science in its basic tenets looks for its errors excepts its errors and moves on!
Yeah, real science does. You're right. But evolution is far from real science. I always find it amusing (and I mean that in the most derogatory way possible) when someone tries to invoke the very well established sciences of physics or chemistry (i.e. your Edison example) as some sort of umbrella which naturally transfers to other fields, such as evolutionary theory. It's a false association.
You have one point in your favor, in that Edison held a belief that something should be possible, and he worked very hard trying to find something that would work (not unlike Evolutionists working hard trying to prove evolution). And his perseverance paid off. Nevertheless, his actions with the lightbulb were based on already existing, well established, known physical models. Evolution is not a well established, known physical model. It's a biological model whose major selling point is that it contradicts another model that some of us are really sick of hearing about.
What really pisses you guys off is that Creationists are getting really good at using Science against Evolutionists (with the assumption that discrediting Evolution somehow "proves" Creationism, as if these are the only two possibilities, and disproving one necessarily proves the other). Unfortunately, however, the best defenses you can mount are either a) ignoring the evidence entirely, or b) casting aspersions on the claims or the related evidence without any counterproof whatsoever. Again, I really can't help but notice how much like Creationists that sounds, but I'm talking about the Evolutionists when I say it...
If you don't like the comparison, how about actually using that science you allegedly know all about to properly combat the claims? How about attacking the claims scientifically or logically instead of playing the same games that Creationists play when science challenges them?
The big problem is that your cherished theory might not survive the assault.
Science, on the other hand, will still win.
What really pisses you guys off is that Creationists are getting really good at using Science against Evolutionists
No creationist has ever used science against evolution. it you think so then you have been badly fooled. They are very good at using pseudo-science and fooling the poorly informed, but their arguments always fail. Every field of science that relates to evolution has produce evidence that supports it. There has never been a case in which science has been used to falsify evolution. Ever!
Wrong, John, Once again you are misrepresenting Science as nothing more than a rational version of religion. Evolution is a fact. If it were not a fact, with mountains of evidence to support it (and none to falsify it) it would require belief. Like all the various creation myths humans have invented. Science does not ask you to belief, it presents you with the evidence so that no rational person can come to any other conclusion. The only reason that Evolution unlike other disciplines, like optic get attacked this way is because, the fundamentalist creationists see it as an attack on their territory. Whereas optics does not affect their beliefs. Evolution is FACT, Religion is Belief. What is also BELIEF and a false one at that is what you belief.
I don't believe that any miracle happened. Miracles is what you BELIEVE in. I stick close to the FACTS of SCIENCE. Evolutionary science does not depend on miracles, proving that a miracle occurred would be a way falsifying evolution. Science demands observations, facts, data, numbers, statistics, experimentation; all the things that are not required by those, like you, that rely on BELIEF.
If you see the evidence and do not come conclusion that evolution is the only viable theory, the you don't understand what you are reading/seeing/hearing. Understanding requires something more, an intellectual capacity with and educational background. Not necessarily formally. I imagine I could show you a Hamiltonian eq., and while you could “see it” you would be unable to tell me what it really says. You are having the same problem with evolution. You “see” but you don't understand what you are seeing.
When this happens, I found it occurs for two main reasons. The person just lacks the basic background to understand the evidence at hand. Or this is the more common scenario; they see evolution as running contrary to the core spiritual/religious BELIEFS, and they shut themselves off to the FACTS of Evolution. The first case can be remedied with education, the second is just Willful Ignorance and requires that the person make a shift in their thinking because the more evidence you present, the more they entrench themselves in their illusion.
By your standards, nothing is science. In every field there remains questions, problems to be solved, science does not require full and complete answers to every question before you can deem it to be science. The mathematics of Einstein were science, in some cases it took decades for its predictions to be confirmed, same with DeBrogli, Schroedinger, Pasteur and every other great scientist. Science, like evolution is a process, just because you can't see it happening does not mean it isn't there.
My argument that "Religion depends on emotion, Science demands reason." remains correct. It is true that creationists don't use science but rather pseudo-science to fool people. It is not possible to used science to falsify evolution because all evidence ever gathered has always supported it. The fact that all evidence gathered supports evolution is not circular reason, those are just the facts. The pseudo-science lies in trying to mollify/massage these facts to fit a religious based ideology – usually done by cherry picking, and misinterpretation.
If you think, science argues from authority you do not understand science or have not been exposed to it. Evolutionary science meets all the other criteria of any other science. It is ignorant to think otherwise. The evidence is the authority, and the methods of gathering/analysing/deconstructing/critiquing the evidence is the science.
Science also does not have to be absolutely true to be science, Niels Bohr was doing science, and his model of the atom was a scientific model, it was replaced by others who based on Bohr's work did better science and gave us an even better scientific model of the atom. Your claims of me or the science community rejecting “anything which doesn't match what "Science" has already decreed is true.” is patently false, and foolish.
