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Evidence For And Against Evolution

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
There are many deep springs under the top soil. I can only figure, but I wasn't there to make sure.
If they are underground, they are not springs. Springs occur when underground water opens to the surface.

I would love to see a creationist on here that was actually educated and knowledgeable of the subjects they bandy about with such authority.
 

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
There is something that you seem to be ignoring...... You are the one who afirms that humans and chimps evolved from a common ancestor mainly by a process of random mutations and natural selection. You are the one who claims that the statement is true beyond reasonable doubt.... Si the burden proof is on you. You have to show that the mechanism of random mutations and natural selection can account for all the differences between chimps and humans in just 5M years.



Imagine a population of 100,000 apes, the putative progenitors of humans. Suppose that a male and a female both received a mutation so beneficial that they out-survived everyone else; all the rest of the population died out—all 99,998 of them. And then the surviving pair had enough offspring to replenish the population in one generation. And this repeated every generation (every 20 years) for 10 million years, more than the supposed time since the last common ancestor of humans and apes. That would mean that 500,000 beneficial mutations could be added to the population (i.e., 10,000,000/20). Even with this completely unrealistic scenario, which maximizes evolutionary progress, only about 0.02% of the human genome could be generated. (the claim is that 0.02 is not enough to account for the differences between chimps and humans)

So exactly what is your objection?

1 that 0.02% in enough to explain the difference between humans and chimps?

2 there is something wrong with my numbers, the actual number is larger that 0.02,... If that is the case please show where the mistake is, provide the correct number and show that this new number Si sufficient to explain the differences between humans and chimps.
This is ridiculous. This is your idea of fitness and how mutations a fixed in populations?

The burden of proof regarding your assertion is yours. All this posturing, diversion, shifting and erroneous ideas about biology do not free you from it.
 

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
But you already agreed that common ancestry is the best explanation for NH, (even better than God did it) and you agreed that this would still be true even if God exists

So why cant you (at least in principle) provide a naturalistic explanation for the FT of the universe that is better than " God did it" just like you did with NH?
It is up to you to provide an argument demonstrating design and fine tuning by design. You asserted a designer and fine tuning.

Anything? Anything at all? Hello? Is there anyone there? Hello?
 

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
The reason why I am asking you to provide a naturalistic explanation for the FT and then justify why is that explanation better than ID is because deep inside we both know that your intend is to use the same strategy that flat earthers use:

1 adopt a position of extreme and irrational skepticism

2 avoid the burden proof

3 keep your position vague and ambiguous

4 avoid direct answers


By forcing you to provide an alternative naturalistic explanation you would no longer be capable of hiding behind any of those 4 points.


But anyway those are my terms, if you want to talk about FT with me, you have to support a naturalistic explanation and explain why is that better than design..... If you don't like these terms feel free to find someone else to talk with
This is exactly what you are doing. Can irony be raised to a power? You may have achieved that.

Scientific explanations exist for biology, geology, physics, etc. You are claiming these are wrong and a designer is the best explanation for all the evidence. You can twist and contort all you like, but it does not free you from your burden to demonstrate your assertion.

Natural explanations are there. Yours is not. Now give us one or admit the truth that you cannot.
 

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
No?

Ok so two organisms can have the same mutation in the same gene snd in the same loci..... Agree? Yes or no?
So a person can make an assertion without defending it and that assertion prevails over existing explanations based on the evidence? Yes or no?
 

leroy

Well-Known Member
This is ridiculous. This is your idea of fitness and how mutations a fixed in populations?

The burden of proof regarding your assertion is yours. All this posturing, diversion, shifting and erroneous ideas about biology do not free you from it.
Ok so make an accurate representation on how mutations get fixed.......... . And prove that 5M years is enough time to explain the differences between chimps and humans, using random mutations and natural selection (and genetic drift) as the main mechanisms
 

leroy

Well-Known Member
So a person can make an assertion without defending it and that assertion prevails over existing explanations based on the evidence? Yes or no?
Why are you quoting from my question if you are not going to answer it?


