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Evolution is not observable admits Jerry Coyne

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
It's still a good question though, do you think acquiring our intelligence would disadvantage monkeys? in any niche? today or at any point in history? yet according to the theory, that's exactly why our intelligence naturally 'evolved'; as an evolutionary advantage over other monkeys.
The fact that we alter environments to suit our needs instead of theirs does disadvantage them.
But this isn't strictly a matter of evolution, so much as it's our decision to cause this.
 

ArtieE

Well-Known Member
LOL!

The most obvious sign in the quote from "Dawkins" that it's false. He knows that we didn't evolve from monkeys, and evolutionists know as well, so that quote is clearly invented by some "honest" (...troll, cough, cough) creationist.
I am waiting for Guy to provide the original source showing that Dawkins said this and that it is not taken out of context. I'm sure he wouldn't lie.
 

dust1n

Zindīq
I am waiting for Guy to provide the original source showing that Dawkins said this and that it is not taken out of context. I'm sure he wouldn't lie.

I also am not sure how he reconciles that quote with this, indisputable, but entirely unsourced quote from Jesus:

63134086.jpg


Case settled.
 

Guy Threepwood

Mighty Pirate
The fact that we alter environments to suit our needs instead of theirs does disadvantage them.
But this isn't strictly a matter of evolution, so much as it's our decision to cause this.

Right, so we acquired a massive evolutionary advantage- over not just monkeys but millions of other species- by gaining our intelligence, the ability to make those decisions

yet in millions of following years, no monkey or ape any other animal acquired this incredibly advantageous capability.. which was yet supposedly the product of an entirely natural immutable force of constant adaptation.

The 'why are there still monkeys' question is just one of the most obvious of many instances of a final destination, reached quickly and never affected by this all powerful process-

which apparently endowed the most difficult of all design breakthroughs.. sentience on humans practically overnight, yet couldn't blunder into any significant improvement on the design of a horseshoe crab in half a billion years!
 

dust1n

Zindīq
It's only indisputable if it's printed over a photograph of the actual person!

Good point. No one could simply just make up words and put quote marks around them and put that on a picture, unless the picture in question wasn't a picture of the real person. Then, it would be physically impossible to do that.
 

Ouroboros

Coincidentia oppositorum
I am waiting for Guy to provide the original source showing that Dawkins said this and that it is not taken out of context. I'm sure he wouldn't lie.
I tried to find it, but it seems to have roots in some obscure "quote" database file without any sources. It's most likely made up by some truth searching creationist. It's a very strange moral compass God gives them. I'm not sure how morality can be rooted in a creationist God when some creationists start to straight out lie like this?
 

Guy Threepwood

Mighty Pirate
Good point. No one could simply just make up words and put quote marks around them and put that on a picture, unless the picture in question wasn't a picture of the real person. Then, it would be physically impossible to do that.


So why do you think there are still Monkeys, why would the process that can accidentally endow significant design improvements in a single individual, withhold this obvious advantage from monkeys? for millions of years?
 

Ouroboros

Coincidentia oppositorum
Good point. No one could simply just make up words and put quote marks around them and put that on a picture, unless the picture in question wasn't a picture of the real person. Then, it would be physically impossible to do that.
Yes. It's some kind of magical supernatural things with computers. You just can't attach a false quote to a picture if it's the real person. I think it's called the "Troll Factor" or something.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Right, so we acquired a massive evolutionary advantage- over not just monkeys but millions of other species- by gaining our intelligence, the ability to make those decisions

yet in millions of following years, no monkey or ape any other animal acquired this incredibly advantageous capability.. which was yet supposedly the product of an entirely natural immutable force of constant adaptation.

The 'why are there still monkeys' question is just one of the most obvious of many instances of a final destination, reached quickly and never affected by this all powerful process-

which apparently endowed the most difficult of all design breakthroughs.. sentience on humans practically overnight, yet couldn't blunder into any significant improvement on the design of a horseshoe crab in half a billion years!
Clearly, this is a milestone in evolution of life, ie, that a critter can consciously alter the course of evolution of one's own & multiple other species.
 

dust1n

Zindīq
So why do you think there are still Monkeys, why would the process that can accidentally endow significant design improvements in a single individual, withhold this obvious advantage from monkeys? for millions of years?

