[asa] RE: [ACG] Marcus Ross gets PhD

There are some interesting comments in this review by Barbara Forrest:

http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/44/6/510

Jim Hofmann

-----Original Message-----
From: acg-bounces@list.dordt.edu [mailto:acg-bounces@list.dordt.edu] On
Behalf Of Michael Roberts
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 2:17 PM
To: James Mahaffy; acg@list.dordt.edu; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [ACG] Marcus Ross gets PhD

I have just read
The Cambrian Explosion:
Biology's Big Bang
By: Stephen C. Meyer, Marcus Ross, Paul Nelson & Paul Chien
Darwinism, Design and Public Education
December 1, 2003

Abstract:

This article appears in the peer-reviewed* volume Darwinism, Design, and

Public Education published with Michigan State University Press. In "The

Cambrian Explosion," Stephen C. Meyer, Marcus Ross, Paul Nelson, and
Paul
Chien show that the pattern of fossil appearance in the Cambrian period
contradicts the predictions or empirical expectations of neo-Darwinism
and
other materialistic theories of evolution. They argue that the fossil
record
displays several features-a hierarchical top-down pattern of appearance,
the
morphological isolation of disparate body plans, and a discontinuous
increase in information content-that are strongly reminiscent of the
pattern
of evidence found in the history of human technology. Thus, they
conclude
that intelligent design provides a better, more causally adequate,
explanation of the origin of the novel animal forms present in the
Cambrian
explosion.

PDF available here!

*Darwinism, Design, and Public Education

I am somewaht confused as the authors say ;

As recently as 1992, paleontologists thought the Cambrian period

began 570 million years ago and ended 510 million years ago, with the

Cambrian explosion itself occurring within a 20-to-40-million-year
window

during the lower Cambrian period. In 1993, radiometric dating of zircon

crystals from formations just above and just below Cambrian strata in

Siberia allowed for a precise recalibration of the age of Cambrian
strata.

Radiometric analyses of these crystals fixed the start of the Cambrian

 period at 543 million years ago and the beginning of the Cambrian
explosion

itself at 530 million years ago (see figure 2).4 These studies also

showed that the Cambrian explosion occurred within an exceedingly narrow

window of geologic time, lasting no more than 5 million years.
Geologically

speaking, 5 million years represents a mere 0.11 percent of Earth's

history. As Chinese paleontologist Jun-Yuan Chen has explained,
"compared

with the 3-plus-billion-year history of life on earth, the period [of

the explosion] can be likened to one minute in 24 hours of one day."5
Yet

most of the innovations in the basic architecture of animal forms
occurred

abruptly within just such a small fraction of the earth's history during
the

Cambrian. Due to the suddenness of the appearance of animal life in the

Cambrian, the Cambrian explosion has now earned titles such as "The Big

Bang of Animal Evolution" (Scientific American), "Evolution's Big Bang"

(Science), and the "Biological Big Bang" (Science News).6

 To me it is absolutely clear that the authors accept the vastness of
geological time and radiometric age-dating. That means that Marcus Ross
cannot have been a YEC when he wrote this. It is also clear that Paul
Nelson
could not have been YEC when he wrote this as there is an explicit
acceptance of conventional geological time.

Does anyone know when he became YEC?

Finally as an aside 0.11% of an 80 year old's life is 32 days. A lot
happens
in the 32 day days after conception

Michael

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Mahaffy" <mahaffy@dordt.edu>
To: <acg@list.dordt.edu>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 3:09 PM
Subject: [ACG] Marcus Ross gets PhD

> Folks,
>
> I thought you should be aware that a bright young YEC paleontologist,
> Marcus Ross, just got his PhD. He worked on mosasaurs and has had one
> of his chapters published and another out for review in a excellent
> mainstream paleo journal.
>
> Except for SDA geologists and biology types [some of whom have an
> interesting old earth/young creation position] there have been few
good
> geologists in the YEC camp. I hope Marcus continues to do publishable
> work. One of the historical weaknesses of the YEC movement has been
> that they have tended to only publish in house (like Steve Austin's
work
> on the Grand Canyon). They need to have more folks who are not afraid
to
> let their work stand the scrutiny of meetings and peer reviewed
> publication.
>
> In any case, I thought some of you might like to be aware of this
young
> Christian paleontologist.
>
> bcc to Marcus
>
>
> James Mahaffy (mahaffy@dordt.edu) Phone: 712 722-6279
> 498 4th Ave NE
> Biology Department FAX : 712
> 722-1198
> Dordt College, Sioux Center IA 51250-1697
> _______________________________________________
> ACG mailing list
> ACG@list.dordt.edu
> http://list.dordt.edu/mailman/listinfo/acg
>

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Fri Dec 8 18:06:12 2006