Yes if the assertion is granted by both, you don't have to prove that assertion,
 

leroy

Well-Known Member
It is up to you to provide an argument demonstrating design and fine tuning by design. You asserted a designer and fine tuning.

Anything? Anything at all? Hello? Is there anyone there? Hello?
I asserted that it is the best explanation, better than any other naturalistic explanation,..... I haven't claimed that the explanation is true (just that it is the best) if you disagree please let me know if there is a better explanation
 

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
Ok so make an accurate representation on how mutations get fixed.......... . And prove that 5M years is enough time to explain the differences between chimps and humans, using random mutations and natural selection (and genetic drift) as the main mechanisms
I will hardly have the time as I will be pouring over your argument for design. When will you be providing that? Ever?
 

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
Why are you quoting from my question if you are not going to answer it?


Yes if the assertion is granted by both, you don't have to prove that assertion,
You just told me I have to prove it in your previous post. Which is it? Be honest.
 

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
I asserted that it is the best explanation, better than any other naturalistic explanation,..... I haven't claimed that the explanation is true (just that it is the best) if you disagree please let me know if there is a better explanation
How can I do that, since you have not provided the argument for me to accept or reject?
 

tas8831

Well-Known Member
Evolutionists themselves can tamper with cells and do things scientically. None of that proves evolution as if that's how life started with and from a unicell or two or three, etc.
Who said it did?
Strawman much?
And then went on its way by the force of natural selection to màke plants and animals down the metaphorical road. It's all guesswork.

No, it really isn't.

I forget now who originally posted these on this forum, but I keep it in my archives because it offers a nice 'linear' progression of testing a methodology and then applying it - I have posted this more than a dozen times for creationists who claim that there is no evidence for evolution:

The tested methodology:


Science 25 October 1991:
Vol. 254. no. 5031, pp. 554 - 558

Gene trees and the origins of inbred strains of mice

WR Atchley and WM Fitch

Extensive data on genetic divergence among 24 inbred strains of mice provide an opportunity to examine the concordance of gene trees and species trees, especially whether structured subsamples of loci give congruent estimates of phylogenetic relationships. Phylogenetic analyses of 144 separate loci reproduce almost exactly the known genealogical relationships among these 24 strains. Partitioning these loci into structured subsets representing loci coding for proteins, the immune system and endogenous viruses give incongruent phylogenetic results. The gene tree based on protein loci provides an accurate picture of the genealogical relationships among strains; however, gene trees based upon immune and viral data show significant deviations from known genealogical affinities.

======================

Science, Vol 255, Issue 5044, 589-592

Experimental phylogenetics: generation of a known phylogeny

DM Hillis, JJ Bull, ME White, MR Badgett, and IJ Molineux
Department of Zoology, University of Texas, Austin 78712.

Although methods of phylogenetic estimation are used routinely in comparative biology, direct tests of these methods are hampered by the lack of known phylogenies. Here a system based on serial propagation of bacteriophage T7 in the presence of a mutagen was used to create the first completely known phylogeny. Restriction-site maps of the terminal lineages were used to infer the evolutionary history of the experimental lines for comparison to the known history and actual ancestors. The five methods used to reconstruct branching pattern all predicted the correct topology but varied in their predictions of branch lengths; one method also predicts ancestral restriction maps and was found to be greater than 98 percent accurate.

==================================

Science, Vol 264, Issue 5159, 671-677

Application and accuracy of molecular phylogenies

DM Hillis, JP Huelsenbeck, and CW Cunningham
Department of Zoology, University of Texas, Austin 78712.

