Feedback Letter | |
Comment: | The Hubble telescope has shown our world the desolving or destroying of other stars and the forming or creation of other stars. Einstein believed in a natural balance in the universe. How can a natural balance be established through chance? Charles Darwin could not explain the eye. It does not hold up to the natural selection process. Why would a scientist as brilliant as Issac Newton believe in a code hidden in the bible? |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: |
Stars are created and destroyed through natural physical processes that we have studied for decades and that we now understand fairly well. Stars are created when large clouds of hydrogen gas, common in interstellar space, collapse under the influence of gravity. As the cloud of gas collapses, the center becomes hotter and denser, until it becomes hot and dense enough for nuclear fusion to commence. That nuclear fusion releases energy in the form of the light we see. A star is born. Stars undergo fusion for a period of time determined by the amount of hydrogen in the initial cloud. A larger star "burns" hotter, thus it uses up its nuclear fuel faster. The fate of the star is then determined by its size. A smaller star, such as our sun, will swell into a red giant, after which the core of the star collapses into a white dwarf star. A larger star, on the other hand, will become a red supergiant, such as the star Betelgeuse, which is either destroyed in a supernova explosion, or which becomes a neutron star or a black hole. Here is a picture of Supernova 1987A from the Hubble Space Telescope. Einstein's beliefs about the universe, whatever they might have been, aren't relevant to whether evolution is the best scientific explanation for the diversity of life on Earth. Darwin did explain how the eye could evolve in On the Origin of Species. In all probability, you have been shown a particular quote from that work which, when taken out of context, makes it seem as if Darwin cannot explain the evolution of the eye. A discussion of this fraudulent misquotation of Darwin can be found An Old, Out of Context, Quotation. "Codes" found in the Bible, such as those outlined by Michael Drosnin in The Bible Code, are merely the product of coincidences that can found in any work of substantial length. Darren Provine answered a similar question in the August 1997 feedback, where he pointed to Brendan McKay's demonstration of finding assassination predictions in Moby Dick. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | Okay folks...it gets no easier than what I am about to say. First, evolution cannot happen over night. It takes literally millions of years. Why is it that there is no skeleton showing the transition from...say...the cro-magnon to the neanderthal? Evolution basically says that we all evolved from the same basic creature. This would have to apply to all forms of life. Look at the bird. There is also no skeleton showing the original bird, which I remind you that there isn't one..., to the...oh say...the eagle. Why is this all adding up to showing that evolution cannot be possible? There's more...those who believe in evolution believe that they evolved from this little pile of snot...why is there no evidence of a previous skeleton before the original showing the original came from let's say a chimpanzee? Why is it that there is nothing to show the transition from monkey to man? Why is it? BECAUSE EVOLUTION IS A HOAX. THERE IS NO AGNOSTIC PROOF THAT WE CAME FROM MONKEYS. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | In order to
intelligently critique your opponents, you have to
understand what they're saying first. Evolutionists do not
say that modern humans evolved from neanderthals. Rather,
neanderthals and modern humans share a common ancestor.
Similarly, humans did not evolve from chimpanzees; we share
a common ancestor with them. We know this not only through
the fossil evidence, but through the anatomical and,
especially, the molecular evidence. It's not an accident
that we humans share nearly 99% of our DNA with
chimpanzees. We even share "pseudo-genes" that have no
useful function. (See Plagiarized Errors and
Molecular Genetics.) Why would this be so unless we
shared a common ancestor through evolution?
Nevertheless, if fossil evidence is the only thing that will convince you, then you might want to check out the Fossil Hominids FAQ and take a look at all the pictures of ape-like human skeletons. Also, ask yourself why creationists cannot even agree among themselves which primitive human fossils look like apes and which look like humans? Doesn't this very fact suggest to you that our ancestors were more ape-like than modern? |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | re:
"Patterson Misquoted"
Thank you for printing Patterson's full quote; I was always curious. However, I don't see how the full quote strengthens the evolutionary argument. In fact, it would seem that the full quote only strengthens the creationist argument that there are many questions about evolution, and much of the established facts are, as Patterson himself warns, made-up stories |
Response | |
From: | |
Author of: | Evolution and Philosophy |
Response: | Whenever a
scientist makes a public comment about a technical issue
within his/her discipline, it is open to the most amazing
distortions (especially by the press, but not in this
case). Patterson is a leading exponent of a variety of
systematics known as "pattern cladism", or "transformed
cladism", or even "reformed cladism".
