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Does anyone believe in Evolution anymore?

Yorzhik

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As you just learned, that's what a favorable mutation is. It's an approximation of the original allele, but one that works better in a specific environment. It's why Shannon's theory had its first application in biology.

If you don't understand that, you don't understand Shannon.
That neither refutes what Shannon says, nor does it address the problem common descent has trying to make new messages. It's not a matter of changing a message with noise, it's a matter of changing the instructions that make the sender with noise so that the sender will send a different message or changing the instructions that make the receiver with noise so that it interprets the message differently than it had before. That's why Shannon said the intent of his work was to make sure the message that was sent was the message that was received. If messages sent are better with noise then we would use them to improve all our communications.

Good. So how many parts are there in that newly-evolved system? There are three:

1. the nutrient (that particular sugar to be metabolized)

2. the enzyme that evolved to utilize the nutrient and

3. the regulator that assures that the enzyme will not be produced unless the nutrient is present.

So the system requires the nutrient, the regulator, and the enzyme interacting. If any of these parts is removed, the system will cease functioning.

See above. It precisely fits Behe's definition. I don't think you understand Behe's definition very well. Scaffolding is a very common way for irreducible complexity to evolve.
The nutrient is not controlled by the organism therefore it is not a part of the system. Your system has 2 parts, although even if you want to include the nutrient as a part your system still isn't irreducibly complex. But take the two parts with are the enzyme that utilizes the nutrient and the regulator. If you take away the regulator the system still works even if it is inefficient.

A mouse trap will catch exactly zero mice if any of the five parts are missing, it won't catch even a single mouse "inefficiently".
 

The Barbarian

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Does anyone believe in YE creationism anymore? Well, yes, there still are some people. But fewer and fewer as more and more evidence shows up...

In U.S., Belief in Creationist View of Humans at New Low
zuvfbnyfpeuurje1d5octg.png

https://news.gallup.com/poll/210956/belief-creationist-view-humans-new-low.aspx
 

The Barbarian

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That neither refutes what Shannon says,

It's what Shannon wrote about his theory.

nor does it address the problem common descent has trying to make new messages.

Your creationist leaders jerked the rug out from under you. They admit common descent of species, genera, and families.

Rather than a single common ancestor of all life, the Genesis account suggests an “orchard” of life arising from separate created kinds. The similarities at the top of this evolutionary tree may indicate actual common ancestry within the orchard of created kinds.
https://answersingenesis.org/theory-of-evolution/tree-orchard-life/

They can hardly deny the fact, but they do want to limit how far it can go. No evidence to support that, of course. You see, speciation is a fact, and the "new messages" to make them happen are merely favorable mutations, which you also just learned are well-documented.

It's not a matter of changing a message with noise, it's a matter of changing the instructions that make the sender with noise so that the sender will send a different message or changing the instructions that make the receiver with noise so that it interprets the message differently than it had before.

Such as modifying a particular allele for a protein like hemoglobin HgA to HgC. The message is interpreted differently than it was before. This one confers almost complete immunity to malaria without the life-threatening consequences of HgS. Which means the children of HgC parents have a much better chance of living long enough to reproduce. This "noise" happened to make a slightly different message, which turned out to greatly improve survival for people in areas were malaria is endemic.

Lots more of those, but I got in trouble for listing lots of them. Maybe in another post.

The nutrient is not controlled by the organism

It is. It's brought into the cell by active transport. So the system has 3 parts. Even if you want to exclude the nutrient from the system, if you do, it won't work any more. If you allow the cell to take in the nutrient (by making it available) then the system works again. As you now see, the system evolved to be irreducibly complex. Don't worry about it, Michael Behe now admits that irreducibly complex systems can evolve.

And no the system won't work without the regulator, because the enzyme will not be produced without the regulator present. And the regulator won't work without the nutrient present. And the enzyme won't work without the regulator. If one element is missing, nothing works.

A mouse trap will catch exactly zero mice if any of the five parts are missing,

This is wrong. I removed the bait platform on a mousetrap and just put the peanut butter on the latch. It caught a vole. So that's wrong, too.

