RE: transitional fossils

Let us not deny the flexibility, if not total elasticity, that exists in the theory of evolution that can account for any new evidence that was originally thought as "surprising." Witness punctuated equilibrium which is a modified form of the original thought.
 
Evolutionary theory is at best pure phenomenology since the "theory" is easily modified as new data emerge. It is quite analogous to the epicycle theories of planetary motions which can always be arranged to agree with data but would have never led to the geocentric theory of Copernicus.
 
If evolutionary theory claims that life, consciousness and self are all emergent from the purely physical, then is seems to me that evolutionary theory can be falsified only if the Creator Himself shows up and tells us that it is all pure nonsense.
 
 A theory ought to give rise to logical implications, viz. if A, then B. The latter means that ~B implies ~A. It is in this sense that falsifiability makes sense. How can evolutionary theory be falsified?
 
Moorad

From: Keith Miller
Sent: Sun 12/4/2005 12:52 AM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: transitional fossils

> Yes, that is true. However, there are so many other predictions of
> evolution that have been falsified that it is not clear how much value
> there is in pointing to those predictions that were successful.
> Geocentrism has many successful predictions to its credit as well.
>

Please name one falsified prediction of the general theory of evolution
(ie. common descent). Also please provide any non-evolutionary theory
that explains the fossil evidence that common descent effectively
predicted.

Keith

Keith B. Miller
Research Assistant Professor
Dept of Geology, Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506-3201
785-532-2250
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~kbmill/
Received on Sun Dec 4 15:31:26 2005