as God is my witness i'm never quoting George Carlin again. :)
On 6/15/05, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Charlie Griefer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 10:56 AM > > To: CF-Community > > Subject: Re: Religious nut shows her stripes > > > > i'm not so sure... > > > > I think it was George Carlin who asked..."if man evolved from apes, > > why do we still have apes?" > > It's a cute line, but not valid. There are several myths about evolution > and this is one of biggest. > > +) "If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys"? > > We are not descended from monkeys or apes. Monkeys and apes and us (and > going back further potentially all mammals) are all descended from the same > ancestral line. > > That line evolved (split/branched/forked) into thousands and thousands of > species. One of those branches was Primates which (very likely unless there > was parallel evolution which is not completely out of the question but > unlikely) has a single ancestor. > > This question essentially is saying that grandparents don't exist because we > came from our cousins. It makes no sense. > > > +) "Evolution is impossible because of the "perfection" things. Somebody > must have designed things!" > > This is just bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. "Perfection"? > > How many people have died because of evolved stupidities that no > "intelligent" designer would have allowed in? > > For example we BREATH and EAT through the same tube allowing us to choke. > We have vestigial organs like the appendix that serve no purpose but can > kill us. Our bodies are symmetrically redundant in some cases (kidneys, > eyes, lungs) but not in others (heart, liver, pancreas) even tho a failure > of any of the latter is just as deadly. > > We have the potential for hang-nails and hair stops growing out of our heads > and starts growing out of our ears when we hit our 30's. Our reproductive > process is fraught with danger and often kills mother and child. Penises, > as much as we might enjoy them, just plain look silly. > > It's my suspicion that if there were an actual designer he's a complete and > utter moron. > > > +) "Even assuming billions of years this still isn't enough time for random > chance to produce us and all of the other creatures on Earth." > > Given random chance, no - it's probably not. But Evolution is not a process > of random chance. It's a process of laws and (some) predictable outcomes. > The (now pretty well understood) basic laws of Chemistry and Physics work to > mitigate (and in fact nearly eliminate) elements of "randomness" from the > system. Probability handles the rest. > > You will never see a living helium-based monkey evolve - Helium doesn't > allow for that kind of interaction. Most elements don't... but carbon does > (and possibly silicon, but thats just conjecture and in any case Carbon is > much more versatile than silicon). > > Yes, there is a measure of randomness in the system. Mutations may cause > spurts of very rapid evolution for example and are essentially random > (although caused by understood natural processes). However the system > itself is far from random. > > > +) "The eye, which is perfect, could never evolve as suggested by > Evolutionary Theory because it's too complex and requires all that > complexity at once to function." > > Again, the "Perfect Eye" argument ignores the fact that our eyes are far, > far from perfect. > > The retina is only loosely attached to the orb, for example making it all > too easy for it to slip or tear. The eye is incredibly delicate and not > very well protected for such an important "design feature". The fluid base > of the eye is prone to cataracts and other issues and the eye is not > designed for longevity: it looses the ability to gather light and focus as > it ages. > > But the idea that eye could not evolve is what's at issue and that doesn't > seem to be true. We find many examples of "proto-eyes" in nature that > feature some aspects of our eyes but not all and are beneficial to the > organism. > > This progression includes such useful, but partial steps as light > sensitivity, the ability to sense direction of light, the ability to "see" > movement, the ability to protect the organ with some type of lid or flap, > the ability to "aim" the organ (swivel or move the "eye"), rudimentary > lenses, the ability to focus a lens, the ability to see color, non-binocular > vision, etc. > > All of these (and hundreds more) are steps to our type of eye and all are > useful to the creatures who possesses them. > > > +) "If evolution is 'right' why aren't we seeing it today?" > > The simple answer is that we are. We see animals adapting to changing > conditions all over the place. Selecting and evolving those specimens best > able to survive in the changed environment. > > Why are we not seeing new species? Well, we might be. There are dozens of > new species discovered every day: whose to say they were all here 10 years > ago? > > Also we've not be looking very long. Evolution on Earth occurred over a > period of perhaps a billion years. We've been considering our world from > this viewpoint for a little over a hundred at best. > > As far brand new life evolving... well, this could be happening as well. > The main problem here is that life already exists here. Any new cocktail of > chemicals that approach the level of life will probably approach the level > where it would make a nice snack for some life ALREADY here. > > Lastly we do see evolution occur under controlled laboratory conditions. We > see models of the primordial Earth produce simple amino acids. We see > things, always, moving in the direction of life - of change and adaptation > and... well, evolution. > > > Jim Davis > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:160922 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
