Re: [asa] (testing evolution)

Clearly the proverbial Cambrian rabbit would pose a serious challenge to
evolutionary theories. It's good to remember though that scientists should
not, & generally do not, immediately jettison a theory because of one
observation or experiment that clashes with it. Observations & experiments
have been wrong before. (In the present case the supposed Paluxy man tracks
are an obvious example.) And even if they're right & indicate that a theory
in its present form can't be right, the necessart modifications of the
theory may not be fatal to it. A classic example is Schrodinger's first
attempt to work out the spectrum of hydrogen using a relativistic wave
equation, which disagreed with the observed fine structure. He could have
abandoned the whole idea of wave mechanics but instead worked out &
published the non-relativitic approximation for the wave equation which
gives the Rydberg formula but not any fine structure. The discrepancy was
taken care of in a couple of years by the Dirac equation, which incorporates
relativistic effects & spin & gives the fine structure beautifully.

Shalom
George
http://home.roadrunner.com/~scitheologyglm

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Campbell" <pleuronaia@gmail.com>
To: "asa" <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 9:37 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] (testing evolution)

>A well-documented anomaly such as pre-Triassic mammals (using the
> traditional definition of mammal) would suggest that an exception to
> evolution had been found. However, that would not negate the numerous
> examples where evolutionary explanations are well-supported. Neither
> evolution nor ID is an "all or nothing" explanation (not to imply that
> those are mutually exclusive, either.)
>
>
> --
> Dr. David Campbell
> 425 Scientific Collections
> University of Alabama
> "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
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Received on Fri Jul 24 10:36:40 2009