Now, cladism is a formal methodology of reconstructing evolutionary relationships, mainly of modern organisms, on the basis of observations of characters they display. Pattern cladists deny that the resulting trees can logically support a particular phylogeny. They do not deny that evolution happens, nor that modern organisms have fossil ancestors. What they do object to, though, as a matter of scientific rigor, are hypotheses about this fossil being the ancestor of this modern genera or family, etc. This is the sense in which Patterson means
He's not talking about biology in general. He's talking about the discipline of classification, and in particular using modern patterns to infer the past history of a given taxon (natural grouping like a species). Pattern cladism is not the majority view, although it is a fairly persistent school of thought over the past 25 years or so. Nevertheless, even if one cannot use phylogeny as the basis for classifying organisms as pattern cladists argue from formal grounds, none of them deny that evolution occurs. What they deny is that we can know a certain level of detail about it. History is lost information (what did Julius Caesar have for breakfast the morning he crossed the Rubicon?), and so some of what occurred in the evolutionary past will be hidden from us forever. What Patterson and his opponents are arguing over is the amount we can say we know. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | You claim that it is possible to be a Christian and still be an evolutionist, but the Theory of Evolution is in direct conflict with the Bible. Evolution clearly theorizes that animal life began in the water. Generally, it is said to have evolved from fish to amphibians to reptiles and then to birds. In the Bible however, the first chapter of Genesis explains that on the fifth day God created the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and that on the sixth day He created all land animals. This obviously does not fit the phylogeny of evolution. If God had truly used evolution to produce the diversity of species that now exist, why would He place the events of the fifth and sixth days in the wrong order? God is perfect in everything He does. He does not make mistakes. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | Thanks for
your feedback on the Various Interpretations
of Genesis FAQ. Not every Christian will agree with you
on the appropriate conclusions to be drawn from the first
chapter of Genesis, especially if they have any formal
religious training in bible studies.
It is possible -- and quite common -- to be a Christian and an evolutionist. |
Feedback Letter | |
Comment: | Are there
any pictures of transitional fossils (eg half-ape,
half-human?)
And what's the answer to this one? Before the universe, there must have been something, and that thing could not have been material, it must have been spiritual. Please batter this theory for me (I'm an atheist and having trouble arguing against this one :) |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | Check out
Jim Foley's superb Hominid Fossil FAQ, which
has an entire page of
hominid fossil pictures.
As for your second question--which has nothing to do with evolution, just to make that clear--the scientific position is one of agnosticism. That is, the laws of physics break down at the Big Bang. Our ideas of causality, matter, energy, and time are based on the laws of physics in this universe, and there is no reason to think that such things apply "before" the Big Bang. Indeed, there may not even be any such thing as "before" the Big Bang. In any case, the realm is beyond the limits of scientific inquiry. An atheist might go further and ask where this "something" outside the universe came from. She would say that if a God created the universe and is omnipotent and omniscient, then He must be at least as complex as the universe itself. If that is the case, we have merely pushed the question of origins to a higher level, namely, where did God come from? But this is theology, or metaphysics, not science. |
Feedback Letter | |
Comment: | Both sides of the story should be told instead of just one side. The title of this page is "The Talk.Origins Archive: EXPLORING THE CREATION/EVOLUTION CONTROVERSY" not "proving evolution, proving creation wrong". Adding a section that actually tries to prove creation not tell people what to ask questions to creations so they could possible win the argument. I didn't see any information that said this was a site for evolution and against creation. Thank you. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | The
information you missed is set out on the introduction page
of the archive. I quote:
The archive aims to present the best possible information; and in our view this is nearly always found within the mainstream of science. The archive is not a collection of all possible opinions regardless of merit. We do encourage open debate; but we do this with links to people who hold alternative views, rather than attempting to speak on their behalf. Individual files within the archive frequently contain links to pages expressing directly relevant alternative views, and our other-links page has what may be the web's largest collection of anti-evolution links. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | I believe in evolution in that changes can happen within a population. That happened with the peppered moth in England. However, is there an observed occurence of evolution creating a "new kind" of organism? I don't mean fruit flies that have been radiated. I mean a fruit fly population that develops into a dragonfly? Something else not known? Beyond natural selection, where is the scientific evidence that all life has a common ancestor? A new kind of organism has never been observed. New species of fruit flies, corn, birds, etc., have been observed but they are still fruit flies, corn, birds, etc. The theory of evolution takes a leap from science to faith when it claims that all life has a common ancestor. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: |
