Is panspermia a scienctific theory?

[Rduke55]

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The fossil record does not show a gradual development of life forms

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Really? Is this like your previous statements that the evidence for evolution from the fossil record is "decidedly thin."
While apparently you're the expert on fossil-ology (I still love that term) I'd like to find out where you're getting your knowledge on this subject. Blurbs on a website?

[NotReady]

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I'd like to find out where you're getting your knowledge on this subject. Blurbs on a website?


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Link provided by maurile.

[Sifmole]

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Here's what evolution does look like if expressed in atheistic terms.-
(A) If we see life forms on earth, since there is no God and chance is ultimate, the fossil record must show a gradual development of life forms. The fossil record does not show a gradual development of life forms, therefore God does not exist and life evolved by chance.
This claim is neither scientific or unscientific, it is simply idiotic

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No.

A. We see life forms.
B. Life forms procreate.
C. When life forms procreate, the genetic makeup changes slightly.
D. Life forms with genetic makeups that are more conducive to survival will be more likely to pass on their genes than life forms with genetic makeups less conducive to survival.
What the hell happened to E?
F. Natural selection must occur.
G. Evolution must occur.

Wow F and G sound just like something taken on "faith"!


This comes entirely from observation of animal species. It doesn't matter whether they came from God, aliens, the big bang, or the FSM.

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Natural Selection and Evolution must occur? why? But yet, isn't it absolutely fabulous that no scientist has ever been able to force the evolution of even single-celled organisms? and there is absolutely no non-circumstantial evidence that any evolution has ever occured? Sure there are "this set of bones" and "that set of bones" that "look alot alike" so one must have evolved from the other or they must have evolved from a common ancestor -- why? "must" is a "faith" word, it is merely a substitute for "believe".

Oh and one-more-thing -- Natural Selection != Evolution.

I wrote in a post before, why does ET get a free-ride on that fact that it has proven untestable and is unverifiable? but ID is rightly ridiculed for that?

[Rduke55]

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Natural Selection and Evolution must occur? why?

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Well, really natural selection is just math. Variation exists in a species, these variations are hereditary, these variations result in different reproductive success. When you have all 3 it is inevitable that evolution occurs.

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But yet, isn't it absolutely fabulous that no scientist has ever been able to force the evolution of even single-celled organisms?

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I guess they do a pretty good job on dogs, cats, horses, cattle, etc., etc., etc.

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and there is absolutely no non-circumstantial evidence that any evolution has ever occured? Sure there are "this set of bones" and "that set of bones" that "look alot alike" so one must have evolved from the other or they must have evolved from a common ancestor

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What about all the gene stuff?

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I wrote in a post before, why does ET get a free-ride on that fact that it has proven untestable and is unverifiable? but ID is rightly ridiculed for that?

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Um, as said before, because it's falsifiable and actually has data supporting it, as opposed to just cute thinking.

[Rduke55]

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I'd like to find out where you're getting your knowledge on this subject. Blurbs on a website?


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Link provided by maurile.

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Didn't that link say exactly the opposite of what you're saying?

[hmkpoker]

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What the hell happened to E?

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I had an "E," which was something to the effect of "if member A of the species mutates a trait slightly more favorable to survival than other members of species A, then it is favored to procreate more than another member of species A that lacks the trait. Its mutation will pass on to its children, who will repeat the process. Over many generations, these offspring will dominate the gene pool."

This was the precursor to "F," that natural selection must occur. This is the process of natural selection. I figured "E" was redundant, though, and figured you'd put it together on your own. I deleted it and forgot to change the letters.

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Wow F and G sound just like something taken on "faith"!

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Apparently I was wrong.

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why? "must" is a "faith" word, it is merely a substitute for "believe".

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A certain number n when squared equals 49.

n is not a positive integer.

If I say that n must be -7, is it because of faith?

[Sifmole]

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But yet, isn't it absolutely fabulous that no scientist has ever been able to force the evolution of even single-celled organisms?