I've reached many pinnacles in my life – hypocrisy never being one them. That being said, my statement is true, there is no other rational, logical alternative to evolution. It is the only explanation that addresses all (everything) the evidence. All new evidence, findings and experiments all fit Evolution. If the science could only address the current knowledge and have difficulty with new discoveries, it would need reworking. But that is not the case, all new discoveries only strengthen it.
You, again, show your ignorance of science. Science does not claim to absolute answers but to the best possible answers based on all the available evidence. And for ALL the available evidence, Evolution is that answer.
It is true, if you are challenging evolution in favour of creation, you are ignorance of evolutionary science. Just as if you were to claim that the earth is flat you would be ignorance of planetary science, or if you made the case for intelligent falling over gravity. To make this assertion is not an ad hominem attack, it is mere fact. In each case, you would be making a case against all the available evidence.
An assault in evolution, is a bible based assault, it is the main source of their argument and a childish one at that - “it is true because this book says it's true.” That is a perfect circle of illogic, and the only tool that creationists have.
There is no evidence, that you, or anybody else has gathered that does not conform to evolution - if you claim otherwise, they are false. If any creationist “evidence” has been rejected is has been rejected on the METHODOLOGY, not because it did not conform to evolution. This is the typical excuse used by creationist, who do pseudo-science in the name of creationism and then pout when real scientist dismiss the sham attempts. “Conspiracy!” they cry, in an attempt to gain sympathy for their fraudulent works.
My final paragraph, is historically accurate; "No creationist has ever used science against evolution.", this is not an attack, just basic historical and scientific facts. I say this with eyes scanning for all evidence and ears fully open. It is you, who turn a blind eye, and a deaf ear to the evidence and cold hard facts in favour a comforting fiction – it shows a need for emotional and intellectual growth. I recognize pseudo-science by its poor methodology, it's illogical arguments, it's use of supernatural intervention. I feel sorry that you have been fooled by these hucksters – it is true what they say, Science education is in a state of crisis and has been for a long time, you John are a perfect example of the failures of science education.
Knowledge, reason. Science.
Ignorance, belief. Mythology.
I feel sorry for you and others that have chosen the latter.
You are always welcome on our side, should you ever achieve intellectual maturity.
You don't need any. And if you think you do, then you don't understand evolutionary science at all.
Oh, sure, Corinthian. If a Creationist used this line of reasoning, you'd rightly reject it. Why do you hold yourself to a lower standard?
The fact that we can't currently create such a cell, does not mean that the whole idea of common origin is wrong. All the evidence indicates common origin. And like I wrote previously, not every question needs to be answered for something to be true.
And the fact that we can't see God doesn't mean that God doesn't exist, but you insist otherwise. Why do you accept a lower standard of proof for yourself?
Organic chemist are capable of creating self replicating molecules, as well as many organic molecules including amino acids from simple compound. But they've only had about 50 good years (Miller) of experimentaion, where as the planet had 1500 Million years running 24 hours a day. And where they are confined to a lab bench, life had a whole planet to arise.
Fair enough, but the point is you're still riding a belief that it's possible. Yeah, there are self replicating molecules. But that doesn't explain how the molecules were created in the first place, or why such creation doesn't happen now. "Things are different now." That's a straw man when I offer it, except that it's the most common retort I hear from this line of reasoning. Funny thing is, that's the same reason Creationists give that God doesn't make His presence known like he used to. Same excuses, different belief system.
And if we know that things were different, and how they were different, then shouldn't we be able to replicate those conditions? Except that we don't know with enough certainty... So, again, hang it on a belief and ASSUME that it must have been that way!
Belief, belief, belief.
We have already show with the Miller experiement that Organic molecules can arise from non organic compounds.
Yes, and you can read about it here and here. But your attempt to invoke the authority of Miller (that was an appeal to authority, by the way, in case you can't recongize it) is specious, for reasons you can again read about elsewhere (including at my links), if you actually care enough to examine ALL the data, rather than cherry picking the bits which favor your position -- you know, like you accuse the Creationists of doing?
Besides, an organic molecule is one with a carbon-hydrogen bond. Big deal. We can find plenty of them in stellar clouds in space, too, and in the occasional meteorite. This is a far cry from the complexity that is a cell.
As for the rest of your message... These are bits of evidence, I'll grant you, but they're still a long way from the spontaneous self-assembly of the first cell. In fact, they're little more than properties of the substances in question. They haven't suddenly become "alive" by virtue of these properties. I mean, oxygen is particularly electronegative, and life as we know it couldn't exist without it, but the characteristics of oxygen don't prove Evolution, either.
The simple test is: show how living cells can spontaneously self-assemble.
