>As this is my first response to one of Bill's posts, a welcome to the
Reflector
>from me to him also. Maybe Bill could also tell us a bit about himself?
Thanks. Graduated from Clarkson University (nee College), Class of '62
with no backround in biology, just a smattering of engineering. Retired
after 30 years with the Seattle Police Dept.
I'm leaning toward theistic evolution - God started the ball rolling but
doesn't need to micro-manage. <G>
> As Johnson points out,
>the "-ism" at the end of "creation" presents it as an ideology, whereas
>"evolution" (without a corresponding "-ism") is presented as a fact.
Good point. Thanks for correcting my sloppyness.
>Bill does not define what he means by "macroevolution". Literally it
means
>"large-scale evolution," and can simply mean "evolution above the
species
>level":
OK
For us less technical people "macro" usually refers to the creation <G>
of a new specie which won't naturally cross-breed with the old. "Micro"
being small changes within a specie.
>But a general theory of Progressive Mediate Creation (PCM) *can* explain
>the origin of human beings
I confess I am not familiar with this term. I must read more carefully.
>Darwinism does not merely "purport to describe historical events". If it
is
>to be science and not mere history, it must claim to derive scientific
principles
>from natural "historical events" by which it can explain and predict
past,
>present and future events.
Somehow, I don't consider "I found a deep-throated flower therefore I
predict I will find a long-beaked bird" predicting a future event.
(someone quoted Darwin something along this line)
Predicting next year's strain of flu virus makes a better case for
predictive ability.
One problem with looking for evidence of macro evolution is that most
creatures larger than microscopic size have to long a gestation period to
allow much change to take place within the lifetime of an observer.
Another problem is that new species are being discovered continually but
the underlying assumption is they have existed undiscovered and not
recently evolved. After all, we have only been looking for a couple
hundred years.
If I am to uneducated to be useful to the discussion feel free to
disregard.
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