Molecular investigations of evolutionary history are being used to study subjects as diverse as the epidemiology of acquired immune deficiency syndrome and the origin of life. These studies depend on accurate estimates of phylogeny. The performance of methods of phylogenetic analysis can be assessed by numerical simulation studies and by the experimental evolution of organisms in controlled laboratory situations. Both kinds of assessment indicate that existing methods are effective at estimating phylogenies over a wide range of evolutionary conditions, especially if information about substitution bias is used to provide differential weightings for character transformations.​


We can hereby CONCLUDE that the results of an application of those methods have merit.


Application of the tested methodology:


Implications of natural selection in shaping 99.4% nonsynonymous DNA identity between humans and chimpanzees: Enlarging genus Homo

"Here we compare ≈90 kb of coding DNA nucleotide sequence from 97 human genes to their sequenced chimpanzee counterparts and to available sequenced gorilla, orangutan, and Old World monkey counterparts, and, on a more limited basis, to mouse. The nonsynonymous changes (functionally important), like synonymous changes (functionally much less important), show chimpanzees and humans to be most closely related, sharing 99.4% identity at nonsynonymous sites and 98.4% at synonymous sites. "



Mitochondrial Insertions into Primate Nuclear Genomes Suggest the Use of numts as a Tool for Phylogeny

"Moreover, numts identified in gorilla Supercontigs were used to test the human–chimp–gorilla trichotomy, yielding a high level of support for the sister relationship of human and chimpanzee."



A Molecular Phylogeny of Living Primates

"Once contentiously debated, the closest human relative of chimpanzee (Pan) within subfamily Homininae (Gorilla, Pan, Homo) is now generally undisputed. The branch forming the Homo andPanlineage apart from Gorilla is relatively short (node 73, 27 steps MP, 0 indels) compared with that of thePan genus (node 72, 91 steps MP, 2 indels) and suggests rapid speciation into the 3 genera occurred early in Homininae evolution. Based on 54 gene regions, Homo-Pan genetic distance range from 6.92 to 7.90×10−3 substitutions/site (P. paniscus and P. troglodytes, respectively), which is less than previous estimates based on large scale sequencing of specific regions such as chromosome 7[50]. "​
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONCLUSION:

This evidence lays out the results of employing a tested methodology on the question of Primate evolution. The same general criteria/methods have been used on nearly all facets of the evolution of living things.

Feel free to provide evidence for magic creation of a man from dust 6-10,000 years ago.
 

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
I asserted that it is the best explanation, better than any other naturalistic explanation,..... I haven't claimed that the explanation is true (just that it is the best) if you disagree please let me know if there is a better explanation
You assert that yours is the best explanation over the existing explanation that I accept. Since that explanation exists and you would be openly dishonest to claim you do not know it, then your demand is met. Now it is time for you to provide what you have been trying to avoid.

But you won't. You will find another flimsy excuse. Another game. You do know that false witness is a sin? Yes or no?
 

Dan From Smithville

The Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter
Staff member
Premium Member
I asserted that it is the best explanation, better than any other naturalistic explanation,..... I haven't claimed that the explanation is true (just that it is the best) if you disagree please let me know if there is a better explanation
You got Anything? Anything at all? Hello? Hello? Is there anyone there?
 

tas8831

Well-Known Member
There is something that you seem to be ignoring...... You are the one who afirms that humans and chimps evolved from a common ancestor mainly by a process of random mutations and natural selection. You are the one who claims that the statement is true beyond reasonable doubt. Si the burden proof is on you. You have to show that the mechanism of random mutations and natural selection can account for all the differences between chimps and humans in just 5M years.
OK:
I forget now who originally posted these on this forum, but I keep it in my archives because it offers a nice 'linear' progression of testing a methodology and then applying it - I have posted this more than a dozen times for creationists who claim that there is no evidence for evolution:


The tested methodology:

Science 25 October 1991:
Vol. 254. no. 5031, pp. 554 - 558

Gene trees and the origins of inbred strains of mice

WR Atchley and WM Fitch

Extensive data on genetic divergence among 24 inbred strains of mice provide an opportunity to examine the concordance of gene trees and species trees, especially whether structured subsamples of loci give congruent estimates of phylogenetic relationships. Phylogenetic analyses of 144 separate loci reproduce almost exactly the known genealogical relationships among these 24 strains. Partitioning these loci into structured subsets representing loci coding for proteins, the immune system and endogenous viruses give incongruent phylogenetic results. The gene tree based on protein loci provides an accurate picture of the genealogical relationships among strains; however, gene trees based upon immune and viral data show significant deviations from known genealogical affinities.