It wasn't as efficient; most of the time, the mouse would get away, because it had to hit the latch just right to trip the spring.

Here's a more elaborate series of mousetraps, only the first of which is irreducibly complex:
http://udel.edu/~mcdonald/mousetrap.html
 

Yorzhik

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It's what Shannon wrote about his theory.
What Shannon wrote about his theory was that the message had to be either exact or exact enough that the noise could be removed. We couldn't have communications without it.

But Barbarian thinks communications within cells and between generations doesn't need to be exact because communications are somehow different in biology. If this were true we could find the secret biology is using to improving messages outside biology by adding noise. It's a silly notion, and Barbarian has no justification for thinking biology is different from non-biological messages (and even so-called non-biological messages are mostly biological; spending only their time outside biology in the transmission phase).

Such as modifying a particular allele for a protein like hemoglobin HgA to HgC. The message is interpreted differently than it was before. This one confers almost complete immunity to malaria without the life-threatening consequences of HgS. Which means the children of HgC parents have a much better chance of living long enough to reproduce. This "noise" happened to make a slightly different message, which turned out to greatly improve survival for people in areas were malaria is endemic.
And Behe's book The Edge of Evolution provides a strong and *unanswered* case on how degrading information did this. So, yeah, that one supports my side not yours and you'll have to find another one.

It is. It's brought into the cell by active transport.
So you want to say the active transport is part of the system? Then say that, not that the nutrient brought in is part of that system.

And no the system won't work without the regulator, because the enzyme will not be produced without the regulator present. And the regulator won't work without the nutrient present. And the enzyme won't work without the regulator. If one element is missing, nothing works.
As in your example, the enzyme will be produced but will work inefficiently. Thus, it is not irreducibly complex.

"The first mutation modified an existing enzyme to work on the new sugar in the culture. It worked O.K., but wasn't great."

To be irreducibly complex, it would have to make the enzyme just out of luck, and then out of luck the system would begin working when the regulator showed up.

This is wrong. I removed the bait platform on a mousetrap and just put the peanut butter on the latch. It caught a vole. So that's wrong, too.
Except the bait platform isn't a part of the system. A catch is - did you remove that too?

It wasn't as efficient; most of the time, the mouse would get away, because it had to hit the latch just right to trip the spring.
Ah. You didn't.

Here's a more elaborate series of mousetraps, only the first of which is irreducibly complex:
http://udel.edu/~mcdonald/mousetrap.html
There was a response to this same kind of challenge by Behe. Basically, you miss that the parts are simply replaced in each version of the series presented. And beyond that, and more importantly, the parts of the series are not steps but different creative versions of the same mousetrap used in the challenge.
 

The Barbarian

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What Shannon wrote about his theory was that the message had to be either exact or exact enough that the noise could be removed. We couldn't have communications without it.

But Barbarian thinks communications within cells and between generations doesn't need to be exact because communications are somehow different in biology.

Rather, Yorzhik still doesn't understand what Shannon found. Every one of us has dozens of mutations that neither parent had. And yet, we see fitness in natural populations increase. When you understand why this is so, then you will be on the way to understanding what Shannon information is.

If this were true we could find the secret biology is using to improving messages outside biology by adding noise.

They are called "mutations." Darwin just knew they were natural variations. Not surprisingly, the rate of mutations in most populations is optimal for the survival of those populations.

Barbarian has no justification for thinking biology is different from non-biological messages (and even so-called non-biological messages are mostly biological; spending only their time outside biology in the transmission phase).

It now becomes clear what's confusing Yorzhik. The "message" is from the individual organism's DNA. The message is by (appropriately named) Messenger RNA (m-RNA) to a ribosome in the cytoplasm. The message is then translated by a ribosome (receiver) which reads the m-RNA strand like a VCR head, and strings out amino acids as it reads the message. The ribosome is very accurate. For example, yeast ribosomes have error rates of about 10 to the -7 power. That's very, very accurate.

The "message" in a population is the population genome, the sum of the frequencies of each allele for every given gene locus.

And Behe's book The Edge of Evolution provides a strong and *unanswered* case on how degrading information did this.

