FRA Debate - Intelligent Design vs. Darwinian Evolution

[babeth]

Scientists have tried to prove the theory of evolution by performing mutations on animals. Ive just read a book about it, Mutants. On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body by Armand Leroi, very interesting, because the author stated that we are all mutants anyway. According to him every human gets born with at least 300 mutations that differr her from her parents. Some of these mutations are (and some are quite persistent in families): leading to people with only two fingers on each hand/two toes on each foot, or with too many toes and fingers, people with their legs grown together, very hairy people, Siamese twins, people with all kinds of health problems, but also people who grow bigger and longer than normal or just wont grow at all. Fascinating enough, and scientists have managed to tinker with unborn animals so as to find what gene or other thingy made certain changes happening. In theory they could genetically engineer an animal foetus as to become exactly that which was our earliest ancestor or close to that.
These changes happen and have been proven, and can be traced backwards when observing the growth from fertilised egg to embryo to babe.
The proplem with Intelligent Design is that they cant prove sudden new beings happened. We have lots of missing links in the fossile record, but we do have older fossiles and younger fossiles that look a bit like the older. And certain of these fossiles are human... so, where does the created human come in ?

Most mutations arent even visible in the bone structure of a skeleton, or even in the fossilized remains.

Where does the green , blue, gray or brown eyes come from? If the Inteligent Designer would have started with 1 male, Adam, and 1 female ,Eve, then we would have only 1 eyecolor, as the other would be bred out.

quote:

Where does the green , blue, gray or brown eyes come from? If the Inteligent Designer would have started with 1 male, Adam, and 1 female ,Eve, then we would have only 1 eyecolor, as the other would be bred out.

Not so. Say if Adam had blue eyes, and Eve had brown eyes, then there could be three different choices, and then more mixing, and more eye colours, and so on. You do raise an interesting point, though. If there were only blue eyes and brown eyes, where do green eyes come from? Because you get green when mixing blue and yellow, not blue and brown. Mixing blue and brown would give you black. :P

[aliboy]

If eveybody just came from adam and eve , are we all committing insest ? Eww !

I think youve struck bottom at this point Philip. Not a scientific fact, just a small hope.

Which point are you reffering to, Nick?

The point Im referring to starts with this. Another belief system that likes the Darwin€™s theory is a racist belief system.
I cant imagine how you think it this helps the debate, consider me astonished.


(Message edited by Nick on April 01, 2006)

I was referring to the previous discussion where we talked about different issues that may prejudice people€™s interpretation of scientific facts. I am sure that you would have heard some racist people referring to other races as less than human. Racist people would not like to think that they are related to other races.

I believe this fits into the debate as we have been talking about how bias and belief systems can modify the way that people formulate theories. Nick, you can choose to disagree with me if you like.

As much as some people would like to ignore it, but the evolution theory was indeed seized upon by racists (and some evolutionary scientists were indeed racists...) because it nicely fitted their prejudices. What science has taught us so far is that mankind is indeed consisting of several races, each developed in a certain natural environment and well-adapted to it. There are differences between the skeletons of people according to race. Any forensic pathologist can immediately discern the bones of a white person as different from the bones of a black person for instance. The point is that during the 19th and early 20th century we had people claiming that the white race was superior to the other ones, and they were looking for things like skull dimensions, protruding brow-ridges, and so on. Never mind that the Inuit are superior to white people when it comes to surviving in the arctic regions. Or that any white person mixing with other races will have children who are never white. Quite dominant eyh ?
We got rid of those scientists during the second half of the 20th century (even though there are still some bad apples in the basket even now), but at the same time the research into the differences between several human types became a more or less big no-no and I regret that. We need the facts. We need the research in order to better understand our species.

Interestingly enough the Intelligent Design people seem to be mostly WASPS. I wonder how the !Kung and the San figure in their world-view, not to mention the Inuit and the Australian Aboriginals, since they are so different from the white people. How can they explain the myriad different races of dogs that we have now, was that variety really intended by their Creator ? How can they explain why more and more people seem to be needing glasses and are becoming allergic to whatever ? There are so many deficiencies in our genetic make-up that it baffles the mind would this all have been intended by the Creator.

