28. Patrick: I encourage everyone to give Frankie’s summary of the history as much credence as they give his pronouncements on scientific issues.

    Whatever Patrick. If anyone has any evidence that contradicts what I said I challenge them to present it. Tell me what pronouncements do I make that I haven’t supported- if you can. I am sure that you can’t point to any

  29. Patrick: Your challenge is disingenuous in the extreme.

    My challenge is disingenuous because you and yours can’t support the claims of your position? How does that work?

  30. newton: If the implementation of design is off limits for ID, it is off limits for evolutionary theory when comparing the ‘theories’for your debate

    That is plain wrong for the treasons I have told you many times. Yours is the mechanistic theory that has made the claim. ID is not a mechanistic theory and did not make the same claim yours did.

    Your position made the claim and has to support it or retract it. That you can’t grasp tat simple fact tells me you aren’t interested in a discussion and you don’t understand science.

  31. Patrick,

    Earth to Patrick- if my scientific pronouncements shouldn’t be heeded then why does my saying There is no way to test the claim that the system is a product of unguided, unintelligent, purposeless material processes. – even matter? Surely you know more than I and can easily refute what I said. Or are you just full of it?

  32. Richie, I can support my story with the evidence. You will never be able to show what I said is “not true”. And I am more than OK with that.

  33. OM- do your own work- I have nothing to prove to you and I know what the word scientific means whereas you can only spell it.

  34. Frankie: ID is not a mechanistic theory and did not make the same claim yours did.

    So what claims does it make?

    Frankie: No one will ever be able to find any evidence that contradicts what I said. And I am more than OK with that.

    As ID is not a mechanistic theory, that’s no surprise is it.

    So given nobody can contradict you, by defintiion, why do you continue to post? What are you trying to achieve? Why don’t you just bask in the glory of being right?

  35. ID isn’t a mechanistic concept and that means no one will ever find any evidence that contradicts my story about the parking let? Really OM?

    If you are going to join a discussion at least try to follow along. If you want to continue to prove that evos are clueless then by all means, carry on.

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