Subject:
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Re: Problems with Darwin's theory
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 7 Feb 2001 03:33:55 GMT
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Viewed:
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667 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Steve Chapple writes:
> Can someone demonstrate how the fossil record supports evolution?
For the 39th time.
The fossil record seems to indicate that species appear, then disappear.
Take trilobites, for example. Older ones are not as specially diverse as
later ones. But after the Devonian extinction, they're all gone. Where did
they go?
Other species are present in the record instead, apparently occupying the
same or similar morphological niches.
This seems to lend credence to the idea that not all species have been here
since the start point of life on the planet. Hence, that species seem to
come and go, hence that there is some process at work creating new ones, and
eliminating old ones.
The fossil record does not *explain* that process. It does not *prove* that
process exists, but such a process is a good explanation of what we know of
the record so far, and a good predictor of the types of things that we would
expect to find where we haven't examined the record yet. And voila, we tend
to find things that evolution predicts we will when we go looking for them.
That is a demonstration.
Hence, the fossil record "supports" evolution. As do so many other things.
My favorite of course is "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny", but the
DNA/protein/enzyme analysis studies done that predict how closely related
various pairs of species are, and that seem to align very well with the
evolutionary tree are another favorite.
Whether you grasp any of this is an open question. But the probability seems
to be diminishing. It's not as low a probability as the probability that
Literal Creation is a better explanation for the fossil record than
evolution, but it's getting closer.
Wanna try for 40 times?
++Lar
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Problems with Darwin's theory
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| (...) Just a note: Trilobites as a group aren't gone after the Devonian. They take a major hit in the Devonian extinctions, but have a minor comeback, surviving until the Permian. However, that means it's a great example of evolution, extinction, (...) (23 years ago, 7-Feb-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Problems with Darwin's theory
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| (...) Good point - Lack of common definitions is often a problem with these types of discussions. I'll admit right away that I'm not the one to do the defining - I chose Physics over Biology. Archeology isn't my area either, which is part of why I'm (...) (23 years ago, 7-Feb-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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