Thank you for responding to my posting of Thu 10 Sep.
Vernon wrote: >>The assumption of constancy in the rates of decay of
radioactive isotopes suggests that the 'old earth' hypothesis - and with
it, the theory of evolution itself - is built on sand.
Howard replied: >Sorry, Vernon, I strongly disagree. This is not simply
an arbitrary 'assumption'. It is a 'conclusion' that is based on a
mountain of interlocking empirical considerations.
He goes on to say: >These rates are not independent parameters that can
be modified without severe consequences for the properties and behaviour
of 'everything else'. The values of these rates are sensitively related
to the values of nearly all of the fundamental constants that
characterize the universe (like c, h, e, etc.). Changing a decay rate
would necessitate changing one or more of these universal
constants...You would have to have an entirely different universe
altogether...
But Howard, for some 99.999999% of alleged geological time man has had
neither understanding of, nor direct access to, these parameters. You
are surely not offering the fact of these linkages as firm evidence for
the constancy of all, or of any one of them over the period before
measurements became possible. I have already suggested that this
represents a fundamental and staggering 'act of faith' on the part of
evolutionary scientists. How can it possibly be otherwise?
Vernon