Who likes evolution?
Whether evolution can have a better way of explaining objects that are "bad" or "poor" or not centered solely for human benefit is more of a theological consideration in some parts though. It would be more scientific to ask, "can natural selection acting upon mutation explain how the designs came to be?", and such is something addressed by proponents of the Intelligent Design, though it's just rejected as creationism because creationism is wrong by definition. However, to ask whether a highly complex though defective mechanism is more likely to be made by descent with modification or whether it is more likely to have been initially designed, can be more of a issue concerning who the designer is and the characteristics and such.
It is the matter of dysteleology. In any case, dysteleology isn't really the most essential aspect of what I posted, as I said that the perceived lower chance of dysteleology under an intelligent designer would be a reason I would like it if ID were true.
In any case to address your point, I didn't really say that harmful designs or poor designs were the issue, I said that the issue is purposelessness, and the impersonal nature of biology. Adaptationist stories might be able to remain, but I consider the teleological account of organism structure to be dead, given that I even argued that the mental structure of human beings was really impersonal rather than personal.
Additionally, I don't see how ID can really be effective once you say a designer could design anything. I mean, one can then posit opposing or disorganized teams of designers, crazy designers, lazy designers, loving designers, sadistic designers, and so on.
The statement about dysteleology was a philosophical issue, I didn't cite it as a scientific issue. Here's how I divide the paragraphs of the post you responded to:
1) Smart alecky comment
2) Methodological concern where I favor methodological naturalism for reasons of reduction.
3) Methodological concern where I argue that a flaw is irrelevant given that theories update.
4) Philosophical comment about how dysteleology fits in with evolution, but that dysteleology is an unfavorable fact that would presumably not exist given how I would tend to model an intelligent designer.
Paragraph 4, the one you decided to address, is actually the least relevant to ID as a scientific theory. So, chastising me for a paragraph 4 that is not scientific is pointless. Of course my philosophical commentary isn't scientific, it is philosophical commentary. I am not treating ID as a scientific theory in paragraph 4 at all, because I don't see ID as a scientific theory for reasons I put forward in paragraph 2. Now, your question "can natural selection via mutation be responsible for the variation we see today?", to me, seems like an answered question given nylon-eating bacteria, the island with a new variety of lizard, the change in moth color following the industrial revolution, lactose tolerance in milk consuming cultures along with the lack in cultures that never used cattle in such manners, etc. Now, all of these facts don't absolutely prove that natural selection vis mutation is responsible for the variation we see today, but so far an evolutionary answer fits the best to a significant agree by the standards of most in the scientific community. The question has ceased to be, "Is evolution correct?" so much as "How does evolution work?".
In any case, the question you bring up still isn't one I agree with. Evolutionary faults are often things that decay over time, but often the very structure is an ad hoc one that does not work in the way that any intentional designer would start off with. So, if, let's say the eye, is set up in a manner that stands against efficient design principles to a fundamental extent, then the theory that the eye was designed but that design decayed seems falsified as much as such a notion can be, as the very design pattern is unlike how we would model an intelligent design. If you disagree with that explanation, then I would refer you to my 3rd paragraph about the problems in positing designers, given that any "designer" can be given attributes that would make their designs utterly different than any model can reasonably account for.
At this point, I am not sure if evolution is realistically falsifiable. The idea has survived over a hundred years of criticism throughout the time of the greatest scientific progress, the modern era, and has become so successful as to become one of the major paradigms in modern biology. The notion that evolution is "fact" seems relatively valid at this point.
The basic Idea behind evolution has never been disproven and has not been altered. Of course they are always finding new data but only the details such as some of the ideas about the evolutionary pathways of certain species are altered. But the basic idea that species emerged via mutation and natural selection has not changed since Charles Darwin proposed it.
Is evolution falsifiable? What would falsify evolution?
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA211.html
Edit: As a good creationist, better try coming up with newer arguments.
Edit 2: Somewhere in the thread I've seen signs of getting offended by saying that "evolution is fact". Regardless of how offensive it might be to say it, it is fact:
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA201.html
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It really is pointless trying to argue science with creationists. To believe in creation one must first deny/ignore all objective facts and rely upon a belief system which cannot be substantiated. I have been accused of suggesting that my belief in evolution proves me to be more intelligent than a creationist, this is simply not true. There are plenty of highly intelligent creationists whose IQ far outstrips my own, this only increases my bemusement at their ability to be so wilfully ignorant.