There is no difference between variation and speciation. Absolutely no difference in the mechanism. It is only a question of degree. See the Introduction to Evolutionary Biology FAQ. Evolution does not predict that species "develop into" other species. It does not predict that we should see a dragonfly being born to fruit flies. If we observed that happening, the theory of evolution would be disproved, not verified. We have, however, seen new species being formed, both in the lab and in the wild. See the Observed Instances of Speciation FAQ and the More Observed Instances of Speciation FAQ. All taxonomic classifications over the rank of species are arbitrary. They are categories created by humans, names given to species of plants and animals that share common characteristics. Those names can encompass a large number of species, or they can encompass a single species, but those names are given by humans, and are not immutable. If you disagree with this, then please define what a "kind" really is. What makes one "kind" of plant or animal different from another "kind"? Keep in mind that evolution takes place over periods of time much longer than a human lifespan. We are not going to see substantially large changes in organisms in a century or less. As for evidence for common descent, you might check out the Horse Evolution FAQ and the Transitional Vertebrate Fossils FAQ, among others. There are several independent lines of evidence supporting common descent, including fossil evidence, morphological evidence, DNA evidence, embyrological evidence, and immunological evidence. You might also consider the evidence of ring species, such as coyotes, dogs, and wolves, that can mate in certain combinations with varying degrees of success. (If I remember correctly, you can get "wolfdogs" and sometimes "coydogs," but not "coywolves.") This is exactly the sort of evidence one should expect from common descent, and it is inconsistent with the notion of fixed "kinds." |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: |
Evolutionists begin with the premise "there is no God."
This is a religious belief. There is nothing in pure
biology that contradicts a belief in the Genesis record. If
you were to debate any of the Creationists you denounce, in
an open forum, you would have a tough fight. You present
Creationsists as ignorant fools. We have not done the same
to you. We only refer to scripture where God says "the fool
has said in his heart 'there is no God'".
You would not presume to understand matters of the heart and soul, would you? We all admit that they exist, but there is no science to explain them. Not all truth has a scientific explanation for the very reason that God chooses to hide many truths from us. Life is for the most part a mystery. Life without a God is misery. There is a God. It is a logical belief. Is it scientific? Not in the strict sence, since God is Spirit. Spirit is not matter. Science can only explain material things. If God chooses to exist in spite of you, what is that to you? You can not make Him not exist. You cannot prove that He does not exist if He does. The scriptures say that what can be known about God is evident in what has been made. It is illogical to believe that what has been made just came into being by itself, for the very reason that matter decays. Matter was created, if it exists at all. Go back to the big bang. What caused it? Energy. That energy came from God. It did not come of itself, sui generis. Since there is a God, science can exist, because God gave order to his creation. Without someone to order, there is chaos. The problem with pure biological science, is it's arrogance in supposing that it can answer all truth. Look deeper, and understand. Do not harden your heart toward a belief in God. You might discover new truths. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: |
Evolution, like any other science, begins with the premise that our eyes and ears do not lie to us. This shouldn't be a very controversial premise; after all, it's the same premise you use crossing a street to avoid being hit by a car. You have made the mistake that so many have made about evolution, and that is to confuse it with atheism. Evolution is not atheism. It does not say there is no God. If it did, why would so many devout believers of every religion accept evolution? Why would most mainstream Christian denominations accept evolution? Why would the Pope accept it? If you think that creationists do not portray those who accept evolution as ignorant fools, then you have not listened to enough creationists. Spend some time on the talk.origins newsgroup and learn otherwise. Or check out some creationist web sites and see what they have to say. It is true that scientists tend to do poorly in public debates with creationists. That is for several reasons. One is that creationists present simple falsehoods and half-truths that have complicated answers. A thirty-second question may require a thirty-minute answer to repudiate, something which is not allowed in debate formats. A bumper sticker question is more easily remembered than a dissertation answer. A second