Ben Stein to take on Darwinism on April 18

[rocketpig]

kazadoom said:

GotchayeA said:
But what would distinguish these intermediary species? They'd simply appear to be yet another subspecies. And, in fact, it's my understanding that we have found groups of animals that could breed with another group, which could breed with another group, which could not breed with the first group.

If your question is why we don't see a clear continuum of living species, then the answer is, again, natural selection. There isn't a continuum of environments, and the specialized species on either end are going to be more suitable for one sort of environment or another than the species in the middle. Evolution is supposed to be a very slow process - there's plenty of time for intermediary species to be reabsorbed.

If this is true, then what happened from water to land, they just developed lungs over time, then flopped around on the ground until legs appeared over time? What did birds do when only one wing developed, wait around on the other one flopping around until they got what they needed? This is utter stupidity. If it is a slow process then show me something now that is changing from one species to another. There ought to be some proof of something out there. Where are all these mysterious transitional forms?

Oy. I can't resist. This is crazy talk.

Evolution does not happen slowly, it actually happens quite rapidly. There are a myriad of factors in the evolution of a species but it absolutely requires a small population of animals isolated from any related animals. With a large population of mingling animals, evolution often grinds to a halt because of the large genetic pool of animals in the area. Most animals remain unchanged for long periods of time and evolution happens in bursts between these long periods of inactivity.

I love the one-winged bird idea... Did it ever occur to you that evolution fails far more often than it succeeds? Evolution is simply a genetic mutation and happens all the time, most of the time resulting in the animal dying at birth or shortly thereafter because it can't compete with the rest of its kind. Evolution only takes place when said mutation is an improvement of the species in that specific environment (which is why small, isolated populations are required) but that doesn't mean that failed attempts at evolution aren't happening on a daily basis.

In short, all of those mysterious transitional forms are long dead because they failed. Evolution isn't some half-assed theory. The animal either succeeds in its environment or it dies off.

Oy. I could go on and on about this all day but I'll end it there.