I want you to image something for a moment. Imagine you have two groups of apes. Not unheard of, right? Apes travel in groups, they don't travel in one giant ape group.

So take Ape Group 1, and take Ape Group 2. They start in a similar area, but separate, maybe do to weather, maybe just following the food source around... Ape Group 1 more or less travels around in areas that are pretty similar to the original area. So, they have kids, the kids look like normal, and for the most part none of them die. Ape Group 2 go North into some mountainous area and stumble upon an elevated region where it's 40 degrees. Generally, the kids Ape Group 2 is having is having a harder time surviving the cold. However, one of the ape's is born with a random mutation where their fur is slightly thicker. The baby lives, and goes on to reproduce a bunch, and all of its kids have slightly thicker coats, and so none of them die in the cold. However, all the other kids in Ape Group 2 are dying. So any ape in Ape Group 2 with that gene for thicker coats, is going to reproduce more effectively, meaning the gene for the thicker coat is going to become more abundant then the original gene. However, in Ape Group 1, that same mutation for a thicker coat would a problem, because it's not actually colder there.

So you have Ape Group 2 with a different gene frequency than Ape Group 1, even though they all the same ancestor.

It's no different for brains... monkeys have different sized brains. The brain slowly grew bigger, allowing beings to get slowly smarter over time...
 

Guy Threepwood

Mighty Pirate
Clearly, this is a milestone in evolution of life, ie, that a critter can consciously alter the course of evolution of one's own & multiple other species.

Yes, and the only critter in millions that is conscious of creation itself, that can ponder it's meaning and purpose along with our own. Is able to deduce in turn intelligent agency behind it, and be thankful for it.

Complete coincidence perhaps, but perhaps there exists the possibility of a less improbable explanation

Fred Hoyle estimates the following probabilities for chance, random arrangement of amino acids:- (14)
    • 10-19 for a ten amino acid polypeptide
    • 10-20 for a functional enzyme
    • 10-130 for the histone H4 molecule
    • 10-40,000 for all of life's 2,000 enzymes
 

Ouroboros

Coincidentia oppositorum
What's even more stupid with the fake quote is that we do know why there are still monkeys. We learned it in week 3 of introduction to biological/physical anthropology. It's called speciation. It's the foundation for how evolution works. Dawkins knows about this quite well, since he's talked about it in his books. So the quote is obviously false.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Yes, and the only critter in millions that is conscious of creation itself, that can ponder it's meaning and purpose along with our own. Is able to deduce in turn intelligent agency behind it, and be thankful for it.

Complete coincidence perhaps, but perhaps there exists the possibility of a less improbable explanation

Fred Hoyle estimates the following probabilities for chance, random arrangement of amino acids:- (14)
    • 10-19 for a ten amino acid polypeptide
    • 10-20 for a functional enzyme
    • 10-130 for the histone H4 molecule
    • 10-40,000 for all of life's 2,000 enzymes
Those numbers don't make sense.
Probability would be between 0 & 1.
But whatever he calculated, I'll wager that his methods are sorely inadequate in
light of modern biology's beginning to grok alternate pathways to a given result.
And we've a lot to learn still.
 

Shad

Veteran Member
Yes, and the only critter in millions that is conscious of creation itself, that can ponder it's meaning and purpose along with our own. Is able to deduce in turn intelligent agency behind it, and be thankful for it.

Complete coincidence perhaps, but perhaps there exists the possibility of a less improbable explanation

Fred Hoyle estimates the following probabilities for chance, random arrangement of amino acids:- (14)
    • 10-19 for a ten amino acid polypeptide
    • 10-20 for a functional enzyme
    • 10-130 for the histone H4 molecule
    • 10-40,000 for all of life's 2,000 enzymes

Hoyle discredited himself years ago. Why do you think anyone here cares about Hoyle? You only mention him as it is useful for your strawman argument. Beside Hoyle had odd ideas about abiogenesis which the modern field rejects.
 
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