Transcript Common_Design_RC_Presentation

Was There a Common Ancestor
or a Common Designer?
Homology Examples
Homology
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“The human hand and the bat hand are
obviously—no sane person could deny it—
two versions of the same thing. The
technical term for this kind of sameness is
‘homology’. The bat’s flying wing and our
grasping hand are ‘homologous’….
Homology
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…The hands of the shared ancestor—and
the rest of the skeleton—were taken and
pulled, or compressed, part by part in
different directions and by different
amounts, along with descending
lineages.”—Richard Dawkins, The
Greatest Show on Earth, 288.
Homologous Structures
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“Homologous resemblances are those
inherited from the shared ancestor.”—
Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on
Earth, 313.
Homology = Circular Reasoning
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“If homology is defined as similarity due to
common descent, then it is circular reasoning
to use it as evidence for common descent.”—
Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution, 61-62
Richard Dawkins Concedes:
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“If we want to use homology as evidence for
the fact of evolution, we can’t use evolution to
define it.”—Richard Dawkins, The Greatest
Show on Earth, 313.
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Dawkins has done this by
claiming that similar structures
are due to common ancestry.
2 Types of Causes:
Intelligent:
Unintelligent:
Convergent Evolution
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Similarities among living things result from
creatures adapting to common
environments.
“Analogous” Features
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“The word ‘analogous’ came to be used for
resemblances due to shared function, not
ancestry.”—Richard Dawkins, The
Greatest Show on Earth, 313.
Evolution Should Not Repeat
Itself
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“For just the same reason, it is vanishingly
improbable that exactly the same
evolutionary pathway should ever be
traveled twice.”—Atheist Richard Dawkins
in The Blind Watchmaker, 94
Evolutionist Explanation:
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Similar environmental problems, or
challenges, cause similar traits to emerge in
unrelated creatures.
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Problem: This explanation does not
account for all examples of repeating
designs.
Problems with Repeated Designs
for Evolution:
• Too frequent
• Many common designs are complex
• Common designs occur under different
conditions
Common Design Examples:
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Animal body parts
Animal behaviors
Amino Acids
Molecular motors and machines
Natural Geometry
Animal Body Parts
Common Designs in the Chamelon and
the Sandlance:
The Chameleon and the
Sandlance:
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The chameleon is a reptile and the sandlance is a
fish.
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These creatures live in completely different
environments, but they are still similar.
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Both move their eyes independent of one another
in a jerky manner, rather than together.
The Chameleon and the
Sandlance:
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While one eye is in motion the other eye is
motionless.
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Both animals use the cornea of the eye to focus
on objects.
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All other reptiles and fish use the lens of the eye
to focus images on the retina.
The Chameleon and the
Sandlance:
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Both have skin coverings over their eyes to
prevent them from being obvious to both
predators and prey.
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Both have the same kind of tongue and the
same kind of tongue-launching method for
catching food.
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“When faced with a beautifully coordinated
optical system such as this, it is a challenge to
provide an explanation for the convergence of so
many different finely-tuned mechanisms”—J. D.
Pettigrew and S. P. Collin, “Terrestrial Optics in
an Aquatic Eye: The Sandlance, Limnichthytes
fasciatus (Creediidae, Teleostei),” in Journal of
Comparative Physiology A 177 (1995): 397-408
Common Designs in the Brains
of Hummingbirds, Songbirds,
and Parrots:
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Hummingbirds, Songbirds, and Parrots all
have seven forebrain structures which are
used for vocal learning and producing
songs.
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Scientists consider this similarity surprising
since “…songbirds, parrots, and
hummingbirds are thought to have evolved
vocal learning and associated brain
structures independently.”—Erich D. Jarvis
et al., “Behaviorally Driven Gene
Expression Reveals Song Nuclei in
Hummingbird Brain,” Nature 406 (2000):
628-32.
Convergence in the Fossil Record
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How can scientists be certain that the
similarities they observe among fossils are
not merely products of convergent
evolution?
Animal Behavior
Echolocation:
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Some bats use echolocation to navigate
while they fly.
These bats send out high frequency pulsing
sounds in a narrow directed beam from
their mouths or noses, which bounce off of
objects in front of the bats.
Bat Echolocation Continued:
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The bats then receive mental imageproducing echoes of objects in front of
them.
Scientists think this navigation system is so
precise that the echoes generate an image
in a bat’s mind of its surrounding
environment that borders on the resolution
of a visual image.
Toothed Whales Use
Echolocation:
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Toothed whales also use echolocation to
determine the size, shape, speed, distance,
direction and density of objects in the
water.
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This common design of echolocation
cannot be explained completely by similar
environmental pressures, because bats and
whales live in very different environments.
Amino Acids
Colobine Monkeys’ Amino Acid
Sequence
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The amino acid sequences of the gene in
the Asian Colobine monkeys perfectly
matched the amino acid sequence for the
enzyme gene in the African Colobine
monkeys.