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I guess they do a pretty good job on dogs, cats, horses, cattle, etc., etc., etc.


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So are you comparing the selective breeding of animals guided by a knowledgable and INTENTIONAL individual with Evolution?

Let me be more clear: Has any scientist ever succeeded in taking a population of single-celled organisms, exposing them to some agent which causes mutations and created a population of something different than what they started with which retained these differences over at least two generations?

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and there is absolutely no non-circumstantial evidence that any evolution has ever occured? Sure there are "this set of bones" and "that set of bones" that "look alot alike" so one must have evolved from the other or they must have evolved from a common ancestor

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What about all the gene stuff?


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What about it? This stuff looks alot like that stuff but is different in certain ways; So this stuff must have come from that stuff -- still not proof, conjecture.

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I wrote in a post before, why does ET get a free-ride on that fact that it has proven untestable and is unverifiable? but ID is rightly ridiculed for that?

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Um, as said before, because it's falsifiable and actually has data supporting it, as opposed to just cute thinking.

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Please describe how ET would be falsified? How could one prove evolution doesn't or hasn't happened? I never stated that there is no data supporting ET; I asked where the verification is. A scientific theory needs to allow verification by providing predictive capability, and thus allows itself to be tested. How does ET do this?

[Rduke55]

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So are you comparing the selective breeding of animals guided by a knowledgable and INTENTIONAL individual with Evolution?

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Well, I didn't understand what you're looking for. But I am comparing them. There's a lot of nice analogies there. Evolution is change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations. This is due to selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals. (and can result in the development of new species - not in many of these examples of course).

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Let me be more clear: Has any scientist ever succeeded in taking a population of single-celled organisms, exposing them to some agent which causes mutations and created a population of something different than what they started with which retained these differences over at least two generations?

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You do realize that speciation often takes a pretty long time don't you? So, no, in the few decades people have really been actively looking at this scientists have not been able to recreate the tens of thousands, hundred of thousands, or millions of years speciation normally takes.
And causing mutations is only one point of evolution, and that point is that they occur naturally so that's not really a hurdle. Most mutations are harmful.
But to get back to your single cell quesiton, how would you explain the development of bacteria resistant to antibiotics? Population of organisms exposed to a selection pressure and eventually you get a population very different form what they started with (not dying because of the antibiotics)


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What about it? This stuff looks alot like that stuff but is different in certain ways; So this stuff must have come from that stuff -- still not proof, conjecture.

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A little more math though. How educated are you on this stuff that you can make those claims?

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Please describe how ET would be falsified? How could one prove evolution doesn't or hasn't happened?

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Several of us have posted the "fossil rabbit in the precambrian" example.

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A scientific theory needs to allow verification by providing predictive capability, and thus allows itself to be tested. How does ET do this?

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As one of the respected posters pointed out in another, similar thread, it doesn't neccessarily need to predict, it needs to explain.

[Sifmole]

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So are you comparing the selective breeding of animals guided by a knowledgable and INTENTIONAL individual with Evolution?

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Well, I didn't understand what you're looking for. But I am comparing them. There's a lot of nice analogies there. Evolution is change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations. This is due to selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals. (and can result in the development of new species - not in many of these examples of course).

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Let me be more clear: Has any scientist ever succeeded in taking a population of single-celled organisms, exposing them to some agent which causes mutations and created a population of something different than what they started with which retained these differences over at least two generations?

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You do realize that speciation often takes a pretty long time don't you? So, no, in the few decades people have really been actively looking at this scientists have not been able to recreate the tens of thousands, hundred of thousands, or millions of years speciation normally takes.
And causing mutations is only one point of evolution, and that point is that they occur naturally so that's not really a hurdle. Most mutations are harmful.
But to get back to your single cell quesiton, how would you explain the development of bacteria resistant to antibiotics? Population of organisms exposed to a selection pressure and eventually you get a population very different form what they started with (not dying because of the antibiotics)


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What about it? This stuff looks alot like that stuff but is different in certain ways; So this stuff must have come from that stuff -- still not proof, conjecture.

