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Chicago Books Press
Can you tell me anything you know about evolution, any one thing…that is true?
During a lecture at the American Museum of Natural History in 1981, prominent evolutionist Dr. Colin Patterson asked his esteemed audience of evolutionists this surprising question. Can you answer it? The only answer he got from the experts was silence. Patterson also tried it on the members of the Evolutionary Morphology seminar in the University of Chicago, a very prestigious body of evolutionists, and all he got there was silence again – for a long time – eventually one honest person said, “I do know one thing–it ought not to be taught in high school.”
Cited in: Phillip Johnson, Darwin on Trial (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1991), p. 10. Johnson says in the research notes of his book that Patterson’s lecture was not published, but he had reviewed a transcript of it (p. 173). Furthermore, Patterson again stated the same position in an interview with journalist Tom Bethell (Bethell, “Deducing from Materialism,” National Review, Aug. 29, 1986, p. 43).
Well to answer this question you must first understand that there are two types of evolution; Microevolution and Macroevolution.
Microevolution occurs when a section of DNA is mutated through either corruption or mistranscription. Here’s an example using a phrase to represent a DNA strand (I admit this is not 100% accurate as DNA is so much more complex but it will serve for this answer):
Original DNA strand: The dog didn’t bite the boy
Transcription error: The hog didn’t bite the boy
This copy may in a benign or even possibly beneficial effect to the organism. Likewise it may result in a horrible mutation that may doom the organism to a painful early death. However the organism has now lost the original DNA strand and can no longer pass it on.
Deletion error: The dog bite the boy
This copy is missing information changing the original meaning and making it a jumbled mess. Once again multiple possibilities loom in the future of the mutated organism and the original DNA strand is lost.
Microevolution has been observed by scientists and even creationists accept it as fact and use it as staples of their theories. All previously observed forms of evolution have been examples of microevolution. However microevolution doesn’t and can’t explain the leap from one creature, such as a fish, to another entirely different organism, such as an air breathing mamma. That would require macroevolution as I will try to explain as simply as possible below.
Macroevolution is the addition of genetic information not found in the original DNA strand. For example:
Original DNA strand: The dog didn’t bite the boy
Mutated DNA strand: The flying mer-dog didn’t bite the boy
This mutation requires for additional genetic information to be added on to the original strand, something which has never been observed in any living organism. While some claim that it is possible since scientists in labs have artificially inserted genetic material to DNA strands, it is important to note they were using pre-existing genetic information. The spontaneous formation of genetic information where none previously exististed defies known scientific laws that require energy to remain a constant, neither able to be created nor destroyed. Any competent evolution theorists will tell you this which is why it is still a theory and not a fact as some of the more uneducated individuals would have you believe.
As evolution is still only a theory I find it the height of arrogance for any person to dismiss opposing theories, no matter how absurd, as non-science. This is even more true when you realize most scientific evidence is in opposition to macro-evolution, not in support of it.
In short, micro-evolution is confirmed fact, macro-evolution is still no more then a flight of fancy.
Regarding the fact that Spartina anglica evolved naturally from Spartina × townsendii; this was a process of microevolution, not macroevolution. Spartina anglica contained no new genetic information and in fact had less usable genetic information as pieces of it’s DNA were now corrupted.
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There Is a Great Rejoicing – Carols of Central and Eastern Europe – Schola Cantorum of Saint Peter’s in the Loop $18.98 … |
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The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents–The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek, Volume 2) $8.93 An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944âwhen Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist programâThe Road … |
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The Craft of Research, Third Edition (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) $9.49 With more than 400,000 copies now in print, The Craft of Research is the unrivaled resource for researchers at every level, from first-year undergraduates to research reporters at corporations and government offices. Seasoned researchers and educators Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams present an updated third edition of their classic handbook, whose first and second editions were written… |