Posted by J.H. [JH] on November 28, 1999 at 05:20:56 {hcnmikA.FkwxcT1WLj/AHR5JhS9/hc}:
In Reply to: Evolutin Phase III posted by Amazing on November 27, 1999 at 17:00:56:
: Evolutionists: Earlier, I suggested a macro-scale-time test for the theory of evolution.
There are different kinds of empirical research. You can conduct an experiment and watch it in progress. Or you can look for clues and evidence about what has already happened.
There is an objective test we can conduct for macroevolution, besides interpretation of the fossil record. When a feature (e.g. an organ) in a species disappears, it is very unlikely that the corresponding genes disappears completely from the DNA. Almost certainly, most of it is still there, but has been disabled in the code by a simple mutation.
Human beings, like all other life forms, have enormous amounts of such code --pseduocode -- in our DNA. In fact, by far the majority of our DNA is useless garbage that is never "executed", much like old "debug" code in a computer program. In some situations, a "reverse" mutation (my expression) occurs and makes some old code build organs in human beings again. Occasionally, human children are born with tails, just like our ancestor species. These are removed through surgery, so you don't hear much about it (I guess nervous parents can do without the jokes, also).
In other species, such changes, called "throwbacks" are quite common. Not very rarely, whales are found with hind legs, complete with a thigh and a knee, and would-be-functional were it not that these legs are attached to enormous bodies that are adapted to swimming, not walking. This is, of course, solid and irrefutible evidence that the ancestors of whales once walked on dry land. If that is not evidence of macroevolution, I wonder what is!
Through simple genetic engineering and other biochemical methods, humans can trigger such throwbacks in other species. As you will know, no species of bird today has teeth. You are probably also familiar with fossils demonstrating that birds in the past had teeth, as should be expected if they evolved from the dinosaurs. And, in fact, simple surgical engineering has triggered the old pseudocode in bird DNA, and birds with teeth are hatched in the 20th century!
This is just a little bit of the solid evidence for evolution that makes real biologists simply reject anti-evolutionism as a throwback (no pun intended) to the dark ages, conducted by religious zealots that never listened to solid arguments anyway. It is a fact that there is no real opposition to evolutionary science outside American fundamentalism Christianity. Such "debates" are not visible in Europe, where all major churches long ago accepted the fact of evolution (even though they surely would oppose it if there was any basis for doing so!).
Evolution as a fact is simply not subject to serious debate. Those who know the facts, accept it. Those who don't, generally come up with ignorant "arguments" and silly attacks real scientists have no reason to take seriously and answer for the umpteenth time. And given that American fundie fanatics don't want schools to give any education in evolution, there is little hope this will change.
"Ignorence is strength", as Big Brother argued in Orwell's "1984".
(Reference on throwbacks, birds with teeth and whale hind legs: Robert T. Bakker: The Dinosaur Heresies, pp. 314-316, New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1986.)