Odd to consider a mutated allele that works better than the one from which it evolved as "degraded." The new allele provides very good protection from malaria, but even homozygotes don't have the crippling effects of HbS. It has spread through the population because those people with it tend to live long enough to produce offspring to adulthood. But that's not how IDers think. The fact that it works better, is secondary to the fact that it offends their sense of propriety.

So, yeah, that one supports my side not yours and you'll have to find another dodge. Playing semantic games isn't going to get you out of that fix. Substituting "degraded" for "mutated" still leaves you unable to explain why the process produced organisms more fit than before.

So you want to say the active transport is part of the system? Then say that, not that the nutrient brought in is part of that system.

Doesn't matter. The fact is, by Behe's definition, the evolved system is irreducibly complex. To make it work, you have to have three factors, the nutrient, the allele, and the regulator. Remove one of those and it won't work.

"Irreducible complexity is just a fancy phrase I use to mean a single system which is composed of several interacting parts, and where the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to cease functioning." - Michael Behe

So there you are. No excuse is going to change it.

As in your example, the enzyme will be produced but will work inefficiently. Thus, it is not irreducibly complex.

"Work inefficiently" is not part of Behe's definition. Nice try. You're between a rock and a hard place here.

To be irreducibly complex, it would have to make the enzyme just out of luck, and then out of luck the system would begin working when the regulator showed up.

Nope. You still can't get your head around the way it works. First, a number of mutations made a different enzyme increasingly efficient at metabolizing the nutrient. Then, only after that, did the regulator evolve. Initially, there were only two factors; the nutrient and the enzyme. Then, the factor prevented the enzyme from being produced unless the nutrient was present. At that point it became irreducibly complex. Not until then.

Except the bait platform isn't a part of the system.

It was on the mousetrap I bought.

But as the link shows you, they can be a lot simpler than mine and still work.

Here's a more elaborate series of mousetraps, only the first of which is irreducibly complex:
http://udel.edu/~mcdonald/mousetrap.html

The parts Behe insisted to be necessary for the mousetrap to work aren't irreducibly complex at all. And yes, Behe's response was "well, that's not what those parts are for", which shows the same flaw in his thinking that tripped him up on Hall's bacteria. (and befuddled you as well). You don't start with an enzyme and a substrate that won't work without a regulator. You start with an enzyme and a substrate that don't need a regulator. And then a mutation happens to produce a regulator. That's by analogy, how you build an arch of stones. The arch is irreducibly complex; remove one stone and the whole thing fails. So how did they build it? You scaffold it so that all the stones aren't needed to keep it up, until you have the stones in place. And then you remove the scaffolding.

It's not all that difficult to get.
 

7djengo7

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Nobody ever "believed" evolution.

If, by the word, "evolution", you are referring to the meaningless ravings that constitute Darwinism (e.g., "Dinosaurs evolved into birds", "Fish evolved into humans", etc.), I'd have to say I rather agree with you. Nobody ever believed those things. Why? Because, being meaningless, not only are they not true, but they do not even rise to the level of being false. They, simply put, are not propositions. Nobody has ever believed (nor, for that matter, denied) a non-proposition; the noise, "Dinosaurs evolved into birds", being a non-proposition (and thus, neither true, nor false) has never been believed, nor even denied, by anybody.

People "believe" in Christianity.

I don't know why you deemed it necessary, or useful, to put quotes around the word, 'believe', there. Are you trying to signify something different from what you would be signifying, were you to have left off the quotes? If so, what?

But, if you meant that people believe in Christianity, you'd be correct. Why? Because Christianity is meaningful; it is propositional, and it is true, at that. And, the fact that it is so is why it is possible for Christianity to be not only believed by people (as some do), but also, denied by people (as others do). One can deny the proposition, 'Jesus Christ rose from the dead' (though, in so denying, one will be denying truth). One cannot deny the noise, "Dinosaurs evolved into birds", since it is neither true, nor false.

Do scientists still think evolution is a good theory? Yes, of course.

Whatever is meaningless is no theory. Since, when you say "evolution", you're not referring to anything meaningful, then, when you say "evolution", you're not referring to a theory.

