Re: Hypothesize, predict, test...

In article <1127784767.020449.297810@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"kuff (Isaac Adams)" <kuff00@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Dr. GroundAxe wrote:
> > kuff (Isaac Adams) wrote:
> > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/25/AR20050925
> > > 01177_pf.html
> > >
> > > ...
> > >
> > > If Darwin was right, for example, then scientists should be able to
> > > perform a neat trick. Using a mathematical formula that emerges from
> > > evolutionary theory, they should be able to predict the number of
> > > harmful mutations in chimpanzee DNA by knowing the number of mutations
> > > in a different species' DNA and the two animals' population sizes.
> > >
> > > "That's a very specific prediction," said Eric Lander, a geneticist at
> > > the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., and a
> > > leader in the chimp project.
> > >
> > > Sure enough, when Lander and his colleagues tallied the harmful
> > > mutations in the chimp genome, the number fit perfectly into the range
> > > that evolutionary theory had predicted.
> > >
> > > Their analysis was just the latest of many in such disparate fields as
> > > genetics, biochemistry, geology and paleontology that in recent years
> > > have added new credence to the central tenet of evolutionary theory:
> > > That a smidgeon of cells 3.5 billion years ago could -- through
> > > mechanisms no more extraordinary than random mutation and natural
> > > selection -- give rise to the astonishing tapestry of biological
> > > diversity that today thrives on Earth.
> > >
> > > Evolution's repeated power to predict the unexpected goes a long way
> > > toward explaining why so many scientists and others are practically
> > > apoplectic over the recent decision by a Pennsylvania school board to
> > > treat evolution as an unproven hypothesis, on par with "alternative"
> > > explanations such as Intelligent Design (ID), the proposition that life
> > > as we know it could not have arisen without the helping hand of some
> > > mysterious intelligent force.
> > >
> > > ...
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > It's interesting to see the religionist climbdown on the issue though.
> > Not so long ago evolution was heretical, now religionists have adopted a
> > fall-back position that still allows them to believe in some kind of
> > Godhead.
>
> Anything to make them feel somehow 'special'. "God cared enough about
> humans (and me) to design them."
>
> Truth is nothing cares about humans (or them).
>
> > The next likely progression once ID is rubbished further, will
> > be to state that God created the process we call evolution, and thus is
> > ultimately responsible for all creation.
>
> The Catholic view. I can agree with it with a slight modification -
> "evolution was provided" :-).

So were kinky priests.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Hypothesize, predict, test...
    ... If Darwin was right, for example, then scientists should be able to ... harmful mutations in chimpanzee DNA by knowing the number of mutations ... that evolutionary theory had predicted. ... It's interesting to see the religionist climbdown on the issue though. ...
    (alt.religion.islam)
  • Re: Hypothesize, predict, test...
    ... If Darwin was right, for example, then scientists should be able to ... harmful mutations in chimpanzee DNA by knowing the number of mutations ... that evolutionary theory had predicted. ... It's interesting to see the religionist climbdown on the issue though. ...
    (alt.religion.islam)
  • Hypothesize, predict, test...
    ... If Darwin was right, for example, then scientists should be able to ... harmful mutations in chimpanzee DNA by knowing the number of mutations ... that evolutionary theory had predicted. ... mysterious intelligent force. ...
    (alt.religion.islam)
  • Re: Evolution of man
    ... group of people you choose to include in your definition of scientists ... accept that miraculous acts of creation are possible if an almighty ... monkeys have a set of design features in common. ... mutations. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Finally, I beat Jason Spaceman to an anti-evolution article
    ... > scientists (and most of the scientists are not in fields relevant to ... > reasons for rejecting these aspects of evolutionary theory. ... the "case against Darwinism" is a laundry list of ... > William Dembski hopes to identify "design" by identifying systems that meet ...
    (talk.origins)