Mike Riddle What Is Evolution?

Topics

 Critical thinking questions  Critical thinking and evolution  Words have meaning (fuzzy words and magic words)  Analyzing the evidence: asking questions

Three Critical Thinking Questions

How do you know it is true?

Has it ever been observed?

Are you making any assumptions?

One More Question - Fossils

How much of the fossil was actually found and how much was added (assumed)?

“For instance, modern whales are the descendants of four-legged land animals…”

Biology: Visualizing Life

, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1998, p. 177.

Deception

Pakicetus: a candidate for whale evolution?

Artist reconstruction Only the shaded portions of the skull were found

The Real Pakicetus

A wolf-like land mammal, with legs capable of running

Be weary of arguments based on:

Logical fallacies False assumptions Misinformation

Critical Thinking 4 Components

Analysis Inference Interpretation Deductive reasoning

Analysis

• Determine the credibility of • • the evidence. Are there any assumptions?

Are there any logical fallacies?

Ad Hominem – Name calling Equivocation - Different meanings Bifurcation – Either or fallacy Strawman – Distorting the position

Analysis Inference

• What elements are needed • to draw the conclusion?

We need to query the evidence: ask questions

Analysis Inference Interpretation

• • • Decode the argument Clarify the argument What is the real issue? (presuppositional)

Analysis Inference Interpretation Deductive Reasoning

• What does the premise • really allow us to conclude?

Draw a logical conclusion based on the evidence presented in the argument.

Critical Thinking and Evolution

Biological Evolution The Mechanism for Change

TOOLS 3 critical thinking questions Fossil question 4 components of critical thinking

How Evolution Happens?

Millions of years of mutations add new information Selection Process Amoeba Man

Critical Thinking

Will millions of years of mutations and natural selection allow for amoeba to man evolution?

3 Questions Fossil Question 4 Components

Critical Thinking

In science definitions must be clear and precise.

 No ambiguity  State exactly what is included and what is not included in the definition domain Evoluti on

Evolution

Requires the addition of new genetic

Analyzing Popular Definitions of Evolution

Evolution is change over time. (valid / not valid) Genetic change in a species over time (valid / not valid) Any change in the relative frequencies of alleles in the gene pool of a population (valid / not valid)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Challenging Question

What is a good definition of Darwinian evolution?

Analyzing the Mechanisms for Evolution

Mutations Natural Selection

Detrimental Disease Neutral No change No evolution No evolution Beneficia l Add information Produce more offspring that survive

Natural Selection

What is it?

What Is Natural Selection?

Charles Darwin

“It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly working, whenever and wherever opportunity offers.” Charles Darwin

, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life

, 1859, p. 84.

Three Assumptions about Natural Selection

1.

Assume natural selection is responsible for appearance of design and complexity.

2.

Assume an external source as the source of design.

3.

Assume natural selection has the capability to choose beneficial mutations (intelligence).

Critical Thinking and Natural Selection Natural Selection

Caused by nature (natural processes) Selector (Intelligence)

Natural Selection

Environment

Exposure interface

Pre programmed information

3 Questions About Natural Selection

1.

What is it that natural selection actually does and how does it work?

2.

Selection implies intelligence. Who or what is actually doing or causing the selection?

3.

Since selection does not address the origin of information, and mutations are known to cause a loss of information or function, is there any observational evidence for where the vast amount of information in DNA came from?

What Is Natural Selection?

It is an artificial mechanism devised by man to replace the power and intelligence of God.

A Lesson in Reading Words have meaning

Critical Thinking

Fuzzy Words

 We believe  We think  Must have  Could have  Might have  Our opinion is  We guess  Over millions of years

No observable evidence

Biology

, Miller and Levine, 2002, p. 426.

“Those life forms must have evolved in the absence of oxygen,…”

Life Science,

Prentice Hall (Grade 7), 2002, p. 410.

“Paleontologist think that Archaeopteryx and today’s birds descended from some kind of reptile, possibly from a dinosaur.”

April 21, 2010, http://www.physorg.com

“Scientists are reporting discovery of what may be the "ancestral Eve" crystal that billions of years ago gave life on Earth its curious and exclusive preference for so-called left handed amino acids. .”

Biology: Visualizing Life

, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1998, p. 193.

RNA was probably the first genetic molecule.”

Joseph Silk, Ph.D. Astronomy,

The Big Bang

, 2001, p. 170.

“Imagine that infinitesimal fluctuations in density were present in the early universe…. The expansion of the universe must have exerted a stabilizing influence on such irregularities. The expanding universe has the effect of greatly impeding what otherwise might have been catastrophic forces…. Nevertheless, the process of growth of fluctuations went on for a very long time,…”

Prentice Hall,

Science Explorer: Life Science

, 2002, p. 46.

“The first cells could not have needed oxygen to survive. They probably were heterotrophs that used the chemicals in their surroundings for energy….. At some point, some of the cells may have developed the ability to make their own food.”

Magic Words

 Appeared  Emerged  Arose  Gave rise to  Was on the way to becoming  Burst onto the scene  Evolved itself  Was making a transition to

USA Today, “Why did bugs grow wings to fly?”, Mar 29, 2010. “Evo-devo proposes that genes involved in cobbling together flesh and bone during early growth were repurposed to develop new structures throughout evolution's history, by combining their functions in new ways.”

National Geographic

, January 1993, p. 12.

“All [dinosaurs] probably evolved from a scurrying, bipedal, pheasant size reptile.”

The Complete Dinosaur,

Edited by James O. Farlow and M. K. Brett-Surman

,

1997, p. 204.

“Into this world came the dinosaurs, initially small bipedal carnivores, and they rose to dominance at some point during the Triassic.”

Critical Thinking

Asking Questions

Life originated about 3.7 billion years ago in a pool of chemicals.

Asking Questions

“About 6 million years ago, the hominoid line gave rise to a branch that ultimately led to the ancestors and closest relatives of modern humans.”

- Biology,

Miller and Levine, 2002, p. 835.

Asking Questions

NAS,

Science and Creationism

, 1999, p. 11 “The different species of finches on the Galapagos islands, now known as Darwin’s finches, have different-sized beaks that have evolved to take advantage of distinct food types.” Finches: Different beak shapes

Asking Questions

Normal fruit fly Short-winged fruit fly Orange-eyed fruit fly Curly-winged fruit fly White-eyed fruit fly Yellow fruit fly Eyeless fruit fly

Asking Questions

Caterpillar to butterfly Eyeless fish Wingless beetle

Asking Questions

What questions could I ask?

Dinosaurs evolved into birds.

Asking Questions

What questions could I ask?

Natural selection is one of the basic mechanisms of evolution.

Asking Questions

Do you believe in evolution?

Critical Thinking and the Challenge of Relativism

Why are you Christians against a woman’s right to choose?

Critical Thinking and the Challenge of Relativism

Do you take the Bible literally?

Mike Riddle www.CreationTraining.org

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