Re: Creationism

> Here's a link to AiG's comments regarding this cartoon:
> http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2005/1220doonesbury.asp.

Yep, they have an "answer" for everything.

Probably the most adaptive system we have is our immunity system.
It's purpose is to recognize the difference between proteins of the
self and external ones produced by an invader. When a new disease
appears, it must adapt. But oh, I see, these adaptations were simply
there all along. Oh well.

In a full blown HIV patient, there are about 10 billion mutated viruses
that are produced every day. This is because of an odd coincidence
that the reverse transcriptase makes approximately 1 mistake in 10000
and the total length of the HIV is about 10^4. So basically, each time the
patient produces a new virus, it is actually a mutant. This, in part, is why

AIDs has been so successful in evading our medical treatments and
overcomes almost every attempt we make to stop it.

I don't see AiG serving mankind by claiming that viruses simply use
what they already have and that mutations don't lead to more
pernicious enemies to the survival of the human race.

by Grace alone we proceed,
Wayne
Received on Fri Dec 23 06:53:10 2005