views on evolution

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Doctor Ayala wrote, while explaining what punctuated equilibrium is and not as a description of his personal beliefs:
Ayala said:
According to PE theory, the [fossil] record [with its sometimes sparse documentation of transitional phenotypes] should be taken at face value. The abrupt appearance of [some] new fossil species [according to PE theory] reflects their development in bursts of [phenotype] evolution, after which species remain unchanged in their morphology for the species’ duration, which may extend for millions of years.

From page 101 of http://www.stephenjaygould.org/reviews/ayala_structure.pdf

rpenner,

this was said in regards to the almost complete lack of transitional fossils.
No -- it was written in a review of Gould's book to summarize Gould's area of study.

If you want to know what Ayala thought in 1982, you should read what he wrote in 1982. If you want to know what Ayala thought in 2001, you should read what he wrote in 2001. If you want to know what is being taught in school today, you should cite specific textbooks.

What do you mean by "transitional fossils" -- we have a lot of them as the term is generally meant.
Wikipedia said:
This is a tentative list of transitional fossils (fossil remains of a creature that exhibits primitive traits in comparison with more derived organisms to which it is related). ... These changes often represent major changes in anatomy, related to mode of life, like the acquisition of feathered wings for an aerial lifestyle in birds, or legs in the fish/tetrapod transition. ...

Ideally, this list would only recursively include 'true' transitionals, fossils representing ancestral specie from which later groups evolved, but most if not all, of the fossils shown here represent extinct side branches, more or less closely related to the true ancestor. They will all include details unique to their own line as well. Fossils having relatively few such traits are termed "transitional", while those with a host of traits found neither in the ancestral or derived group are called "intermediate". Since all species will always be subject to natural selection, the very term "transitional fossil" is essentially a misconception. It is however a commonly used term and a useful concept in evolutionary biology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transitional_fossils
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional.html
Kathleen Hunt said:
Modern evolutionary theory holds that the living vertebrates arose from a common ancestor that lived hundreds of millions of years ago (via "descent with modification"; variety is introduced by mutation, genetic drift, and recombination, and is acted on by natural selection). Various proposed mechanisms of evolution differ in the expected rate and tempo of evolutionary change.

Predictions of evolutionary theory: Evolutionary theory predicts that fossils should appear in a temporal progression, in a nested hierarchy of lineages, and that it should be possible to link modern animals to older, very different animals. In addition, the "punctuated equilibrium" model also predicts that new species should often appear "suddenly" (within 500,000 years or less) and then experience long periods of stasis. Where the record is exceptionally good, we should find a few local, rapid transitions between species. The "phyletic gradualism" model predicts that most species should change gradually throughout time, and that where the record is good, there should be many slow, smooth species-to-species transitions. These two models are not mutually exclusive -- in fact they are often viewed as two extremes of a continuum -- and both agree that at least some species-to-species transitions should be found.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional/part1a.html#pred
Kathleen Hunt said:
When The Origin Of Species was first published, the fossil record was poorly known. At that time, the complaint about the lack of transitional fossils bridging the major vertebrate taxa was perfectly reasonable. ... Within a few decades after the Origin, [Archeopteryx] and other fossils, along with many other sources of evidence (such as developmental biology and biogeography) had convinced the majority of educated people that evolution had occurred, and that organisms are related to each other by common descent.

Since then, many more transitional fossils have been found, as sketched out in this FAQ. Typically, the only people who still demand to see transitional fossils are either unaware of the currently known fossil record (often due to the shoddy and very dated arguments presented in current creationist articles) or are unwilling to believe it for some reason.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional/part2c.html#conc

check your history dude.
see what has been said, with "proof" i might add.
now, what was it you were taught in school?
THIS is what blows my fuse.
THIS is what must be fought against in regards to science.
Could you explain what you mean by "THIS" ?

I think what needs to be fought against is anti-science predicated on prior assumptions and shoddy scholarship. For this reason I have contested what you wrote.

BTW, i've been meaning to say this for the last couple of posts.
to me it's a given but some people might need to hear it.
EVEN IF evolution is disproved it DOES NOT mean there is a "god" or "supernatural" or "ID".
why this continually crops up is anyones guess.
this is by no means an either/or situation.
it simply means we do not have all the answers.
You need to explain why, in the words of Kathleen Hunt, you "are unwilling to believe it for some reason."

Otherwise you don't have any position -- just sterile and naked denialism.
 