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I've looked around talkorigins a fair bit, and every creationist view they address, I have seen upheld by creationists in real life, both by individuals who try to debate me on it and in printed publications from creationist organizations.
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It really is pointless trying to argue science with creationists. To believe in creation one must first deny/ignore all objective facts and rely upon a belief system which cannot be substantiated. I have been accused of suggesting that my belief in evolution proves me to be more intelligent than a creationist, this is simply not true. There are plenty of highly intelligent creationists whose IQ far outstrips my own, this only increases my bemusement at their ability to be so wilfully ignorant.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEkXHHhmTVM[/youtube]
If anyone found fossils of bunnies in the Cambrian period then this would suggest that life hasn't changed much since then and evolution would be practically falsified. This hasn't happened yet.
Assume fossils of bunnies are sometime found in rock that was once labeled as demonstrating the Cambrian period, would evolution be rejected or would the classification of the rock change?
Fossils can be dated with radiometric dating methods. You would not be able to use carbon dating for a fossil from the Cambrian era but you could use other methods like potassium/argon dating. At any rate, you can prove how old a fossil is. So if for example the dating reveals that the bunny only lived 10000 years ago then the rock will be re-classified. But if it reveals that it lived in the Cambrian period then it falsify evolution.
Suppose I gave the perfect example of this, a fully formed modern species properly radiometrically dated to being 4 billion years old. How would you argue against your own argument?
never goin to happen, god only made the earth 1000 years ago.
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I've looked around talkorigins a fair bit, and every creationist view they address, I have seen upheld by creationists in real life, both by individuals who try to debate me on it and in printed publications from creationist organizations.
Which creationist organizations argue for the immutability of species? Provide links to their actual websites please, on the page(s) where the claim is made.
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If anyone found fossils of bunnies in the Cambrian period then this would suggest that life hasn't changed much since then and evolution would be practically falsified. This hasn't happened yet.
Assume fossils of bunnies are sometime found in rock that was once labeled as demonstrating the Cambrian period, would evolution be rejected or would the classification of the rock change?
Fossils can be dated with radiometric dating methods. You would not be able to use carbon dating for a fossil from the Cambrian era but you could use other methods like potassium/argon dating. At any rate, you can prove how old a fossil is. So if for example the dating reveals that the bunny only lived 10000 years ago then the rock will be re-classified. But if it reveals that it lived in the Cambrian period then it falsify evolution.
Suppose I gave the perfect example of this, a fully formed modern species properly radiometrically dated to being 4 billion years old. How would you argue against your own argument?
never goin to happen, god only made the earth 1000 years ago.
I am confused, how would a fossilized bunny be from the cambrian, geologic layers are fairly well
known and understood, unless you are implying that its the great biblical flood that mixed up the
geological record, there is no proof of a world wide flood, even if you melted all the ice on the poles
and took all the water vapor out of the air, it would hardly raise the seas more then 70 metersa little
over 200 feet. I am not saying there weren't any great floods, there were, but they were massive
localized floods such as the Missoula Floods which occurred when Glacial Lake Missoula drained
periodically, the so called great biblical flood is most likely an old tale, dating from the dawn of history
when sea levels were 120 meters lower, the Black Sea deluge which occurred around 5600 BC creating
several flood myths. Scientific proof is out there, you just have to look.
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There you go again trying to fill our heads with your radical ungodly ideas
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If anyone found fossils of bunnies in the Cambrian period then this would suggest that life hasn't changed much since then and evolution would be practically falsified. This hasn't happened yet.
Assume fossils of bunnies are sometime found in rock that was once labeled as demonstrating the Cambrian period, would evolution be rejected or would the classification of the rock change?
Fossils can be dated with radiometric dating methods. You would not be able to use carbon dating for a fossil from the Cambrian era but you could use other methods like potassium/argon dating. At any rate, you can prove how old a fossil is. So if for example the dating reveals that the bunny only lived 10000 years ago then the rock will be re-classified. But if it reveals that it lived in the Cambrian period then it falsify evolution.
Suppose I gave the perfect example of this, a fully formed modern species properly radiometrically dated to being 4 billion years old. How would you argue against your own argument?
never goin to happen, god only made the earth 1000 years ago.
I actually meant 100 years, there is no evidence of anything before 1900