There is a lot of evidence for it, despite the OP. No amount of wishful thinking will make this go away. Scientists will change their minds when there is evidence that the theory is wrong. So far, that hasn't happened.

Now, when you say "Scientists will change their minds when there is evidence that the theory is wrong", which of the following two things do you mean?

  1. "ALL scientists will change their minds when there is evidence that the theory is wrong."
  2. "SOME, THOUGH NOT ALL scientists will change their minds when there is evidence that the theory is wrong."
 

The Barbarian

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And another symptom of the declining doctrine of creationism:

Fundamentalists are vowing to make a last stand for God in Dayton, Tenn., on July 14 when a new statue will be installed on the courthouse lawn. Going up alongside a likeness of William Jennings Bryan is a depiction of Clarence Darrow, Bryan’s pro-evolution adversary in Dayton’s historic Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925.

The creationist organizing the protests is threatening to bring in a militia to thwart installation of the Darrow statue, which she calls an insult to God and Christians. It will take a lot more than that, though, to stop Americans’ growing acceptance of evolution and apparent shift away from the strict creationist view of the origin of the species.

New polling data show that for the first time in a long time there’s a notable decline in the percentage of Americans — including Christians — who hold to the “Young Earth” creationist view that humankind was created in its present form in the past 10,000 years, evolution playing no part.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...-divisions-tom-krattenmaker-column/467800001/

Evolution Is Finally Winning Out Over Creationism
A majority of young people endorse the scientific explanation of how humans evolved.

The people responsible for this shift are the young. According to a recent Pew Research Center report, 73 percent of American adults younger than 30 expressed some sort of belief in evolution, a jump from 61 percent in 2009, the first year in which the question was asked. The number who believed in purely secular evolution (that is, not directed by any divine power) jumped from 40 percent to a majority of 51 percent. In other words, if you ask a younger American how humans arose, you’re likely to get an answer that has nothing to do with God.

The increase in younger people embracing evolution is “quite striking,” says Kenneth R. Miller, a biologist at Brown University and an expert witness the landmark court case Kitzmiller v. Dover, which kicked “intelligent design” out of public school classrooms in 2005. “We’re moving in the right direction.”
...
“Young people are growing up with a less ideological closed mind,” Wolfson told me. “Which is what a lot of the anti-evolution, anti–climate evolution, anti–climate change thinking is: It’s an ideology. It’s a refusal to engage with reality. Hopefully what we’re seeing here is that younger people are less prone to that. They’re allowing themselves to see the reality in front of them, as opposed to shutting their eyes on the basis of ideological denial. … They’re growing up in the midst of the conversation, growing up in the midst of reality, being open to reality, and not simply refusing to see what’s in front of you.”
https://slate.com/technology/2015/11/polls-americans-believe-in-evolution-less-in-creationism.html
 

Stripe

Teenage Adaptive Ninja Turtle
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And another symptom of the declining doctrine of Catholicism:

New polling data show that for the first time in a long time there’s a notable decline in the percentage of Americans — including Christians — who hold to the “Young Earth” creationist view.

Darwinists are tied to the notion that the popularity of an idea is evidence for it. It's why they are so easily duped by nonsense and so enraged by the evidence.
 

Yorzhik

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Rather, Yorzhik still doesn't understand what Shannon found. Every one of us has dozens of mutations that neither parent had. And yet, we see fitness in natural populations increase. When you understand why this is so, then you will be on the way to understanding what Shannon information is.
Shannon did not find that adding noise to a message improved it. He said, "The fundamental problem of communications is that of reproducing at one point either exactly or approximately a message selected at another point."

I realize he uses the word "approximately" which is what is tripping you up. But this is only because noise is inevitable, and Shannon's theory helped us get the original message back despite the noise.

And yet, we see fitness in natural populations increase.
Yeah, you just keep saying that to yourself and maybe you can convince yourself it's true.

It now becomes clear what's confusing Yorzhik. The "message" is from the individual organism's DNA. The message is by (appropriately named) Messenger RNA (m-RNA) to a ribosome in the cytoplasm. The message is then translated by a ribosome (receiver) which reads the m-RNA strand like a VCR head, and strings out amino acids as it reads the message. The ribosome is very accurate. For example, yeast ribosomes have error rates of about 10 to the -7 power. That's very, very accurate.