What do you mean by "transitional fossils" -- we have a lot of them as the term is generally meant.
apparently we don't.
it's the reason the theory was revised, remember?
Could you explain what you mean by "THIS" ?
yes, but i feel it unnecessary to do so.
For this reason I have contested what you wrote.
is that bad?
You need to explain why, in the words of Kathleen Hunt, you "are unwilling to believe it for some reason."
unwilling to believe what?
evolution?
are you serious?
there is no reason for me to believe "things become alive"
 
Evolution isn't "things become alive" -- it's "the average phenotype of populations of imperfectly replicating living things changes over time because differentials in phenotype among individuals leads to expectation of differential reproductive success."

And common descent is "any two living Earthly individuals share a common ancestral population."
 
What does evolution have to do with Abiogenesis, precisely?
I'm sure it is related as the replicating molecules prior to cellular life had to evolve in complexity and functioanlity as well.
All this mechanism was being backed up by a DNA chain which carried the code for the ribosomes and enzymes require for non living replication.
When might this be called living depends on the definition. :)
 
leopold:

I see that your amazing "evidence" that you were not allowed to post consists entirely of the same refuted claim your brought up last time we discussed this issue.

You rely on a particular misquote of Francisco Ayala, which the man himself refuted in his own writings.

If this your best argument against evolution?

Do you wish to rely on Ayala from now on as your personal authority on all things to do with evolution? In particular, how do you respond to his writings as quoted by rpenner above?

And why do you accept the misquote but do not accept Ayala's own explanation and repudiation of that?

Do you not regard yourself as an intellectually dishonest quote miner? If not, why not? To all appearances, that is what you are.

But let us entertain your silly notion for a moment. Let us ignore, like you, Ayala's own repudiation of the error you rely on. What does that leave us with? One guy writing one sentence in Science that may or may not, according to interpretation, say something against the theory of evolution. Where does that leave evolution? Is evolution sunk forever? Hardly. Even looking at only the writings of Ayala himself, there are far more words in favour of evolution in the journal Science than have ever been published against it there.

the above quote was made at a conference of no less than 50 scientists.

the consensus is clear.

Is it? Was a vote taken among those present? Please link me to where the results were published.

Note: even if all 50 scientists at that conference in some fit of communal madness, said that evolution is crap, the theory of evolution would remain largely unaffected as millions of other scientists regard it as established fact.

furthermore ayala made his statement after reviewing the data/ evidence offered by paleontologists.
so, it just isn't ayalas opinion.

What about where he repudiated the statement? Was that not just his opinion, too? Why don't you accept that?

most probably under peer pressure or fear of losing his career.

Got a shred of evidence for that silly notion? No, of course you do not.

"science" is standing behind what it printed, in other words ayala made the statement spidergoat.

Have you checked to see if a correction was published? No, you haven't. Why not?

"science" would issue a retraction IF ayala was misrepresented.

Why? Does Science always issue retractions in such cases? Please give a few other examples of where this kind of thing has happened. As an avid reader of Science, I'm sure it won't take you long to find a few examples.

you will also note that the source of spidergoats claim is a personal website, hardly something i would call a "peer reveiwed souirce"

Why does a retraction by the man himself need peer review?

Do you think the retraction was a lie? Do you think the guy himself didn't write it? Do you think it's a fraud by other evil evolutionists?

If so, what of Ayala's other published writings supporting evolution? Do you think they were all ghost written to give the impression that Ayala wasn't actually a raving creationist like you are?

actually you can take his words as "small changes do not accumulate".
in other words "accumulating small changes" is not the "driving force" behind evolution.

this implies that the driving force could be mutation driven except that all mutation type lab results i've seen has failed.

What do mutations do, if not make small changes to the genome?

Please explain.

there are other alternatives too, some not so pleasent.

Like what? A Grand Scientific Conspiracy trying to hide the Truth of the Bible from the world?

this was said in regards to the almost complete lack of transitional fossils.

There are plenty of transitional fossils. More are being found all the time.

EVEN IF evolution is disproved it DOES NOT mean there is a "god" or "supernatural" or "ID".

No, but you hope it does. What does your church hope?
 
What do you mean by "transitional fossils" -- we have a lot of them as the term is generally meant.

apparently we don't.

As a previous post explained, we do now. As a very simple example here is a partial list of transitional fossils for whales:

Pakicetus
Ambulocetus
Kutchicetus
Artiocetus
Dorudon
Aetiocetus
Basilosaurus
Eurhinodelphis
Mammalodon

unwilling to believe what?
evolution?
are you serious?
there is no reason for me to believe "things become alive"

OK. And that has nothing to do with evolution.
 
no.
i have however made a number of posts that shows how some scientists have been ridiculed almost to oblivion for presenting dissenting evolutionary evidence.