Darwinism explain that mutations happen but that only the best for survival will create progeny and all others will die out. The ID-people try to point out that we are now having an obesity epidemic in the richer countries, that people are born with all kinds of problems and modern science allows them to live and procreate, one example are the Cleppie Bells in Scotland who usually have only 2 fingers and 2 toes on each hand and foot. They can trace their ancestry back for several centuries. Is that a succesful mutation ?
But the ID people overlook the fact that in the long run the bad mutations will eventually die out. Obese children have a lower life-expectancy, in the end they may die before having children. People who grow too long in size may have back problems, quite seriously so. And the question from the Darwinists is then: did your Creator want this ?

Philip, if we are to take this as useful for this debate and more than just the observation that evolution and racism are compatible beliefs there are somewhat logical conclusions that I cannot help but reach.

You consistently say that the fossil evidence doesnt support Darwinian gradualism, but punctuated equilibrium. Punctuated equilibrium is usually interpreted outside of ID more or less as Darwinism with very non-uniform rates of observable change (a constant rate was not implied). But the impression you create is not at all reconcilable with Darwinian evolution, since The many and varied theories of evolution have always contradicted the law of entropy IMO. etc. so you appear to be interpreting it as evidence for ID. Im still left wondering what you actually believe.

You also consistently argue that peoples interpretations given evidence are determined by their beliefs. If those scientists today, most highly aware of the evidence believe or support evolution, then how does that change the problem that The many and varied theories of evolution have always contradicted the law of entropy IMO. which you persist with?
Im wondering if in your view, in order to believe in evolution those scientists must either be completely ignorant, otherwise it might be because Someone who is an atheist will interpret the evidence with their own religious belief. but if they are not atheist perhaps its because Another belief system that likes the Darwin€™s theory is a racist belief system. and so they only support it because they are racists. Those are the two options that have been offered so far. Did I make a big jump there? Its the one that creationist propaganda made decades ago.

If for example had you simply said belief in evolution causes racism, then it would have no bearing on this debate where we only want to know if evolution or ID is either scientific or correct. The only kind of important statement I feel could be made is if you were to say racism allows a belief of evolution, and only then if our beliefs ultimately stemmed from racism and not scientific facts. Saying that €œI am sure that roboteers are not racist.€ only implies that our beliefs are influenced indirectly. If you don€™t think they have been influenced in such a way this entire matter was irrelevant to the audience of this debate. I could go on, but if this isnt what you meant and it is still important to this debate, then I have obviously not grasped what you were really thinking.

It is not fair to only disagree with you :-) For instance it has been said that ID is not science because it cant be proven true, where instead the most fundamental reason it is not science is because it can not be proven false. There are other objections to postulating an infinite universe in order to explain everything that happens...

To clarify my own opinion, I believe in natural selection only in the sense that it is subordinate to everything obeying physical rules. I dont think that without this it allows any particularly significant insight since it cannot exist in the absence of mechanisms. I dont think evolution need say anything about a God who works through its creations. If the creator in ID is God, ID would imply that Gods universe was essentially stillborn.

I do agree entirely that pre-existing beliefs can influence interpretation of evidence, but also think that Creationism is the poster child for the practice.

Racist people would not like to think that they are related to other races. Is this an explanation of why racist people believe in evolution or dont believe in evolution? Do they believe in it while being ignorant of it?

Robot/Bolt appearing. - Neither of these would make the big bang seem more probable, since that supposes different prevailing conditions and a entirely different outcomes. Such appearances may do wonders for the credibility of teleportation, time travel or even ID. But this to our knowledge hasnt happened. I know that evolution is fully compatible with entropy since unlike Henry Morris did I have some idea what entropy is. I have no idea if divine intervention is or would need to be compatible with it.

Big bang - The big bang isnt a fundamental explanation for existance the universe. It currently applies only to the style of its creation.

+1>The Basics

As promised, heres a summary of the views expressed by either side of this debate:

(thank you old friend mr wikipedia for some of this information)



Darwinian Evolution / Natural Selection

This theory was established as a key pillar of science in the 1800s by Charles Darwin, who came up with the idea after his travels to the Galapagos Islands on a ship named the H.M.S. Beagle (perhaps the name may ring some bells for some of you?). His travels led him to discover animals from the same origin (species) that varied across Islands in ways that suggested mutation which is selective of the environment in which the animal lived in. From his discoveries, Darwin was able to construct the idea behind Natural Selection.

Charles was known for being a seclusive man, and he did not take well to the idea of opposing the Churches views on animal life and development. He knew all too well how badly some people were treated after being accused of heracy (opposition to the Church) and so he kept his ideas within a close ring of friends for a long period of time. Eventually, faced with the worry that another scientist could have come to a similar theory, Darwin published a book in 1859 named The Origin of Species which released to the world his controversial concept of Natural Selection. Many debates between the supporters of Natural Selection and supporters of the Church followed.