The "message" in a population is the population genome, the sum of the frequencies of each allele for every given gene locus.
Shannon applies to all messages, be they in the cell, between the cells, between the organs that the cells make up, or between parent's and their children's DNA. There are even more biological messages than that. In every case, every message can only work as intended if it is received exactly as it was sent or close enough to be reconstructed as the original message. Sometimes degraded messages can be acted upon well enough to avoid catastrophe, but eventually a degraded message harm the system.

Odd to consider a mutated allele that works better than the one from which it evolved as "degraded."
And burning a bridge to hold off in invading army works better than letting them cross. It's still degradation.

Doesn't matter. The fact is, by Behe's definition, the evolved system is irreducibly complex. To make it work, you have to have three factors, the nutrient, the allele, and the regulator. Remove one of those and it won't work.
It does matter. Without adding a false factor, you only have 2.

"Work inefficiently" is not part of Behe's definition. Nice try. You're between a rock and a hard place here.
Thus, your example is outside the definition of irreducibly complex.

Nope. You still can't get your head around the way it works. First, a number of mutations made a different enzyme increasingly efficient at metabolizing the nutrient. Then, only after that, did the regulator evolve. Initially, there were only two factors; the nutrient and the enzyme. Then, the factor prevented the enzyme from being produced unless the nutrient was present. At that point it became irreducibly complex. Not until then.
You don't understand the challenge of irreducible complexity. Your example has two factors and an inefficient precursor, all derived though 1-3 mutations acting on existing structures at each step. Are you suggesting this is how all irreducibly complex things were created in biology?

It was on the mousetrap I bought.
Did the mousetrap you bought have writing on it too?

But as the link shows you, they can be a lot simpler than mine and still work.
Each has all 5 factors listed by Behe, and the series does not derive one to another.

The parts Behe insisted to be necessary for the mousetrap to work aren't irreducibly complex at all. And yes, Behe's response was "well, that's not what those parts are for", which shows the same flaw in his thinking that tripped him up on Hall's bacteria. (and befuddled you as well). You don't start with an enzyme and a substrate that won't work without a regulator. You start with an enzyme and a substrate that don't need a regulator. And then a mutation happens to produce a regulator. That's by analogy, how you build an arch of stones. The arch is irreducibly complex; remove one stone and the whole thing fails. So how did they build it? You scaffold it so that all the stones aren't needed to keep it up, until you have the stones in place. And then you remove the scaffolding.

It's not all that difficult to get.
That's the point. The scaffolding gets beyond the edge of evolution when more than two, possibly three, mutations are required to build it. Thus, as intuitive as irreducible complexity is, the idea is strengthened because the anomalies can be explained by the edge of evolution.
 

The Barbarian

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Barbarian observes:
And yet, we see fitness in natural populations increase.

Yeah, you just keep saying that to yourself and maybe you can convince yourself it's true.

Even your creationist masters admit that's a fact...
Natural selection, or “survival of the fittest,” is the observable process by which organisms with specific characteristics survive and reproduce better in a given environment.
https://answersingenesis.org/search/?refinement=&language=en&q=natural+selection

You're not just ignorant of biology, you're in the dark about creationism as well. AiG doesn't deny it, because there's no point; it's demonstrably true. Maybe you should go update a bit?

Shannon applies to all messages, be they in the cell, between the cells, between the organs that the cells make up, or between parent's and their children's DNA. There are even more biological messages than that. In every case, every message can only work as intended if it is received exactly as it was sent or close enough to be reconstructed as the original message.

Where in genetic transcription, translation, or protein synthesis, is there "intent?"

Sometimes degraded messages can be acted upon well enough to avoid catastrophe

Or, as in the cases you learned about, improve the system. How do you figure such information is "degraded" when it actually works better than the original?

but eventually a degraded message harm the system.

Sounds like a testable assumption. How does the HPAS allele in Tibetans "degrade" them? (it's the gene that allows them to live at very high altitudes without the drawbacks of increasing hematocrit levels). Tell us about that.