Then you should have no issues finding articles, papers or studies where Ayala has been ridiculed by his colleagues for what was posted in Science Magazine.
 
@leopold

Ardipithecus has transitional features.

Also, why do you assume, if your source is contradicted, that a conspiracy is at play?

i have however made a number of posts that shows how some scientists have been ridiculed almost to oblivion for presenting dissenting evolutionary evidence
.

But evey field of science has scientists being ridiculed for something or another. What is special about your examples that makes them more compelling than any typical winnowing process?
 
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leopold:

Thankyou so much for your report of my offensive post (#791).

In your report you called me a cocksucker because I dared to peg you as a creationist.

I'm going (not very far) out on a limb here to claim that your motivations in disputing evolution are entirely religious. I think you're most likely a church-going Believer of some kind who has probably been told repeatedly that evolution is anti-Jesus or something.

If you're not a fundamentalist Christian (and let's face it, the vast majority of creationists are), then please explain you motivations in disputing evolution.

You seem to get VERY upset when somebody calls you a creationist. I think it's because you're afraid to own up to your background and beliefs. Because if you let on that you're religious, you're worried that any shred of scientific credibility that you have left here will vanish in the eyes of most of our members.

If, on the other hand, you claim to be solely motivated by a quest for Truth in Science, then please explain why you so often go out of your way to mine quotes from disreputable sites like answersingenesis to suppport your arguments, and why you're so unwilling to learn anything about the theory you're trying to criticise.
 
leopold:

If you're not a fundamentalist Christian (and let's face it, the vast majority of creationists are), then please explain you motivations in disputing evolution.

If I were a fundamentalist Christian AND a scientist, I would seek to explain how the Lord blessed folks like Charles Darwin - and his mentors - with so much divine inspiration, relating this to my readings: Seek and ye shall find, for example.

When blessing and breaking bread at the table, I would ask the Lord to preserve the faithful who have been inspired by Divine Providence, that they may apply their Heavenly Wisdom to the application of every urgent problem facing the sick, the dying, the starving, from every remedy and solution Science may be guided by the Lord to discover.

And by formulating a reverence for all noble human pursuits, whether in science or otherwise, I would perhaps even dedicate myself, like a servant of the Lord, to the increase of my own wisdom, so that, before my time is up, I might have a chance to do the Lord's work, by paying forward some small contribution to society.

The paradox of reverence for the nobler ideals of faith, mixed with cynicism toward the best human efforts to live inspired lives, is a strange brew that amounts to poison.
 
I'm going (not very far) out on a limb here to claim that your motivations in disputing evolution are entirely religious.
listen james, i don't give a rats ass about your god or your theory, okay?

i have repeatedly asked you not to refer to me as a creationist, i'm sure you still have the PM where i requested the same.
 
leopold:

I see that your amazing "evidence" that you were not allowed to post consists entirely of the same refuted claim your brought up last time we discussed this issue.

You rely on a particular misquote of Francisco Ayala, which the man himself refuted in his own writings.
i don't remember ever seeing where "science" said it misquoted ayala.
If this your best argument against evolution?
no.
i guess the best proof would be the lack of lab results.
but let's not let evidence get in our way.
Do you wish to rely on Ayala from now on as your personal authority on all things to do with evolution? In particular, how do you respond to his writings as quoted by rpenner above?
with the same enthusiasm as i would anything that barely interested me.
Do you not regard yourself as an intellectually dishonest quote miner?
no.
Even looking at only the writings of Ayala himself, there are far more words in favour of evolution in the journal Science than have ever been published against it there.
i'm sure there are.
it's no secret that dissenting evolutionary evidence is buried, swept under the rug.
take the piece from "science daily" i posted for example.
Note: even if all 50 scientists at that conference in some fit of communal madness, . . .
label them as loonies now.
Got a shred of evidence for that silly notion? No, of course you do not.
yes.
i've posted it in a different thread some time ago.
Have you checked to see if a correction was published? No, you haven't. Why not?
yes i have.
"science" has retracted a number of times afer this study was published.
none pertain to the issue at hand.
Why? Does Science always issue retractions in such cases?
i don't know.
if the misquoted author requested it then most probably yes.
Why does a retraction by the man himself need peer review?
i never said it did.
Do you think the retraction was a lie? Do you think the guy himself didn't write it? Do you think it's a fraud by other evil evolutionists?
there was never a retraction made by "science" so i have no idea what you are talking about.
 
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