======================

Science, Vol 255, Issue 5044, 589-592

Experimental phylogenetics: generation of a known phylogeny

DM Hillis, JJ Bull, ME White, MR Badgett, and IJ Molineux
Department of Zoology, University of Texas, Austin 78712.

Although methods of phylogenetic estimation are used routinely in comparative biology, direct tests of these methods are hampered by the lack of known phylogenies. Here a system based on serial propagation of bacteriophage T7 in the presence of a mutagen was used to create the first completely known phylogeny. Restriction-site maps of the terminal lineages were used to infer the evolutionary history of the experimental lines for comparison to the known history and actual ancestors. The five methods used to reconstruct branching pattern all predicted the correct topology but varied in their predictions of branch lengths; one method also predicts ancestral restriction maps and was found to be greater than 98 percent accurate.

==================================

Science, Vol 264, Issue 5159, 671-677

Application and accuracy of molecular phylogenies

DM Hillis, JP Huelsenbeck, and CW Cunningham
Department of Zoology, University of Texas, Austin 78712.

Molecular investigations of evolutionary history are being used to study subjects as diverse as the epidemiology of acquired immune deficiency syndrome and the origin of life. These studies depend on accurate estimates of phylogeny. The performance of methods of phylogenetic analysis can be assessed by numerical simulation studies and by the experimental evolution of organisms in controlled laboratory situations. Both kinds of assessment indicate that existing methods are effective at estimating phylogenies over a wide range of evolutionary conditions, especially if information about substitution bias is used to provide differential weightings for character transformations.

We can hereby CONCLUDE that the results of an application of those methods have merit.


Application of the tested methodology:

Implications of natural selection in shaping 99.4% nonsynonymous DNA identity between humans and chimpanzees: Enlarging genus Homo

"Here we compare ≈90 kb of coding DNA nucleotide sequence from 97 human genes to their sequenced chimpanzee counterparts and to available sequenced gorilla, orangutan, and Old World monkey counterparts, and, on a more limited basis, to mouse. The nonsynonymous changes (functionally important), like synonymous changes (functionally much less important), show chimpanzees and humans to be most closely related, sharing 99.4% identity at nonsynonymous sites and 98.4% at synonymous sites. "



Mitochondrial Insertions into Primate Nuclear Genomes Suggest the Use of numts as a Tool for Phylogeny

"Moreover, numts identified in gorilla Supercontigs were used to test the human–chimp–gorilla trichotomy, yielding a high level of support for the sister relationship of human and chimpanzee."



A Molecular Phylogeny of Living Primates

"Once contentiously debated, the closest human relative of chimpanzee (Pan) within subfamily Homininae (Gorilla, Pan, Homo) is now generally undisputed. The branch forming the Homo andPanlineage apart from Gorilla is relatively short (node 73, 27 steps MP, 0 indels) compared with that of thePan genus (node 72, 91 steps MP, 2 indels) and suggests rapid speciation into the 3 genera occurred early in Homininae evolution. Based on 54 gene regions, Homo-Pan genetic distance range from 6.92 to 7.90×10−3 substitutions/site (P. paniscus and P. troglodytes, respectively), which is less than previous estimates based on large scale sequencing of specific regions such as chromosome 7[50]. "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONCLUSION:

This evidence lays out the results of employing a tested methodology on the question of Primate evolution. No molecular phylogenetic analyses have produced results that counter the results of these.

Feel free to provide evidence for magic creation of a man from dust 6-10,000 years ago.