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A little more math though. How educated are you on this stuff that you can make those claims?

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Please describe how ET would be falsified? How could one prove evolution doesn't or hasn't happened?

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Several of us have posted the "fossil rabbit in the precambrian" example.

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A scientific theory needs to allow verification by providing predictive capability, and thus allows itself to be tested. How does ET do this?

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As one of the respected posters pointed out in another, similar thread, it doesn't neccessarily need to predict, it needs to explain.

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RE: Selective breeding vs Evolution

Doesn't drawing the similarity between selective breeding and ET seem a strange arguement to you? I'll explain why it seems strange to me: ET tells us that random ( or perhaps environmentally influenced ) mutations occured in various populations; some of these mutations resulted in a variation of the species that was better adapted to its living conditions and so this variation prospered over another. These mutations were carried forward, and over time more mutations, more prospering, etc until many varied types of animals occured.

However, the example you choose to put forward involves
1) concious effort on the part of the breeder to select mutations
2) results in minor ( in relation to the differences between an ameoba and a human ) differences that remain constrained by a ( and I am going to get the word wrong ) phylum or genus of a animal specie. No breeder has ever turned a Clydesdale into a Pug.

In your example you have the "I" from "ID", you have a designer -- the breeder.

Re: Speciation and Single-Cell organisms

I actually do realize that speciation ( although I did not know that was the applicable word ) takes a long long time. But my question wasn't "Has any scientist caused speciation in single-celled organisms?"; I was actually quite specific in my question, and the effect I was asking about was very limited. You did not respond to that question, it really should be a simple one: "Yes and here is a citation" or "No, actually no one has documented that yet."

Also, the statement that "well it takes hundred of thousands upon thousands of years" is one of the problems I have in ETs response to criticism. It really is not much different than "God works in mysterious ways". Neither response answers anything, and neither response furthers the ability to question and analyze.

Re: evolution, mutation, and well that ain't a hurdle

Mutations are only one point of evolution... um, kind of a starting point aren't they? If there were zero mutations could you have evolution? And yes most mutations are harmful ( I am actually curious what percentage of mutations are harmful ).

Mutations occur naturally so that is not much of a hurdle... Um, really the hurdle is explaining the process where by a mutated ameoba and its mutated progeny eventually become humans -- and I think that is a hurdle; why? because there is no test to show this happens, and I know of no experimentation that has resulted in even arguably simple evolutionary results. This is the thing I want to find in all this: has any scientist tried and what were the results.

Re: Bacteria and antibiotics

I don't know that the explanation requires evolution; I'd agree that a certain natural selection would be involved, but that does not require that a new strain of bacteria has been evolved only that a strain becomes more prevelant in that environment. Evolution would require that there were non-resistant strains which mutated and one of those mutations was resistance: such an environment should be reproducible and testable -- has it been?

Re: Stuff is like other Stuff

I have a basic understanding of genes, heredity, dominant, recessive, etc. Not hard-core DNA. But you still have not explained where the proof of relationship is. Does the information that specie A's DNA differs from specie B's by 2% neccessarily require that they at some point shared an ancestor specie C? There is an assumption built into ET that there was a single source ( or does the theory now include multiple sources ) of the orginal DNA and this over time modified in many branches to the species we have today. What if we chuck the original assumption just for the sake of questioning? Is there proof that leads us back there?

Re: fossil rabbit

I will have to search for this.

Re: It doesn't need to predict...

I don't know that I buy this, all respect to the poster you cite though. Another well respected writer, Karl Popper, and many others maintain that a good scientific theory needs to be 4 things: predictive, logical, testable, and never have been falsified. ID explains, but ID isn't science.

[NotReady]

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Didn't that link say exactly the opposite of what you're saying?


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Yeah. It also had the first entry as a "fossil" (some pieces of a skull) that some evolutionists say is really a GORILLA. I call that thin.