: : Wrong. Species have been evolving much the same as always; in fact, new species have been evolving to fit into man-made environments; check the dark grey form of the Peppered Moth; which can hide on smoke-stained walls far better than the light grey original form.: Wrongo on your part, dear friend. The highly touted peppered moth going from white to black to white again is merely the manifestation of the majority of their colours against the backdrop of the day. Of course during coal burning days the white ones could be spoted, hence eated, more readily than the black, and visa versa after that period.
Amazing! How perceptive! And what do we call this process? Why, natural selection, of course.
(I didn't expect you to try using the theory of evolution to back up your attempts to debunk the theory of evolution!)
: The only thing that this shows is that the gene pool is reweighted over differing regimes. That is during the coal times, perhaps 99% were black and 1% white, and during cleaner times the preponderance of the species becomes white again.
Why does this happen? Because the wrong-coloured moths stick out against their background and are thus more likely to be eaten by predators; thus the genetic pool is more likely to consist of "right-coloured" moths. This is the theory of evolution in action.
: In sum, what we see there is not speciation but the differing distribution of the same gene pool. Sorry.
No. When the n-th generation moths can no longer interbreed with their progenitors, they are considered to be a separate species. At least, that's according to the scientific definition of "speciation".
:
: : Secondly, humanity has been altering the genetic makeup of domesticated animals for many thousands of years; while all dogs have near-identical DNA, there are now breeds of dog that cannot interbreed; the first step towards two subspecies.
: Fact: No new specicies have been domesticated in the last 4,000 years. Those that hit the breeding wall are sterile (ie. mules). Sorry.
Funny, that; considering that humanity has been spread throughout the planet for much longer than that (~10,000 years at least).
Well, heck, no, we haven't discovered any major new species in the last 4000 years, in much the same way that we haven't discovered any new moons of Earth in the last 4000 years.
To expect that new species would suddenly arise out of nothingness in 4000 years (a geological heartbeat) is ludicruous. Do you expect to see park benches spring into fully formed existence? No.
Evolution is a gradual process; microevolution; as observed in bacteria and simple lifeforms *can* be observed in the wild. But we don't have breeding records going back further than 300 years; expecting any complex animal to show major variation in that time is unrealistic.
Even so, genetic changes have occurred; witness the evolution of the Manx cat (which has no tail) and the Cornish and Devon Rex cats; both of which have curly fur and emerged this century.
To claim that evolution is bogus just because an entirely new species hasn't popped into existence shows a basic lack of understanding of the theory of evolution; or a basic lack of willingness to understand the theory of evolution.
:
: : Thirdly, microevolution can occur in very short timescales; to quote one page on the subject:
: : 13. There is no evidence for the rapid development of new species in nature.
: : - 3,500 years ago, a small lake was separated from Lake Victoria by a sandbar. There are now five species endemic to the new lake; they have evolved from the original species in a geological instant (McGowan, 1984, 29). A population of Nereis acuminata that was isolated in 1964 was no longer able to interbreed with its ancestors by 1992 (Weinberg et al., 1992). New species certainly can emerge quickly.
: : (-in this case, evolution was observed to occur over a period of 28 years!)
: What nonsense. Mere isolation of a gene pool is not the creation of a new species.
Yes it is. In fact, it's what speciation is all about, according to the sciences. The point at which two similar races can no longer interbreed is when they become separate species; thus, the above is a valid example.
It makes no odds what conditions caused this; they have speciated.
: You have made a giant leap of faith here (dare I say religion). I would hope that your biology is better than that, Farinata.
Well, have you provided a counter example? No; you have merely tried to rubbish my example. I had hoped your debating was better than that; I see I was wrong.
: Perhaps you have compromised your scientific standards in favor of the popular jibe of the day.
Can you find a single shred of scientific evidence that runs counter to what I've said; or to the theory of evolution?
Careful how you answer; if you try to use one of the points raised in this page (and that comprises most of your usual "reasons"), I will merely respond with the answer on that page; as they're scientifically correct to my (qualified) understanding. So read that page darn carefully; you'd better come up with something damn good or original; or admit defeat.
: Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. In His Many Blessings, Ciao.
Bollocks. "Bob" is the way; and you too can be saved by sending $35 to the Subgenius Foundation...saved from the clutches of JHVH-1 and his Pink minions.
Live slack!
Farinata.