Imagine a population of 100,000 apes, the putative progenitors of humans. Suppose that a male and a female both received a mutation so beneficial that they out-survived everyone else; all the rest of the population died out—all 99,998 of them. And then the surviving pair had enough offspring to replenish the population in one generation. And this repeated every generation (every 20 years) for 10 million years, more than the supposed time since the last common ancestor of humans and apes. That would mean that 500,000 beneficial mutations could be added to the population (i.e., 10,000,000/20). Even with this completely unrealistic scenario, which maximizes evolutionary progress, only about 0.02% of the human genome could be generated. (the claim is that 0.02 is not enough to account for the differences between chimps and humans)
Imagine a creationist that can make a single argument without PLAGIARIZING creationist hacks.

It has to be imagined, because I have yet to encounter a creationist that can actually make their own arguments without at least paraphrasing other creationists.

Tell us all - did you plagiarize that crap from THIS CLOWN, or THIS ONE, who quoted the other? Reported.

I am pretty sure that you do not understand any of that, so I will debunk it for the sake of those that can in a subsequent post.

So exactly what is your objection?

1 that 0.02% in enough to explain the difference between humans and chimps?
Sure. Until there is a good reason to think otherwise - and no, ReMine and Batten's dopey slogans do not count.

2 there is something wrong with my numbers, the actual number is larger that 0.02,

Unless you are Donny Batten, YEC, those are NOT "your" numbers.

I guess you folks like to ignore that many held that Haldane's dilemma was never really a dilemma:

Warren Ewens interview:

AP: The mention of Crow brings up a further question I had. Were many biologists concerned about the problems of genetic load and mutation load at the time you began your graduate career?


WE: [...]
A second form of the load concept was introduced by the British biologist-mathematician Haldane who claimed, in 1957, that substitutions in a Darwinian evolutionary process could not proceed at more than a certain comparatively slow rate, because if they were to proceed at a faster rate, there would be an excessive “substitutional load.” Since Haldane was so famous, that concept attracted a lot of attention. In particular, Crow and Kimura made various substitutional load calculations around 1960, that is at about that time that I was becoming interested in genetics.
Perhaps the only disagreement I ever had with Crow concerned the substitutional load, because I never thought that the calculations concerning this load, which he and others carried out, were appropriate. From the very start, my own calculations suggested to me that Haldane’s arguments were misguided and indeed erroneous, and that there is no practical upper limit to the rate at which substitutions can occur under Darwinian natural selection.



... If that is the case please show where the mistake is, provide the correct number and show that this new number Si sufficient to explain the differences between humans and chimps.
I already explained the problem with that dopey argument you plagiarized - you are just ignoring, like most dishonest creationists do.

First, Donny gets the argument wrong.
Second, he sets up a strawman scenario.
Third, he doesn't seem to understand population genetics.

Fourth, he did not address the questions I asked you, such that his strawman even had hypothetical merit:[/COLOR]
1. What traits the human-chimp ancestor had in the first place
2. how many mutations would have been needed in order to get a distinctly human trait - say, upper limb proportion - from the LCA of humans and chimps
2a. How you discovered what the ancestral state was, seeing as we do not know what the exact ancestral taxon was
2b. how you determined the number of beneficial mutations needed to produce that change
etc.
If you do not know what traits the ancestor had, and you have no idea how many mutations would have been "required" top alter those traits into the traits modern humans have, how on earth can you or Donny Batten or electrician ReMine possibly declare that number - or ANY number of mutations - to be 'too few' and be taken seriously?
 

leroy

Well-Known Member
You assert that yours is the best explanation over the existing explanation that I accept. Since that explanation exists and you would be openly dishonest to claim you do not know it, then your demand is met. Now it is time for you to provide what you have been trying to avoid.

But you won't. You will find another flimsy excuse. Another game. You do know that false witness is a sin? Yes or no?
What is the existing explanation that you accept?
 
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