Until that act is accomplished, you're engaging in nothing but wishful thinking.
Oh, sure, Corinthian. If a Creationist used this line of reasoning, you'd rightly reject it. Why do you hold yourself to a lower standard?
No, John, because science has some very specific requirements that must met. If these requirements are not met then it is not science. When creationist claim to use science they are not meeting these requirements, they are not doing science.
And the fact that we can't see God doesn't mean that God doesn't exist, but you insist otherwise.
My position is closer to Protagoras' – a pre-socratic philosopher who born some 480 years before Christ. He wrote “ As to the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or do not exist.” So, 2500 years ago, a simple man at the emergence of what is now known as philosophy figured it out.
I have not argued that God does not exist, for what you write is true, lack of evidence does not negate existence. What I have repeatedly stated is that there is no evidence that God exists, it is a subtle but very important difference. I have followed that argument by asserting that since there is no evidence, then the choice of supernatural beliefs and how, when, who to worship is entirely arbitrary.
When all the evidence is put to the crucible (good play/book btw), it indicates common origin. The question of how the first cell arouse is not part of evolutionary science. It is a question for those studying the origin of life. Anti-evolutionists like to lump evolution and abiogenesis together, this should not be done. Whether the first cell/cells arouse by natural means, supernatural intervention or extra terrestrial interference, doesn't really matter to evolution. What really matters is that the evidence points to that/those cells as the point of common origin some 3.5 billion years ago.
Fair enough, but the point is you're still riding a belief that it's possible. Yeah, there are self replicating molecules. But that doesn't explain how the molecules were created in the first place, or why such creation doesn't happen now. "Things are different now." That's a straw man when I offer it, except that it's the most common retort I hear from this line of reasoning. Funny thing is, that's the same reason Creationists give that God doesn't make His presence known like he used to. Same excuses, different belief system.
Things were different then, higher temperature, more radiation both from the planet and from the sun, higher temperature, more volcanic activity, and more electrical activity just to name a few. Are these relevant variables? Are there other variables? I don't know. There is also the point that most of life on earth, still has not be characterized. Even to this day new species of mammals, birds, and reptiles have been found. The microbial world is essentially unknown, so it is quite possible that deep in the ocean near a hydrothermal vent new life has emerged. Abiogenesis could be occurring as you read this.
It has also been proposed that perhaps life is still arising, but it is quickly exterminated by the current life that has had 3.5 billion year head start in survival. Currently, bacteria have the ability to interfere with the growth of other bacteria, or to kill it outright, they can adapt to toxic chemical environments, go into protective metabolic inhibition, they can produce a protective outer shell, and many other survival adaptations. A new emerging cell would not have any of these advantages, it would be like a naked babe in a forest filled with predators. There is no evidence for this, but it is not an unreasonable idea.
And if we know that things were different, and how they were different, then shouldn't we be able to replicate those conditions? Except that we don't know with enough certainty... So, again, hang it on a belief and ASSUME that it must have been that way!
We don't fully know what was different, we can make some conclusions based on the evidence, it remains an incomplete picture. So our attempts to replicate could be missing a vital ingredient, and again, time and space are not on our side. A scientist working 16 hours per day for 40 years is equivalent of 26 years of work and not counting setup time, experimental design, and everything else he might do at most 8 years of actual experimentation. 8 years in beaker versus 1 000 000 000 years in a planet.
So it is not belief, but a logical conclusion, based on the evidence. Evidence that points to common origin. But you again are mixing two disciplines; abiogenesis and evolution.
But your attempt to invoke the authority of Miller (that was an appeal to authority, by the way, in case you can't recongize it) is specious, for reasons you can again read about elsewhere (including at my links), if you actually care enough to examine ALL the data, rather than cherry picking the bits which favor your position -- you know, like you accuse the Creationists of doing?
I think you are misreading me. I did not invoke Miller as an authority. Had I written that you are wrong because Miller says so, that would have been an appeal to authority. I pointed out that the results of the Miller experiment, and that these results address some of the questions that are made by creationists. I followed up by highlight the works of others and how they each in turn address other objections. I did not conclude that all the questions had been answered. I am not sure what you consider cherry picking, I did include any evidence that would indicate the contrary, because there really is none. There are questions that remain unanswered, but questions do not falsify evolution.
And neither do questions regarding abiogenesis.
Showing living cells spontaneously self assembling will not prove evolution it proves abiogeneis. You could argue that humans also like the cell spontaneously self assembled, and dinosaurs, elephants, etc. Like many others you are confusing abiogenesis with evolution. Simply put: Abiogenesis is the phenomenon of living matter arising from non living components while evolution is the gradual change that occurs through natural selection and gives rise to new species.
All the evidence points to Evolution and common origin as the Only Logical Conclusion – and a logical conclusion is never wishful thinking