archier wrote:

>Hi Paula
>
>I'm not certain how this is relevant to Parkinson's, but much of the
>evidence for "intelligent design" is very weak. Most of the things you
>mention here are criticisms of evolution rather than talking points for ID.
>My spin on a tiny bit of it
>
>Complexity does not imply a master creator. Take the complexity of our
>society for example. There's no way any of us could understand more than an
>infinitesimal portion of it; many of us can't even handle the complexities
>of running even our own lives! Yet 6 billion people interact every day and
>keep the world fed, clothed, housed, and emailing -- not through one
>pre-ordained plan, but through the independent actions of each of us.
>
>The micro-evolution/macro-evolution distinction is a bit of a red herring.
>To take a silly philosophical exercise: when does a bald man become bald?
>Each additional hair that falls out does not make much difference...but
>summed together over years they do. It's the same with micro and macro
>evolution. Growing something so distinct that you'd call it macro evolution
>-- like the trunk of an elephant -- could take thousands of generations, but
>at each generation you'd only see a slight "micro" change -- in the
>elephant's trunk case, a slightly longer nose.
>
>In other cases we have seen evolutionary jumps toward macro evolution, but
>these giant leaps usually fail miserably. Two-headed snakes appear in nature
>occassionally. In some case having an extra head might be an advantage (say,
>if an eagle bit one of your heads off) but for the most part two-headed
>snakes are at a big disadvantage relative to single headed snakes. They
>can't ever decide which way to go, can't fit through thin openings, and
>constantly fight over food. They don't often lead long, healthy lives. For a
>human example: I have a friend who was born with six fingers. You could call
>it "macro" evolution but he really didn't have much need for the sixth
>finger, so he had it chopped off.
>
>As far as ID researchers being censored by their peers, science, like any
>social organization, can be very cliquish and set in its ways, but one thing
>to remember is that there is an army of graduate students and professors out
>there trying to make their mark on the world by discovering something new.
>If some indisputable evidence of ID shows up, the person who tapes his name
>to it will be famous.
>
>Lastly, you are correct that carbon-14 dating is affected by changes in the
>environment, but scientists have built calibration models to account for
>this. In any case, carbon-14 is not usually used to date fossils, as they
>are much older than 60,000 years -- the limit of carbon-14 dating. From the
>wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating)
>
>The raw BP date cannot be used directly as a calendar date, because the
>assumption that the level of 14C absorption remains constant does not hold
>true in practice. The level is maintained by high energy particles
>interacting with the earth's upper atmosphere, which may be affected by
>changes in the earth's magnetic
>field<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field>or in the
>cosmic ray background,
>e.g. variations caused by solar
>storms<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare>.
>In addition there are substantial reservoirs of carbon in organic matter,
>the ocean <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean>, ocean sediments (see methane
>hydrate <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_hydrate>), and sedimentary
>rocks <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedimentary_rock>; and changing
>climate<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate>can sometimes disrupt the
>carbon flow between these reservoirs and the
>atmosphere. The level has also been affected by human activities -- it was
>almost doubled for a short period due to atomic
>bomb<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bomb>tests in the
>1950s <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s> and
>1960s<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960s>and has been reduced by the
>release of large amounts of CO
>2 from ancient organic sources where 14C is not present -- the fossil
>fuels<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel>
>
>used in industry and transportation.
>
>The BP dates are therefore calibrated <http://www.calpal-online.de/> to give
>calendar dates. Standard calibration
>curves<http://www.calpal.de/calpal/manual/calibration_curves.htm>are
>available, based on comparison of radiocarbon dates with other methods
>such as examination of tree growth rings
>(dendrochronology<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrochronology>),
>ice cores <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_core>, deep ocean
>sediment<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sediment>cores, lake sediment
>varves <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varve>,
>coral<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral>samples, and
>speleothems <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speleothem> (cave deposits).
>
>Hope this helps.
>Archie
>
>
>
Archie:

What a fine piece of work you have compiled totally debunking ID.


* "Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they can't understand."*

* Cardinal De Retz*

Ned

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