Arguments Against Darwin

Arguments Against Darwin It’s only a theory What are the chances… Irreducible Complexity (ID) Second Law of Thermodynamics Microevolution vs Macroevol...
Author: Ernest Woods
4 downloads 3 Views 5MB Size
Arguments Against Darwin It’s only a theory What are the chances… Irreducible Complexity (ID) Second Law of Thermodynamics Microevolution vs Macroevolution Transitional Forms and Missing Links

It’s only a theory Science is an attempt to understand the universe based o n the assu mptio n of unifor mity of law. This understanding is expressed in laws and theories. Law and theory are words with many meanings. For our purposes, scientific laws are simply descriptive statements. Laws describe regularities discovered in natural phenomena by scientists. The validity of scientific laws is tested by their ability to predict the future and explain the past. Laws are either accurate or inaccurate descriptions of how nature behaves. Let’s think of theories as more general than laws and as having a different function. Theories are currently accepted understandings of how nature works. For scientists, theories are not theoretical in the sense that term is used by most nonscientists.

Law of Gravitational Attraction versus Theory of Gravity

Law of Faunal Succession is explained by the Theory of Evolution

It’s only a theory Uniformity of law is the assumption that natural laws are constant in time and space. Such an assumption can never be proven true beyond all shadow of doubt. However, it does accord with experience and is thus justified. By assuming uniformity of law, scientists have induction available to them as a tool in reasoning about any past, present or future state of the universe. Most scientific claims are either inductive generalizations or inductive analogies. Arguments by analogy are often persuasive but never logically compelling.

Role of belief (assumption) in science and religion?

It’s only a theory Scientists prefer elegant theories. Elegant theories are simple and powerful. Simplicity is an aesthetic criterion. Power is a utilitarian one. Powerful theories explain lots of phenomena. No theory explains everything. Don’t think of theories as “true or false”, “right or wrong”, “proven or unproven” sorts of things. Theories are either accepted or unaccepted. Theories are widely accepted if they explain lots of things. Scientists are especially impressed by theories that explain seemingly unrelated phenomena. This is known as consilience.

What are the chances…

one million mutations each with 50% chance

amoeba

2

1,000,000

man (?)

The Bridge Hand • Distribute 13 cards to each of four players. • Chances of dealing ‘perfect’ hand? 1 in 2,235,197,406,895,366,368,301,559,999

• Chances of dealing any hand?

Irreducible Complexity If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. (CRD 1859)

Intelligent Design Human Ignorance

Second Law of Thermodynamics Kelvin Statement of the Second Law: No process is possible in which the sole result is the absorption of heat from a reservoir and its complete conversion into work. Clausius statement of the Second Law: No process is possible in which the sole result is the transfer of energy from a cooler body Natural processes are accompanied by an increase in the entropy of the system.

Cosmos to Chaos Order to Disorder

diagram from Atkins (1984)

Second Law of Thermodynamics Entropy is energy (heat) unavailable to do work. …entropy, symbolized by S, is a measure of the unavailability of a system’s energy to do work. It is a measure of the randomness of molecules in a system and is central to the second law of thermodynamics and the fundamental thermodynamic relation, which deal with physical processes and whether they occur spontaneously. Spontaneous changes, in isolated systems, occur with an increase in entropy. Spontaneous changes tend to smooth out differences in temperature, pressure, density, and chemical potential that may exist in a system, and entropy is thus a measure of how far this smoothing-out process has progressed. Wikipedia [accessed 8-22-08]

increase in entropy smoothing out = ‘chaotic’ isolated systems! diagrams from Atkins (1984)

Water on a freezing sidewalk?

Microevolution vs Macroevolution

Fleeming Jenkin (1833-85) North British Review 1867 limits of variability

Change

Peppered moths

Time

pictures from Wikipedia accessed 8-26-08

But the chief cause of our natural unwillingness to admit that one species has given birth to other and distinct species, is that we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps. The difficulty is the same as that felt by many geologists, when Lyell first insisted that long lines of inland cliffs had been formed, and great valleys excavated, by the slow action of coast-waves. The mind cannot possibly grasp the full meaning of the term of a hundred million years; it cannot add up and perceive the full effects of many slight variations, accumulated during an almost infinite number of generations. (452-453)

Transitional Forms (?) and Missing Links (!) The Fossil Record Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record. (CRD 292)

Tiktaalik 2006