Creationism (Pro) vs Evolution (Con)

Rapid Change: I believe my opponent and I can agree that new species can emerge through natural selection as natural selection is included in both the evolution model and the creation model. However, one key difference is the time frame that such diversification can occur. In the creation model, such diversification occurs in a rather short time frame of thousands of years. However, there is substantial evidence that lots of change can occur rather quickly. For example, researchers in Trinidad relocated guppies from their native waterfall pool where they have many predators to the pools above the waterfalls where previously there haven’t been guppies before. In their new environment, they have no predators with the exception of one which only targets the small guppies. Over the course of four short years, the descendants of the guppies quickly grew larger with each generation. [1] An evolutionist even commentated that the guppies “adapted to their new environment in a mere 4 years -- a rate of change some 10,000 to 10 million times faster than the average rates determined from the fossil record” [2] Another prime example, would be dogs. Even though, they are technically part of the same species (Canis familiaris), hundreds of breeds of dogs arose and most of them within the last few centuries. [3] Genetics: Genetic Entropy, an idea put forward by Cornell geneticist, Dr. John C Sanford, I believe provides the most compelling evidence that genetics don’t support evolution but rather the opposite. To begin with, I’ll present the mutation rate for humans. The current consensus among the genetic community is that point mutations per generation is around 75-175 point mutations added per generation of humans [4]. However, there are more types of mutations than substitutions. It is estimated that for every substitution mutation there is at least one micro-satellite mutation doubling the rate to around 150-350 mutations [5]. There are plenty more types of mutations that get passed down through every generation but to save space, I will not dive into those numbers. Now how many bad or deleterious mutations are there compared to the beneficial ones. Below is a diagram adapted from population geneticist, Dr. Motoo Kimura which shows the distribution of mutations [6]: s://lh6.googleusercontent.com...; alt="" width="624" height="436" /> As seen here, Dr. Kimura shows that the vast majority of mutations are deleterious and more importantly, cannot be selected out of the population which I will get to later on. One might ask, beneficial mutations exist, why aren’t they included in the distribution? That is because deleterious mutations greatly outnumber beneficial mutations to a point where they cannot realistically be shown in the distribution. In a study conducted by Dr. Bergman where he did a simple literature search on Biological Abstracts and Medline with the key word, “mutation”, he found that out of the 453,732 results found, 186 only mentioned the word “beneficial” [7]. There are other estimates that go as low as 1 in a million mutations being beneficial [8]. The proportion becomes even lower if you remove mutations that are only beneficial in context due to a malfunction in the genome (ex. Human lactose intolerance as the result of a malfunctioning LCT gene ) [9]. In fact, I have yet to see a mutation that increases the amount of functional genetic information by creating functional genes. However, even if I were to draw a line on the diagram as seen below to acknowledge beneficial mutations exist blowing the distribution out of proportion, there is an obvious problem. s://lh5.googleusercontent.com...; alt="" width="624" height="436" /> With the distribution, it can be deducted that most, if not all mutations that are passed to the next generation are deleterious. Therefore the human genome is losing functionality over time. Natural selection cannot eliminate all the deleterious mutations because as seen in the distribution, most mutations fall within the shaded “no-selection zone” meaning that most mutations are not deleterious or beneficial enough to give an organism a disadvantage or advantage that nature can select. Geneticists are in agreement that the human genome is degrading. The decline of fitness of the human species is calculated to be around 1-2% per generation [10]. If we were to take Crow’s figures and plot them over 300 generations (6,000-9,000) years, it would look something like this. s://lh3.googleusercontent.com...; alt="" width="624" height="385" /> Classic exponential decay. Now if you look at the lifetimes of biblical figures post-Flood, you would see a very similar trend. [11] s://lh3.googleusercontent.com...; alt="" width="624" height="389" /> How does this disprove evolution and prove creation? If genetic information cannot be increased, much less even maintained, it is ridiculous to even say that entire functional genomes of organisms were created through natural selection and mutations making the whole theory moot. Several conclusions from this information can be made to support creation. 