And burning a bridge to hold off in invading army works better than letting them cross. It's still degradation.

Suppose that instead of burning bridge, the defenders built a pulley system to swing it up so it coudn't be used until they lowered it again? Yes, burning the bridge was a feasible solution, (like a lizard sacrificing a tail to escape) but then they had to rebuild it. Building a bridge or regrowing a tail takes resources. The drawbridge was a mutation that improved the process of keeping the enemy on the other side of the river. Deceptive coloration would be an improvement for the lizard. That's how evolution works.

Doesn't matter. The fact is, by Behe's definition, the evolved system is irreducibly complex. To make it work, you have to have three factors, the nutrient, the allele, and the regulator. Remove one of those and it won't work.

It does matter. Without adding a false factor, you only have 2.

Behe merely says "part." So any part that works in the system applies. I understand that you don't like his definition, but that's the one you have. This is why Behe has admitted that it's possible for irreducible complexity to evolve, even though he thinks it doesn't.

(attempt by Yorzhik to modify Behe's definition by excluding "inefficient" systems that work)

"Work inefficiently" is not part of Behe's definition. Nice try. You're between a rock and a hard place here.

You don't understand the challenge of irreducible complexity. My example has three factors. An inefficient precursor has nothing to do with Behe's definition. I understand why you want to change it, now that you've been shown an example of an evolved irreducibly complex system, but you'll have to do with Behe's definition.

all derived though 1-3 mutations acting on existing structures at each step.

There were more than that.

Are you suggesting this is how all irreducibly complex things were created in biology?

Scaffolding is one way. Sometimes an optional feature can later become required. Sexual reproduction is like that. Would you like to learn more about those?

Did the mousetrap you bought have writing on it too?

I never considered writing to be a "part." But in some cases, I suppose it could be. As you now see, a mousetrap can work without many of the parts found on a normal mousetrap.

Each has all 5 factors listed by Behe,

Nope. It has fewer parts, read it again, carefully.

and the series does not derive one to another.

But it does. Each succeeding trap has another part added.

That's the point. The scaffolding gets beyond the edge of evolution when more than two, possibly three, mutations are required to build it.

No, that's wrong. The irreducibly complex enzyme system I showed you, had more than that.

As I said, even Behe now admits in principle that irreducible complexity can evolve. This one just never worked for ID, and few IDers say much about it, any more.



coagulation as viewed from a comparison of puffer fish and sea squirt genomes
Yong Jiang and Russell F. Doolittle
PNAS June 24, 2003 100 (13) 7527-7532
Abstract
The blood coagulation scheme for the puffer fish, Fugu rubripes, has been reconstructed on the basis of orthologs of genes for mammalian blood clotting factors being present in its genome. As expected, clotting follows the same fundamental pattern as has been observed in other vertebrates, even though genes for some clotting factors found in mammals are absent and some others are present in more than one gene copy. All told, 26 different proteins involved in clotting or fibrinolysis were searched against the puffer fish genome. Of these, orthologs were found for 21. Genes for the ``contact system'' factors (factor XI, factor XII, and prekallikrein) could not be identified. On the other hand, two genes were found for factor IX and four for factor VII. It was evident that not all four factor VII genes are functional, essential active-site residues having been replaced in two of them. A search of the genome of a urochordate, the sea squirt, Ciona intestinalis, did not turn up any genuine orthologs for these 26 factors, although paralogs and/or constituent domains were evident for virtually all of them.
 

Stripe

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Barbarian observes:

No, he doesn't. He lies. Constantly.

We see fitness in natural populations increase.

Even [AIG says] that's a fact.

Nope. You quote AIG as far as you're able before it rejects what you say.


Barbarian: Natural selection, or “survival of the fittest,” is the observable process by which organisms with specific characteristics survive and reproduce better in a given environment.

AIG continues: It is considered a driving force for evolution, but natural selection results in a loss or reshuffling of genetic information, not the gain of information required for evolution.