Well what exactly is this theory of Evolution / Natural selection? Well, put simply, It can help explain how life could rise from small single cell lifeforms billions of years ago into what we can see in the fossil record leading right up to todays animals and lifeforms. How various chemical combinations could form the complex structures such as life-important amino-acids is not explained by the evolutionary theory, and is much beyond this debate - Darwins followers do like to think that the chance of such chemical structures forming was there, and afterall, where there is a chance, anything can happen. This is one of the many chance occasions which the proponents of Intelligent Design like to cling to.

As new animals are born, as bacteria grows, or as cells divide, information (stored as DNA in a large number of lifeforms) is carried on from generation to generation. Over time though, inaccuracies in the information can occur, sometimes leading to mutations in the resultant lifeform. These mutations are more often than not a hinderance, and would therefore be less likely to be carried on for further generations, but sometimes they pose an advantage in the environment in which the lifeform is situated, and they will therefore be more likely to be carried on for future generations. This trend can form animals that are very well suited to one environment, but not to another. As the environment changes, the trend should produce mutations more suited to the new environment, but if the mutations cannot change rapidly enough, or if they produce unbeneficial effects the lifeform may become extinct in its unsuited environment.

The process of evolution has left behind numerous records which reveal the history of different species. While the best-known of these are fossils, fossils form only a small part of the overall physical record of evolution. By comparing the anatomies of both modern and extinct species, biologists can reconstruct the lineages of those species with some accuracy. Using fossil evidence, for instance, the connection between dinosaurs and birds has been established by way of so-called transitional species such as Archaeopteryx.

The development of genetics has allowed biologists to study the genetic record of evolution as well. Although we cannot obtain the DNA sequences of most extinct species, the degree of similarity and difference among modern species allows geneticists to reconstruct lineages with greater accuracy. It is from genetic comparisons that claims such as the 95% similarity between humans and chimpanzees come from, for instance.

Other evidence used to demonstrate evolutionary lineages includes the geographical distribution of species. For instance, monotremes and most marsupials are found only in Australia, showing that their common ancestor with placental mammals lived before the submerging of the ancient land bridge between Australia and Asia.
Scientists correlate all of the above evidence - drawn from paleontology, anatomy, genetics, and geography - with other information about the history of the earth. For instance, paleoclimatology attests to periodic ice ages during which the climate was much cooler; and these are found to match up with the spread of species such as the woolly mammoth which are better-equipped to deal with cold.

In modern times, Darwinian Evolution is the most widely adopted explaination for the formation and changes that happen in life. It is taught in schools worldwide, but is coming under a new threat from the Church, especially in America, through the teaching of



Intelligent Design (ID)

This is a new idea supported by a great number of evangelical Christians, particularly American ones. It has been likened by many as the come-back of creationism that was brutally killed off at the end of the 20th century.

This theory suggests that basically some things on earth, including life, are far to complicated to have arisen by chance and therefore they required the helping hand of an intelligent designer. The intelligent designer would have created life either many millions of years ago, thus an explaination for fossil records of ancient animal species, or more recently and then would have added fossils and such evidence simply as an afterthought. The second idea is obviously much more closely bordering on creationism

The intelligent designer is quite obviously God in many ID supporters minds.

Of course not all Christians support intelligent design, but it is very much a Christian backed idea.

Some Christians have pushed for the teaching of Intelligent Design in school science lessons, but this has been met with strong opposition (noteably by several groups of parents with children at American schools). Some schools in America are teaching intelligent design in biology lessons with the same importance as Natural Selection.

The vast majority of scientists see ID as another shot by some evangelical Christians against natural selection as the theory of natural selection is not at all covered by the bible. They see that ID is not a real science and never will be, while ID supporters back up their justification for the teaching of ID with arguements stating to the effect of theres not enough probability for this to have happened so God mustve done it.

ID is a big religious movement that threatens to break some of the key foundations of Science. Backed by such powerful figures as George Bush, it has the potential to cause great damage to the separation of church and state in America and beyond.



The Debate

Well the debate has started. The first vote brought in the below results:

For Intelligent Design - 7 votes
For Natural Selection - 14 votes
Other - 4 votes
Abstain - 2 votes

Please let the debate run on. The support and opposition for intelligent design seem to have flared up now, so may it continue.