Evolution vs Creationism

== Evolution == It's undeniable that evolution is true, so it's perplexing that people deny that it explains the origin of species. Evolution is simply the combination of two mechanisms: genetic mutations + selection. We know both exist. (1) Genetic mutations Genetic mutations occur when mistakes are made in transcribing DNA. [1] Mutations can occur in both hereditary cells (eggs and sperm) and in somatic cells. [1] We know mutations occur because mutations are what cause cancer. [2] (2) Selection Selection is the process whereby certain mutations are favored and thereby become more prevalent in a population. There are two types of mutations that are selected for in nature: survival characteristics and sexual advantages. (A) Survival characteristics are ones that help an individual survive, maximizing the chances that the individual survives to reproductive age and reproduces, passing on its genes. An example is the polar bear's white fur. White fur blends in more with the surrounding snow, making the polar bear less conspicuous to its prey. Bears with white fur would have been more able to hunt in the snow than bears with darker fur and would have been less likely to starve to death. (B) Sexual characteristics are ones that females of the species prefer, so they are selected for. The male peacock's colorful plumage is the classic example. [3] Female peafowl prefer males with more colorful tails. The female of the species is more of a dull brown color, allowing her to blend in with the environment better and making it harder for predators to spot her. But because females so prefer colorful males, the advantages of being colorful for the male outweigh the increased risk of predation. People often forget that to have an evolutionary advantage, one need only survive to reproductive age. You can die right after passing on your genes and still "win" from an evolutionary perspective. There is also a third type of selection called artificial selection, which results from human intervention. Cows were created when humans domesticated aurochs and bred them for certain traits (e.g. producing lots of milk, which is why they have such big udders). [4] The original aurochs are now extinct [4], but we can still see domestication happen before our eyes with, for example, the breeding of domesticated foxes. Simply selecting for the trait of "tameness" also happened to cause the foxes to look and behave more like dogs over time, suggesting that certain traits are linked to "tameness" (e.g. tail wagging to show happiness). [5] Combining the two So we know mutations exist and we know selection occurs in nature. The combination of the two explains the origin of species. The first species was a single celled organism that managed to internalize certain proteins and encase them in a membrane (similar to modern bacteria). Eventually, mutations resulted in simple multicellular organisms. Over time, these simple multicellular organisms evolved into more complex organisms. This added complexity conferred enormous survival and reproductive advantages, resulting in something called the "Cambrian explosion," which was an enormous and rapid increase in the number of diverse species. [6] These early species were invertebrates, but over time evolved a backbone, which allowed even more species diversification to occur. Enormous dinosaurs evolved, then died off when a massive asteroid hit the Earth in Mexico, setting off earthquakes, tsunamis, acid rain, and kicking up dust that blotted out the sun. [7] As cold blooded creatures that cannot regulate their internal body temperatures, dinosaurs had a hard time living in such conditions and because they are so large and needed lots of food, they couldn't survive when their food sources were severely impacted. The death of the dinosaurs paved the way for the evolution of modern mammals and eventually early human-like species (hominids). Early hominids evolved from ancient (now extinct) apes because they were better adapted to the drier climates outside the equatorial belt. Hominids evolved to walk upright to give them a better view over the high grass and evolved greater intelligence to allow them to hunt new species of prey (e.g. antelopes) that apes were unable to catch. We have found many different species of hominid fossils: Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus. We know these are not modern humans because of their shorter stature, larger brow ridges, and smaller brains. Some were even still covered in fur. We have also found fossils from Neanderthals, which actually co-existed with humans for about 75,000 years. [6] It's pretty basic and undeniable that mutations occur and that selection for certain mutations also occurs. Over a long enough period of time, if a species acquires enough mutations, it will be so distinct that it will no longer be able to interbreed with its ancestors. Its DNA will just be too different. If the two species tried to interbreed, the mixing of genes that are too different will result in such a messed up fetus that it will not be able to survive until birth. In mammals, if the offspring is completely nonviable, it will result in a miscarriage. Even in humans, there are enough genetic mutations that 20 percent of pregnancies are nonviable and result in miscarriages. Two species that are far more different from each other than two humans will have a much higher rate of nonviability. Even if two species had a nonviablity rate of 80 percent for their offspring, they would not be able to effectively interbreed anymore. It wouldn't even require 100 percent nonviability before the species diverged. Ultimately, denying evolution as the origin of species is implausible if we know that mutations occur and that selection occurs as well. We've seen evolution happen on a human timescale with domestication, e.g. of cows. There's no reason to think it didn't happen over a longer time scale as well. == Creationism is implausible == (1) The Bible is not inerrant Creationism relies on a key assumption: that every word of the Bible is absolute fact. There are a number of things that prove the Bible is not inerrant and that it contains falsities. If I prove a falsity in the Bible, I prove the entire basis for Creationism is a faulty assumption. (a) the Earth is not 6000 years old The Bible traces a genealogy from Genesis to 1 Kings that estimates the age of the Earth at about 6000 years. However, using various radioactive dating methods to test sedimentary Earth rocks and meteorites, scientists have estimated the age of our solar system at 4.5 billion years. [8] In addition, the Universe is 13.7 billion years old -- which is established by measuring how fast other galaxies are moving away from us and is confirmed by the redshifting of light from the Big Bang. [9] Even humans have existed more than 6000 years: the oldest human fossil has been dated as being 195,000 years old. [10] (b) Mythical creatures The people who wrote the Bible thought that mythical creatures existed. They said that there was a fire-breathing leviathan in the ocean and unicorns that came out of Egypt. [11] These creatures do not and have never existed. The more plausible explanation is that the Bible contains "oral tradition" myths passed down through generations, including the Creation story. The Leviathan comes from Sumerian pre-bible mythology about the god Ninurta overcoming a Leviathan. (c) Basic physics The people who wrote the Bible also lacked a basic understanding of physics, which is why they wrote that the Earth was flat (Job 38:13; Isaiah 11:12; Rev. 7:1), stationary (Eccles. 1:5; Psalms 93:1, 96:10, 104:5; Joshua 10:12; 1 Chron. 16:30) and rested on pillars (1 Sam. 2:8; Job 9:6, 38:4). (2) Creationism is illogical There are so many basic logical questions Creationism cannot answer (but my opponent must to win this debate): How did God communicate the Creation story to humans? Why did the Bible not mention giant dinosaurs that used to eat humans (if we were created at the same time)? Why did the Bible not mention all these other weird human-like species that used to co-exist with us (if we were all created together)? Why haven't modern animal fossils been found in ancient rock layers where they don't belong, e.g. a rabbit in the pre-Cambrian rock layer (if we were all created at the same time)? Without logical and *good* answers to these questions, Creationism is not plausible. [1] http://tinyurl.com... [2] http://tinyurl.com... [3] http://tinyurl.com... [4] http://tinyurl.com... [5] http://tinyurl.com... [6] http://tinyurl.com... [7] http://tinyurl.com... [8] http://tinyurl.com... [9] http://tinyurl.com... [10] http://tinyurl.com... [11] http://tinyurl.com...