1. If functional genomes cannot arise, then the only alternative is that they were designed by an intelligent creator. 2. The rates at which genomes degrade imply a rather recent origin of life. Fossils: Another issue with the evolutionary model is living fossils. For example, the horseshoe crab which still exists today remains completely identical to the fossils 445 million years old [13]. The fact that such organisms don’t change in these huge timescales proves a problem for evolution. Dr. Stephan Jay Gould, a Harvard paleontologist and an evolutionists recognizes this as a problem when he wrote, “the maintenance of stability within species must be considered as a major evolutionary problem.” [14] The fact that modern creatures have coexisted with “ancient” species affirms the creation account that all kinds of animals were created at the same time which brings me to my next point. Dinosaurs have been used to ridicule creationists as it is seemingly absurd that humans and dinosaurs lived together. In the creation model, one would expect humans to coexist with dinosaurs. However, there is evidence that supports such predictions. For example, evidence that humans and dinosaurs coexisted lies in soft tissue found in dinosaur bones [15]. The tissue that was found was still able to stretch and retain its shape. However, the structures found like blood vessels, muscle, and skin decay rapidly to decomposers. In addition, proteins have been found in dinosaur bones such as collagen [16]. A report by The Biochemist states that proteins such as these even under the perfect conditions at 0 degrees Celsius the proteins would not last three million years [17]. However, it is believed that dinosaurs lived in warm moist environments that would quickly degrade such proteins. s://lh5.googleusercontent.com...; alt="" width="520" height="386" /> Arguments from Design I'll be brief with this as I'm running very low on characters. Within organisms exist complex features that can't arise through the gradual process of evolution. Some of these features are really complex but they provide no distinct advantage for nature to favorably select such traits. A prime example of this can be seen with human facial muscles. s://lh6.googleusercontent.com...; alt="" width="339" height="461" /> On top of performing tasks necessary for survival such as eating and speaking, almost half of those muscles are solely dedicated to creating facial expressions. The problem is that having the ability to smile, frown, or smirk does not aid in the survival of humans. Such traits aren’t features that nature would necessarily select. Yet we see examples of overdesign often when it comes to engineering [18]. Is it really unreasonable that such features are the product of an intelligent designer. Another prime example of overdesign would be found in the bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans. As the world’s toughest bacteria known to man, it can withstand drought, lack of nutrients, and most importantly insane amounts of radiation. First discovered in a supposedly sterilized can of meat, Deinococcus radiodurans can endure 1,000 times more radiation than the typical human being [19]. The problem is, this is far more radiation ever possible to exist on Earth. This proves no problem within the creation model as such endurance would be a testament to the intelligent designer. However, in the evolution model, why would an organism evolve mechanisms to survive in an environment that never could plausibly exist on Earth. Sources: [1] Reznick, D.N. et al., Evaluation of the rate of evolution in natural populations of guppies (Poecilia reticulata), Science 275(5308): 1934 - 1937, 1997 [2] http://tinyurl.com... [3] http://tinyurl.com... [4] Kondrashov, A.S. 2002. Direct Estimate of human per nucleotide mutation rates at 20 loci causing Mendelian diseases. Human Mutation 21:12-27 [5] Ellegren, H. 2000. Microsatellite mutations in the germline: implications for evolutionary interference. TIG 16:551-558 [6] Kimura, M. 1979. Model of effective neutral mutations in which selective constraint is incorporated. PNAS 76:3440-3444 [7] Bergman, J. 2004. Research on the deterioration of the genome and Darwinism: why mutations result in degeneration of the genome. Intelligent design Conference, Biola University. April 22-23 [8] Gerrish, P.J. and R. Lenski. 1998. The fate of competing beneficial mutations in an asexual population. Genetica 102/103: 127-144. [9] http://tinyurl.com... [10] Crow, J.F. 1997. The high spontaneous mutation rate: is it a health risk? PNAS 94:8380-8386 [11] http://tinyurl.com... [12] Sanford, John C. Genetic Entropy. N.p.: FMS Publications, n.d. Print. [13] http://tinyurl.com... [14] Gould, S. and Eldredge, N., Punctuated equilibrium comes of age, Nature 366(6452):223–224, 1993. [15] http://tinyurl.com... [16] http://tinyurl.com... [17] http://tinyurl.com... [18] http://tinyurl.com... [19] http://tinyurl.com...