RE: Assurance of faith

Therefore the best we can do in evolutionary theory is to indicate some
basic scientific processes that can be studied in the lab and say that
with the aid of those processes all came to be. What is then the
difference between Genesis and evolutionary theory? Quantum mechanics is
a deterministic theory and indeterminism is a consequence of
measurements. Theories in physics still can prescribe outcomes and
attach unambiguous probabilities to all possible outcomes.
Evolutionary theory can never achieve that owing to the complexity of
the problem and so is replete with unproven assumptions, e.g. that life
results from non-living matter, etc.

Moorad

-----Original Message-----
From: D. F. Siemens, Jr. [mailto:dfsiemensjr@juno.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 2:51 PM
To: Alexanian, Moorad
Cc: drsyme@cablespeed.com; pruest@mysunrise.ch;
samantha.gore@btopenworld.com; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: Assurance of faith

On Thu, 25 Mar 2004 10:35:52 -0500 "Alexanian, Moorad"
<alexanian@uncw.edu> writes:
> It is plain and simple. Evolutionary theory fails in its ability to
> make
> predictions. Predictions and not mere explanations is the essence of
> any
> scientific theory. One, of course, can never know the future. But
> theories created by man can make predictions and therein lies the
> failure of evolutionary theory as a scientific theory.
>
> Moorad
>
>
Moorad,
I fear you are behind the times in your expectation of straightforward
prediction from scientific disciplines. Going back to Laplace's
/intelligence/ (usually mistranslated as "superman"), the expectation
was
simple deterministic prediction. But that expectation died a long time
ago. Now we have to recognize deterministic chaos as an essential part
of
reality, even apart from the problems arising from quantum theory and
more recent developments in string theory and M theory. Have you every
heard of the Heisenberg indeterminism principle? How do you make it
compatible with your requirement?

In order to get the kind of prediction you demand for evolutionary
theory, one will have to predict inexorably which chromosome or
chromosome segment will be duplicated, which base in the genes contained
therein will change, what the change will do to the folding pattern of
the resulting protein and the consequent modification of structure or
activity; which chromosome segments may be deleted, moved, etc., with
the
consequences of the changes; which of these will be enhanced or lost
through drift, accident, change of environment, penetration of new
environment, and a host of other random factors. In other words, you
want
from biology what is no longer expected in physics. This is the
twenty-first century, not the eighteenth. Nevertheless, I keep running
across more and more sophisticated results in various biological
disciplines.
Dave
Received on Thu Mar 25 15:10:32 2004