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Hobbit Is A New Species
Migraineman writes "Over the last year or so, archaeologists in Indonesia unearthed skulls and bones from eight proto-humanoids. Critics have claimed the meter-tall specimens were either pygmies or "aberrant individuals with a pathological condition" like microcephaly. A recent article in Science[subscription] rebuffs the critics, and claims that the specimens are actually a new species - Homo floresiensis. There's a summary article over at Nature."
So in that way of dealing with things, even when you find the 'missing link' (which has already occurred), people start asking you about the missing link between that 'missing link' and humans. You find the missing link between the 'missing link' and humans, and you'll be asked for a new missing link. By seeking the fossil record to be a continuum, only an infinite number of missing links will satisfactory as a 'missing link'.
So first of all, you already have your mind made up, and then second of all, you pull up an article and act as if it's some sort of counterargument.
This sort of relationship is precisely what evolutionary theory predicts. Bananas and humans are far more closely related than the truly ancient groups of life like bacteria. They have been around significantly longer than any multicellular organisms.
What you have invoked is nothing more than an argument from incredulity. Worse, you don't even seem to understand the basic tenets of the theory, so that what is in fact a key prediction of the theory verified by observation is translated by you, somehow, to be an argument against it.
There's nothing in evolutionary theory that is incompatible with this religious belief. Biblical literalism is not the sum and total of Christianity, and is itself a very young notion. Worse, it simply does not fit with the natural world we observe, and to insist upon a literal reading of Genesis makes the book look utterly absurd.
Evolution has been observed. The theory makes key predictions about what we'll find when we look into the genomes of different organisms. If these do not appear as predicted, then evolution will be overthrown. Unfortunately, for the Biblical literalist, the evidence keeps confirming the predictions.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
And even if Stalin and Hitler were Darwinists, and even if Darwin was a serial killing child rapist, can you explain where the actual argument against evolution is? This is nothing more than a classic logical fallacy, the hope being that if you invoke big bad dudes that somehow a scientific theory will collapse. It's nothing more than dishonest debating tactic, and rather reflects upon any claim that you or the guys at Answers to Genesis are really very Christian at all.
Oh, and evolutionary theory != atheism. Evolution, like all sciences, has nothing to say on the existence of god(s).
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I've been wondering how plant and animal breeding is not an example of macro-evolution.
t m Heike Crab which evolved a human face.
Wild strawberries are primarily for birds to eat and generally have a stronger and bitter taste compared to domesticated strawberries, their size is smaller concentrating the seeds on a smaller surface area. Only in the past 500 years or so have strawberries been domesticated to the way we now buy them in stores. Is this not an example of evolution? The plant has (been) adapted to prosper under different conditions.
I think in the strawberries case most of the intermediate plants were not kept, maybe records of them have been. But, if people don't keep their in-betweens why would nature? And I doubt that if you did search for in-betweens in this case it would be very easy to find them. Just like it being difficult to find fossils of plants and animals from even further back in time.
An interesting page that I read in the past which shows another and better written example is Carl Sagans' http://web.singnet.com.sg/~sctien/samurai_crabs.h