Time to retract your lie oh that's right you can't you're sold out to Darwinism.
 

chair

Well-known member
If, by the word, "evolution", you are referring to the meaningless ravings that constitute Darwinism (e.g., "Dinosaurs evolved into birds", "Fish evolved into humans", etc.), I'd have to say I rather agree with you. Nobody ever believed those things. Why? Because, being meaningless, not only are they not true, but they do not even rise to the level of being false. They, simply put, are not propositions...

It would be helpful if you paid attention to what I wrote, and didn't take things out of context:
Nobody ever "believed" evolution. People "believe" in Christianity. People "believe" in Islam. "Belief" is not part of the discussion of a scientific theory.

Evolution is not a question of belief. It is not a religion. Neither is the Theory of Evolution.

Calling something "ravings" is easy, but without some solid evidence- meaningless in a serious discussion.

Have a nice day.
 

7djengo7

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Evolution is not a question of belief.

If you mean that the word, 'evolution', is "not a question of belief", indeed, you're spot-on correct; the word, 'evolution', is a word--a meaningless one, at that (at least, it is meaningless as it is used by Darwin cheerleaders); the word, 'evolution', is not a question of belief, just as it is not a chair, or a table, or a coffee mug.

It is not a religion.

I agree that the word, 'evolution', is not a religion.

Neither is the Theory of Evolution.

I agree, also, that the phrase, "the Theory of Evolution", is not a religion. It's just a phrase--a slogan. Now, one thing that is never denoted by the phrase, "the Theory of Evolution", is a theory. For, in order to be a theory, something has to be either true, or false; and, for something to be either true, or false, it has to be meaningful, rather than meaningless. But, the ravings denoted by the phrase, "the Theory of Evolution", are--being the ravings that they are--meaningless.

Calling something "ravings" is easy,

Oh, I know; especially when that "something" IS ravings. Calling ravings ravings (as I do when I call the meaningless Darwin-cheerleading slogans--"Dinosaurs evolved into birds" and "Fish evolved into humans"--ravings) is as easy as it gets! Now, why, exactly, shouldn't I call ravings ravings?

but without some solid evidence- meaningless in a serious discussion.

Of course, it's easy for you to say, of one thing, "That's some solid evidence", while saying, of another (and opposite) thing, "That's no solid evidence". Why is this? Simple. Because you mean absolutely nothing by the word, "evidence"; much less do you mean anything by the phrase, "solid evidence". Your saying such things will not fail to be purely emotive, and nothing more; mere expressions of what you like, and of what you dislike.

Have a nice day.

Saying "Calling something ravings is easy [blah blah blah]" is easy. Saying "Have a nice day" and lighting out without even trying to defend (from the ridicule due them) the ravings you venerate (while vainly imagining that they're, somehow, not ravings)--I suppose you'd have to inform me as to whether or not that was easy.
 

chair

Well-known member
The Theory of Evolution is a scientific theory. It may be correct or incorrect. It can be judged by its ability to explain the data that we have. This is not a question of belief. You can argue about it, and try to show how it is incorrect, or doesn't explain the data that we have, but it is not a religion or a matter of belief, any more than Boyle's Law is a matter of Belief or Religion. These theories are not "ravings".

Have a nice day.
 

Stripe

Teenage Adaptive Ninja Turtle
LIFETIME MEMBER
Hall of Fame
The Theory of Evolution is a scientific theory. It may be correct or incorrect. It can be judged by its ability to explain the data that we have. This is not a question of belief. You can argue about it, and try to show how it is incorrect, or doesn't explain the data that we have, but it is not a religion or a matter of belief, any more than Boyle's Law is a matter of Belief or Religion. These theories are not "ravings".

Have a nice day.

Which is why we criticize the likes of Barbarian — and basically every other proponent of the theory — for calling it a fact.

Then they lecture us on what theory means in science. :rolleyes:
 

chair

Well-known member
Which is why we criticize the likes of Barbarian — and basically every other proponent of the theory — for calling it a fact.

Then they lecture us on what theory means in science. :rolleyes:

There is a theory of evolution, which claims, among other things, a mechanism of evolution.
There is the observed fact of evolution, i.e. that the living things we see today are not the same ones that were here many years ago.
 
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