I wrote:
>> ... I demand that evolutionists apply to their own theory the same
>>criteria they used in court cases against creation theory.
Brian responds:
> .... Evolution meets this criteria with ease.
Evolutionists used the testability criterion in court, and we are showing in
this thread that evolution does not meet that criterion.
>Then perhaps ... you would like to provide testability for creationism.
>I predict more silence.
Brian asks me to establish the testability of creationism. We ought not
divert our attention just now, or it will turn into yet another dodge from
the issue of this thread, from which there have been many dodges already --
that is, evolution is not testable. I want to nail down this point before
it is lost through evasion. I invite all reflectorites to offer their
"tests" of evolution for discussion.
...
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I provided a testable creationist theory of biology. I've defended it at
length in my book _The Biotic Message_, on talk.origins, and here on this
reflector. I understand that Brian and others may not have seen that. And
I understand that I will have to defend my theory yet many more times,
before many types of audiences. For lack of time I cannot discuss the issue
exhaustively each time. But a brief discussion will do here, to show that
my theory is indeed testable science.
I want to take a small example, but it is pertinent here because it is
Brian's example. Brian claimed that if we observed the instantaneous
appearance of a new species (perhaps at several places simultaneously)
evolutionarily disconnected from other organisms, then evolution would be
falsified. That is his claim.
I already showed it would not refute evolution, instead evolutionists would
be overjoyed at such a demonstration, for it would offer stunning evidence
for evolution. Evolutionary theory would not be hurt, it would be
dramatically helped. His test is phony.
On the other hand, Brian's test would refute the biotic message, on two
grounds. The biotic message claims life was designed to look like the
product of one designer, and life was designed to resist all other
interpretations (including all naturalistic and evolutionary
interpretations). The instantaneous appearance of new dramatically
different organisms would falsify my theory by showing that a central design
goal had failed. Under my theory, the designer would have to prevent an
evolutionary process as potent as the one Brian describes.
Spontaneous generation, extraterrestrial life, Lamarckian inheritance, or
wide-ranging transposition, cross-breeding, atavism, gradual intergradation
of fossil organisms, clear-cut fossil lineages, and Brian's sudden
appearances of new species -- they are all systematically absent. And that
is not accidental. It is all essential to the success of the biotic
message, and my theory. My theory is vulnerable and at risk to any of these
observations. This offers a whole spectrum of tests on a variety of fronts.
Second, my theory demands biologic unity. If Brian's species (or any
species) were completely dis-united from known life forms, then my theory
would be refuted instantly. My theory is testable, and Brian's test is one
example.
I regard Brian's test as a rather small test of my theory, because it is not
particularly risky or dangerous. As I said previously, most everyone would
predict the same thing on this, even if they had no knowledge of evolution
or my theory.
One of the strengths of my theory is not just that it offers many risky
tests. But it also explains all the major patterns of life in a uniform,
seamless fashion. It even explains things so subtle no one had sought to
really explain them before. Such as why a designer would create organisms
to breed 'after their kind' with no wide-ranging cross-breeding. Even this
subtle detail makes complete sense within my theory. It was done as just
one of many necessary steps to make life look unlike the result of
evolution. Likewise with Brian's example.
The biotic message is testable science, ... and evolution is not.
Walter ReMine
P.O. Box 28006
Saint Paul, MN 55128