reason is that scientists are experts on one specific topic. Creationists make points that require rebuttals from physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. It is easy for creationists to be ignorant of all of these sciences; it is much more difficult for a scientist to be schooled in all of them. Finally, the most important reason is that debates are viewed by people who are, for the most part, ignorant of the subject material themselves. Science carries on debates itself, but scientific debates are carried on between people who are all experts in the field under discussion. Complex scientific concepts can be reduced to shorthand language that everyone in the debate understands. This is not the case in a public debate. Some concepts in the theory of evolution are difficult to understand, and take some background and familiarity with biology. It is hard to teach a year's worth of biology class in an hour-long debate. You state that "Science can only explain material things." Just so. The theory of evolution deals with living things, plants and animals, bacteria and people. These are material things. |
Feedback Letter | |
Comment: | I have heard reports that suggest that creationists have found more fuel for their fire as a result of Mt. St. Helens eruption. I have run a search on Mt. St. Helens (in different configs) and didn't find any hits. Do you have any info or suggested sources on what the extent of this material might be? |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: |
Certain creationists, primarily Steven Austin of the Institute for Creation Research, have advanced the notion that the Mount Saint Helens eruption provides verification for certain aspects of Young-Earth Creationism (YEC). Conventional geology says no such thing, and the claims made by Austin and others substantially contradict with the evidence. See the Coal Beds, Creationism, and Mount St. Helens FAQ for one example of creationist misstatements. (For FAQs responding to the Global Flood argument in general, see the Global Flood FAQs.) |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | am looking for a "christian fish" with "DARWIN" inscribed inside the fish. probably 8-12 incheds long, can be brass, other metal or plastic. any idea where to obtain? thanx jsw |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: |
The trademark on the Darwin fish is held by:
They are available from many places on the Web, including Lytha Studios. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | Although it's interesting to discuss and debate the relative merits of evolution vs. so-called "scientific" creationism, perhaps it has become necessary to recognize certain venues where such a debate is inappropriate. I refer to situations where creationist groups attempt to influence science curricula at the local (school board) level. While I am not suggesting that these groups should not have the right to make their concerns known--they should--I am suggesting that groups concerned with maintaining the integrity of science education against such sectarian attacks should, in response, adopt the attitude that creationism has had its day in court, its case was put forward by the best their movement has--Morris, Gish, and others--and their movement was found to be nothing other than a transparent attempt by protestant fundamentalists to advance their religion at the expense of the integrity of science education. Therefore, an appropriate response to such attempts to distort science education should simply be to inform the local school board that if they submit to such creationist groups they will be sued--just as those who attempted to legislate creationism into school curricula at the state level (Arkansas, Louisiana) were sued. After all, the stakes are high. I want to make this point as clear as I can--the battle to place creationism on an equal footing with evolution in public school curricula is over, and they lost. Those school boards that accommodate creationists should face legal action. However, they still have a setting where they can defend their archaic beliefs. They can always try them out on the good people at talk.origins! |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | If you are from the United States, and your local school district proposes to teach creationism, this is the best argument you can use to prevent that. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that teaching creationism in the public school classroom is a state promotion of religious beliefs and therefore a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. If your local school district wants to teach creationism, tell them that they will be sued, they will lose, and it will cost them a great deal of money. Few school districts have loose money floating around that they are willing to toss away fruitlessly. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | The font
size of your web page is too small to elderly persons like
myself to see easily, so please enlarge it.
I have some piercing questions for you. (This is not a SciFi question, so please don't give me a SciFi reply.)
There you go, I've been brief. If you know the answers or would like to discuss further, please email me. Thanks. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | You should
be able to change the font size in your browser. Internet
Explorer, for example, has "Larger" and "Smaller" buttons
that allow you to adjust the font size. You can also select
a different font that appears larger on screen. I find New
Century Schoolbook and Palatino both to be large and
readable fonts.
