Re: Study Re-evaluates Evolution of Mammals

No one has ever claimed
that mammals instantly filled all the niches that had been occupied by
non-avian dinosaurs!

Actually, I remember far back that there was a conjecture stated
as such that that is exactly what happened. In fact, there was a
conjecture that the evolution of mammals precipitated the extinction
of the dinosaurs, because the new mammals were very good at eating up
the dinosaur eggs. Both theories were presented along with the
supernova hypothesis, the slow change of climate hypothesis, etc. I
suspect that Derdag has some vague and distorted memory of such
conjectures, and is belatedly responding to them. What Derdag didn't
read was the fine print: these really were presented as hypotheses
which were not fundamental parts of the evolutionary theory.
The analogue that applies to Derday is the relationship
between forensic science and physics. Police scientists use ballistic
measurements to help find criminals. The assumption that they use is
sort of like the theory of evolution, that natural processes determine
the changes in form of the bullet now and when the bullet was shot.
The scientific support for this hypothesis is in the validation of the
laws of physics, from Newton laws to the spectroscopic laws they used
in their chemical analysis. There are plenty of cases where police
found the criminal based on ballistic evidence, and then further
evidence came along that the criminal caught actually did it. However,
there are also cases where the wrong person was caught based on
ballistic measurements. It would be considered illogical by most
people (including Derdag?) to claim that Newton's Laws or the laws of
quantum mechanics were wrong because the wrong person was caught. The
actual crime was unobservable and unrepeatable, and is comprised of a
series of events that include the bullet but is not exclusive of the
other events.
Derdag is misusing the concept of falsefiable. He has a false
theory of sketecism. A real theory of skepticism has to include a
criteria of verifiability. A theory can always be considered true
within a narrow range of conditions if certain predictions occur, that
have to be included in the theory of sketicism. It also cannot be
considered exactly true at any time, since at any point a test can be
done outside the narrow range of conditions.

.

Relevant Pages

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