This post is to the 'collective'...you know who you are...
I am going to use my favorite source of explanation on evolution because Berkeley presents its information in a nice concise and simple way. I always subscribe to the KISS principle because when you strip things down to their bare bones, you can't hide anything.
Lines of evidence: The science of evolution
Lets begin...
"Lines of evidence: The science of evolution
At the heart of evolutionary theory is the basic idea that life has existed for billions of years and has changed over time.
Overwhelming evidence supports this fact. Scientists continue to argue about details of evolution, but the question of whether life has a long history or not was answered in the affirmative at least two centuries ago.
The history of living things is documented through multiple lines of evidence that converge to tell the story of life through time. In this section, we will explore the lines of evidence that are used to reconstruct this story.
These lines of evidence include:
Fossil evidence
The fossil record provides snapshots of the past that, when assembled, illustrate a panorama of evolutionary change over the past four billion years. The picture may be smudged in places and may have bits missing, but fossil evidence clearly shows that life is old and has changed over time. "
OK..all good so far.....we see the premise quite clearly stated....and we see that it is claimed that there is "overwhelming evidence" to back up this statement. So lets see what is "overwhelming" about this evidence....
"Indication of interactions
This ammonite fossil shows punctures that some scientists have interpreted as the bite mark of a mosasaur, a type of predatory marine reptile that lived at the same time as the ammonite.
Damage to the ammonite has been correlated to the shapes and capabilities of mosasaur teeth and jaws. Others have argued that the holes were created by limpets that attached to the ammonite. Researchers examine ammonite fossils, as well as mosasaur fossils and the behaviors of limpets, in order to explore these hypotheses."
Now lets explore the language used here.....The heading says "
indications of interactions" not
evidence for them. And "
some scientists have interpreted" what they see in this fossil.....others interpret differently.....supposedly the scientists all have the necessary qualifications to assess what they are seeing? Why the disagreement? Why is exploring these hypotheses leading to different interpretations?....because they are trying to squeeze a conclusion out of their evidence that supports their theory...even if they disagree with each other....as long as their conclusions prop up their theory, what does it matter?
"Transitional forms
Fossils or organisms that show the intermediate states between an ancestral form and that of its descendants are referred to as transitional forms. There are numerous examples of transitional forms in the fossil record, providing an abundance of evidence for change over time.
Pakicetus (below left), is described as an early ancestor to modern whales. Although pakicetids were land mammals, it is clear that they are related to whales and dolphins based on a number of specializations of the ear, relating to hearing. The skull shown here displays nostrils at the front of the skull.
A skull of the gray whale that roams the seas today (below right) has its nostrils placed at the top of its skull. It would appear from these two specimens that the position of the nostril has changed over time and thus we would expect to see intermediate forms.
Note that the nostril placement in Aetiocetus is intermediate between the ancestral form Pakicetus and the modern gray whale — an excellent example of a transitional form in the fossil record!"
This is the size of Pakicetus...what do you notice about the size of these allegedly related creatures pictured above?
This is the size of a grey whale...
Do we really see an authentic comparison? Or a deliberate attempt to mask the truth? How does a small four-legged land dweller (the size of a dog) morph itself into a gigantic aquatic monster? The basic ingredient is imagination.....fueled by a desire to prop up a ridiculous theory that can never be proven.