Unfortunately, about all that one can give you to your questions is a science fiction answer. We know that there are roughly 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy alone, and ours is only one of billions of galaxies in the universe. We have only recently acquired the technology necessary to detect planets orbiting other stars; however, our models and current evidence suggest that planetary systems should be fairly common. There should be quite a few planets in this galaxy alone that have a similar chemical composition to Earth and orbit a similar star at roughly the same distance. The real question in the equation is how freakish an occurrence the existence of life, not to mention intelligent life, is. We don't yet have a good understanding of how life arose on this planet; any estimates as to the probability of it doing so again under similar conditions is pure guesswork at this point. I hesitate to speak to the motives and logic of an eternal and omnipotent God, since that would be also pure guesswork on my part as well. However, if you're interested in the scientific discussion on extraterrestrial life, you might look at this page and this page about the Drake Equation, then stop in at the SETI Institute's web site. |
Feedback Letter | |
Comment: | Hello, I feel that your site's views on creationism are ridiculous. I feel sorry for you and people like you. Evolution has yet to show me how an of te things could have happened. What you are talking about is spontaneous generation. Is that not a subject that has been disproved or are you saying that spontaneous generation did and still does occur. I just pray that when the Lord returns he allows you to have a chance to see him get rid of your lack of faith. Another thing is that not every Christian takes every thing in the Bible literally. I don't think it was meant that way. You have to remeber that we don't think like God because we are not God. We are his creation and should act according to His Will and lean not on our own understanding. I will keep you in my prayers. Sincerly, Arica |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | Evolution is
not really well described as spontaneous generation; and
evolution did and still does occur.
Of course not every Christian takes everything in the bible literally. Usually it is those who do take the bible literally who have a problem with evolution, but since you are not in this category, it remains a mystery why you would equate evolution with lack of faith. I personally think the two are different subjects, and know of many faithful Christians have no problems with evolutionary theory. You may like to read the God and evolution FAQ for one perspective from a Christian writer. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | John Walker |
Comment: | Thank you
for providing such a wonderful web site. I suggest this
site to all my students. Though it is great to see an
evolutionary web-site, I am pleased that you allow access
to creationists. Reminds of the quote "give a person enough
rope...." Keep up the good work. Now if I could only find
what howlerfests were about and get a job at U of E, I'd be
well pleased.
John Walker, Professor of Biology, Midway College, KY USA |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: |
A slight correction: the Talk.Origins Archive does not "allow access" to creationists, as it were, but instead provides an extensive list of links to creationist Web sites so that creationists can present their side of the argument without any interference. We at the Talk.Origins Archive feel that the viewpoints of mainstream science can adequately withstand challenge by creationists and are quite willing to submit the views expressed here to scrutiny. Your quote is quite apt. "Howlerfests" are gatherings held every so often by various members of the talk.origins community. Usually a field trip to a museum or natural history event is involved. The term "howlerfest" comes from the howler monkey, a nasty breed of critter that screams and flings its own excrement at intruders. The label "howler monkeys" was given to the pro-evolution side in talk.origins by Ted Holden some years back; it was then co-opted by the pro-evolution camp. As for the University of Ediacara, I suggest you consult its home page. Requirements for induction into the faculty can be found therein. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | The Babinski
story on cosmological references in the bible was
interesting. I was disappointed to see the
misrepresentation of a quote from the Enuma Elish used to
denote the ignorance of our present day cosmology.
The king, "Marduk", in the epic is metaphorical, as are the other characters in this epic, and are representative of celestial bodies whose conflict and iterplay resulted in our solar system's creation. As a person who has studied this particular text for many years, I find that I must agree with interpretations of Zacharia Sitchin on the content and meaning of this once famous poem traditionally recited on new year's eve. The Enuma Elish would appear to be evidence that can be successfully used AGAINST the premise of your story in a good cross-examination. My thoughts only, submitted in the honest discussion for truth. Gary Vey Webmaster@viewzone.com |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | Thanks for
the feedback. You are refering to Ed Babinski's page
entitled Cretinism or
Evilution?: Henry Morris Denies Geocentrism. Ed does
indeed quote the Enuma
Elish to suggest that the Babylonians were ignorant of
modern day cosmological concepts. Most people would not
feel this is a misrepresentation.
