Evolution – a Theory in CrisisEvolution – a Theory in Crisis

Part 1 of 3 Part 1 of 3 The Scientific BankruptcyThe Scientific Bankruptcy

of Darwinian Evolutionof Darwinian Evolution

Also available:Part 2 of 3 – The Philosophical Bankruptcy of Darwinian EvolutionPart 3 of 3 – The Biblical Creation Alternative & Its Implications

Richard Dawkins

“No qualified scientist doubts evolution is a fact.”

700 Scientists dissent:“We are sceptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life.”

http://www.dissentfromdarwin.org/

Charles Darwin(1809-1882)

‘Natural selection’

Definition of Evolution?

Variation within a ‘kind’ or ‘prototype’?

Relatives?

Darwinian evolution’s ‘tree of life’

A caricature of the ‘creation model’

The actual creation model

Small changes (micro-evolution)

+ Millions of years

=

Big changes (macro-evolution)

The central Darwinian Claim

A sample of what’s involved

• Evolve a 4th chamber in its heart

• Evolve mammary glands and a milk supply

• Evolve a hair covering

• Evolve a temperature control system

• Evolve a corti in the inner ear

• Evolve a diaphragm

To turn into a mammal, a reptile must:

Carl Sagan’s challenge:

“Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof.”

(1934 – 1996)

Outline

• 14 ‘Proofs’ dismissed

• 8 Problems discussed

• 3 Pathways discovered

Proof No. 1The Giraffe

J. Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829)

“Inheritance of acquired

characteristics”

The Natural History Museum - London

Proof No. 2Dog Breeding

Variations between dogs tell us nothing about where dogs came from in the first place.

Proof No. 3Galapagos Finches

Variations between finches tell us nothing about where finches came from in the first place.

Proof No. 4 The Horse sequence

‘‘The family tree of the horse is beautiful and continuous only in the textbooks.’’

- Heribert-Nilsson, Biologist.

Proof No. 5 - Peppered Moths

Population shifts between light and dark moths tell us nothing about where the moths came from in the first place.

Proof No. 6The Fruit Fly

Variations between fruit flies tell us nothing about where fruit flies came from in the first place.

Darwin’s “three great classes of facts”

1. Similar Body Structure (homology)

2. Similar Embryonic Development

3. Rudiments (vestigial organs)

Darwin’s claim:Structural similarity proves common ancestry.

Proof No. 7HomologyRatDogHorseBatMolePorpoiseMan

Claim: arms evolved from pectoral fins

Claim: legs evolved from pelvic fins

Or does it?

Proof No. 8Similar Embryonic Development

Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919)

Darwin’s ‘marvelous fact’…

…is actually fiction.

Proof No. 9Vestigial Organs

The coccyx is neither functionless nor useless.

Proof No. 10Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria

“Resistance is gained…not by adding something, but by losing it ”

– Dr. Lee Spetner Ph.D

Proof No. 11 Sickle Cell Anemia

This haemoglobin mutation tells us nothing about where haemoglobin came from in the first place.

Proof No. 12 Molecular similarity

Anomalies:

• Chimp & human - 7.7% diff.

• No. of chromosomes

• Amount of DNA

• Distance between proteins

Proof No. 13 Archaeopteryx

The Hoatzin

Young Hoatzins have claws on their wings for climbing.

Proof No. 14 ‘Ape-men’

Australopithecus afarensis - ‘Lucy’

A picture’s worth a thousand words

….and a few more thousand words

Proof No. 14 ‘Ape-men’

Australopithecus afarensis - ‘Lucy’

10 Design features for Upright Posture

Prof. Simon Conway Morris (Cambridge palaeontologist)

“When discussing organic evolution the only point of agreement seems

to be: ‘It happened.’ Thereafter, there is little consensus…”

(Evolution: Bringing Molecules into the Fold, Cell 100, (Jan 7 2000):1-11)

8. Mathematics/Probability

3. Natural selection’s limits

4. The Cambrian explosion

5. Lack of transitional fossils

6. Complex beginnings

7. Irreducible complexity

1. The nature of mutations

8 Problems with Darwinism:

2. The limits of mutation

Three Pathways to a Creator

• InformationComplex specified information demands an intelligent designer.

• EliminationOnly 4 options.

• RevelationEvidences that God has spoken.

‘‘We take the side of [neo-Darwinian] science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfil many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.’’

(Billions and billions of demons, The New York Review, January 9, 1997, p. 31).

Harvard geneticist Richard LewontinHarvard geneticist Richard Lewontin