Zecharia Sitchin would disagree, as you point out. Sitchin has not been discussed on talk.origins, although he would be on topic. Sitchin proposed that the Sumerians (who were sources for much of the material in the Enuma Elish) were aware of modern cosmology, including planets Pluto, Neptune and Uranus, and the various moons. The stories describe planetary catastrophes which led to the present form of the solar system, including the planet Earth formed by collisions involving another planet (presently unknown to modern science due its highly elliptic 3600 year orbit). This knowledge came from visiting aliens, and modern humans were formed when the aliens combined their DNA with that of early hominids. Sitchin's views are widely disputed, of course, but this is grist to the mill in talk.origins. There is a good skeptical review available on the web which perhaps suggests some of the points likely to be raised in any extended discussion. As a supporter of Sitchin, you may like to propose a suitable URL and submit it to the archive, using the forms on our links page. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | If evolution can stand on it's own merit, why don't you include both sides of the argument as the name of you web sight implies? I mean you did call it "The Talk.Origins Archive: Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy" didn't you? This implies all sides will be heard, not just the one you agree with, or is there another definition to the terms "Archive" and "Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy" that I am unaware of? |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | Please see the archive's home page and its welcome message for answers to your questions. |
Feedback Letter | |
Comment: | It seems like you only seem to give one side of the story. This would be a lot better site if both sides of the story were given and compared instead of just one side being given. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | As stated on the home page, this site provides mainstream scientific responses to the questions raised in the evolution/creationism debate. We do not presume to speak for other points of view, but instead we try to give a comprehensive set of links to sites or pages which do express alternatives. It is up to our readers to make the comparisons and we certainly encourage you to follow the links and compare both sides. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | First of all, evolution can not be called a fact. There are too many holes in it. For example, why do we see no evidence that it is occurring today? We don't see halfbreeds running around; no half-human, half-ape creatures, for example. This is just one of many holes in the theory. How do you explain these holes? Furthermore, creationism and the Bible can NOT be proven to be false. I challenge anyone to try to do so. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | The only
people proposing that evolution leads to "halfbreeds" are
creationists. Evolution simply posits that all living
organisms share a common ancestor.
As for ape-like humans, see their fossils in the Fossil Hominids FAQ. For examples of speciation being observed in action, see the Observed Instances of Speciation FAQ. Finally, no one is trying to prove the Bible false. There is enough evidence, however, to falsify many of the claims of so-called scientific creationists (e.g., 6000-10000 year old earth, special creation of all kinds, a global flood). |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | I am very interested in Evolution/Creation, but there is so much info and this stuff is flying over my head. I don't know where to start; should I get a book? Can you help me, please? Thanks. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | On the
Talk.Origins Archive, some good places to start are with
the Talk.Origins Archive
FAQ, then the What is Evolution?
FAQ, the Introduction to
Evolutionary Biology FAQ, and the Five Major
Misconceptions about Evolution FAQ.
As far as books are concerned, you should check out the Creation/Evolution Reading List for suggested books on evolution and creationism. A good list of books can also be found at the end of the Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution FAQ. |
Feedback Letter | |
Comment: | A colleague in Education has asked me for "a good, up-to-date tree chart for the phylogeny of vertebrates in general; or better yet, one for all Animalia." (a tall order, I realize) Can anyone send me a simplified version for vertebrates, with the common names of families/orders? For example, one that would show for mammals where apes vs. bears vs. horses vs. whales "fit"? |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | Your tall order has been filled by the The Tree of Life Project's web page. Check it out! |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | In the Sept. 7, 1997 issue of the Pentecostal Evangel (Assemblies of God publication magazine), an erroneous article was printed re: Charles Darwin's deathbed conversion and his regrets about his stand on evolution. Thanks to Talk Origins and references relating to this story, I was able to get them to recognize this error for what it was. They will be printing a correction in a future magazine (ref. letter dated Oct. 1, 1997) regarding this false story that continues to circulate among creationists. |
Feedback Letter | |
Comment: | Question regarding pseudogenes: If as you say the human dna has 90-95 % useless genes (pseudogenes) that could cause mutations for advantageous change, why couldn't they equally cause retro-evolution ? Regression to the original state? We don't see that happening either. |
Response | |
From: | |
Author of: | Evolution and Philosophy |
Response: | There's a
misunderstanding implicit in your questions. There is no
such thing as "retroevolution" in the sense that evolution
has a direction that can be lost or degraded. Evolution is
not ascending a scale of perfection or progressing in a
particular way - it is just change to meet local exigencies
(or not, in which case the result is extinction).
However, there are two senses in which evolution can be reversed. First, there can be (and has been observed to be) back-mutation of genes, where a novelty that arises is reversed. This is likely in cases where a single base pair mutation, called a "point mutation" happens, because the likelihood of the reverse mutation is just the likelihood of the initial mutation. However, a mutation is only evolutionarily important if it spreads through a population, and that is the result of processes other than just mutation - it requires selection or drift. Once the genie is out of the bottle and into the population, it can't be stuffed back in. This is just simple probability theory. The other way is for genes to become inactive, by being "deregulated" by the loss of genes called regulator genes. These turn genes on and off in the growth of the organism, and sometimes the regulators get lost. There is another process called "secondary loss" by which a gross feature or trait, such as limbs or colours, etc, are lost in a branch that evolved from species that had that trait. Cave organisms often lose their sight or colouring, for example. This is not "retroevolution" because the eyes and pigments still develop, but are not fully grown, leading to incomplete structures in the finished adult. The reason for this is known as "Dollo's Law", although it's more of a tendency than a law. This is that complex structures need to be maintained by selection in order for nonfunctional mutations to be weeded out. Most fertilisations are not viable, and are either aborted or die before reproducing. In novel environments like a cave, some of these are viable and because they do not use valuable resources to fully build useless structures, they do marginally better than those that retain the ancestral trait. This is all that is needed for evolution to occur. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | You people are FREAKS!! You horrible pagan devil worshipers! |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: | I note that you were viewing the archive's FAQ on the International Flat Earth Society when you sent this. I personally happen to agree with you. I think that the members of the International Flat Earth Society are freaks and horrible pagan devil worshippers. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: | You spelled Creationism wrong 3 times. You put cretinism. |
Response | |
From: | Chris Stassen |
Author of: | Isochron Dating |
Response: | The word
"cretinism" appears numerous times in this archive (in
almost fifty different files). However, all of the ones I
found were related to Ed Babinski's humorous publication Cretinism or Evilution, where the
misspelling is intentional.
If you are aware of any others, please let us know the specific FAQ file. |
Feedback Letter | |
From: | |
Comment: |
Dear Editors, I am a graduate biologist from Australia. I am very interested in evolution and read about it whenever possible. This came about largely as a need to defend myself intellectually from numerous creationsists who saw the need to attack me because of my beliefs. I have been searching for a comprehensive and informative web site for years, and finally, I appear to have found it. Talk Origins is accurate, impartial, informative, and, most of all, factual in content. I only hope that more people have the opportunity to discover this veritable treasure trove of well presented and easily understood information. Keep up the good work. Rob. |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: |
Thank you very much. We always appreciate responses such as yours. As always, if you should note any errors in any of the FAQs, please feel free to bring it to our attention, either here or on the talk.origins newsgroup. Furthermore, please feel free to write about your area of biological expertise and how it relates to evolution. We are always in search of new FAQs to add to the archive. |
Feedback Letter | |
Comment: | Creationists believe that there no new species, and want to establist an "New Species" list to go along with the endangered species list. Have any new species been discovered recently? |
Response | |
From: | |
Response: |
If you mean new species being discovered that we didn't know about before, yes, all the time. It is hypothesized that we only know about a small fraction of the total number of species on Earth. If you mean new species evolving, we have observed that too, both in the lab and in the wild. See Observed Instances of Speciation and Some More Observed Speciation Events. |