Colobine Monkeys’ Amino Acid
Sequence
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Ann Arbor relates that Zhang stated:
“Indeed, we found three amino acid
changes that were identical in the two
lineages. They occurred independently, but
they were identical.”
—Ann Arbor, “Parallel Evolution: Proteins
Do It, Too,” University of Michigan
Motors and Machines
Molecular Motors Inside the Cell
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There are two main types:
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Rotary
Linear
A Rotary Motor:
Bacterial Flagellum Motor
(Rotary):
Bacteria Flagellum Motor
Consists of:
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A drive shaft
A rotor
A hook
A stator
A bushing
Other parts
Archaea Motor (Rotary):
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The basic flagella motor unit allegedly
arose independently in bacteria and
Archaea.
Although there are many differences
between the two devices, each device still
rotates a flagellum.
Linear Motors:
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Evolutionists believe that a combination of
things evolved multiple times
independently:
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1) molecular motors in general
2) “walking” ability
Linear Motors “Walking” Inside
the Cell:
Natural Geometry
Spirals
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Spirals are present at all size levels in both
living and non-living things.
Shelled Protozoan
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A microscopic foraminiferan, or a shelled
protozoan, is in a spiral shape.
Leaf Patterns: Phyllotaxis
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Phyllotaxis is a phenomenon that occurs in
80% of plant species in which leaves are
arranged in a spiral formation up plant
stems.
Leaf Patterns: Phyllotaxis
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Each leaf is positioned above the one
below it by a constant angle.
Sunflower Heads
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One sunflower head contains both
clockwise and counterclockwise spirals.
Sunflower Heads
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Mario Livio explains that there are usually
“…thirty-four spirals going one way and
fifty-five the other.”—Mario Livio, The
Golden Ratio, 112.
Philip Ball Writes:
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“…A closer investigation of phyllotactic
patterns reveals that there must be more
here than Darwinian selection from a
random pool of possibilities.”—The SelfMade Tapestry, 105.
Philip Ball Also Writes:
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“Phyllotaxis therefore, contains a hidden
mathematical pattern for which we are
unlikely to find an explanation by rooting
around in the genetics of plant
developmental biology. It seems likely that
there is some more universal basis to these
observations.” —The Self-Made Tapestry,
107.
Seashells
Hurricanes
Spiral Galaxies
Was There a Common Ancestor
or a Common Designer?
Conclusion
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No known evolutionary mechanism can
account for all of the common designs
throughout nature.
Repeated designs have been extremely
frequent, these designs have involved very
complex structures, and have occurred in
situations in which the forces of natural
selection have been vastly different.
Conclusion
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All of the common designs fit perfectly
well with the belief in a Creator who used
the same good designs repeatedly in
unrelated creatures and objects.
Questions
Human Evolution?
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Evolutionists call the alleged “missing
links” hominids.
However, from the Creation perspective,
these were not “missing links” but were
merely creatures that God created that later
went extinct.
Human Evolution Continued:
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Homo sapiens, or sometimes Homo sapiens
sapiens, refer to humans who physically
identical to humans today.
Evolutionists do not know how humans
evolved.
The standard theory of human evolution
that is presented in textbooks is outdated.
Human Evolution Continued:
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Steven Jones, a professor of genetics at the
University College London, writes: “In
spite of a century’s claims of the discovery
of ‘missing links,’ it is quite possible that
no bone yet found is on the direct genetic
line to ourselves.”
Humans are Not Related to Homo
Erectus:
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Frank Huffman, an anthropologist at the
University of Texas said, “There's good
evidence to place Homo erectus and
modern humans together in time, but not
necessarily spatially together.”
Humans are Not Related to Homo
Erectus:
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Authors of an article in the journal called
Science wrote, “The new ages raise the
possibility that H. erectus overlapped in
time with anatomically modern humans (H.
sapiens) in Southeast Asia.”
Humans are Not Related to Homo
Erectus:
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Kenneth Mowbray, a paleoanthropologist at the
American Museum of Natural History in New
York City, said, "There's no way modern humans
could be direct descendants of Homo erectus."
"The dating is tricky, but the Java material
suggests that H. sapiens and H. erectus
overlapped in time. H. erectus can't stay the same
and be an ancestor at the same time."
Humans Did Not Evolve from
Neanderthals, or Neandertals:
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“During the late Pleistocene, early
anatomically modern humans coexisted in
Europe with the anatomically archaic
Neandertals for some thousand years.”
Dr. Fazala Rana Sums Up the
Situation Well:
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“Paleontologists now have definitive
evidence that Homo erectus and
Neanderthals, long regarded as central
figures in the human origin sequence, were
evolutionary side branches and dead ends.
Neither Neanderthals nor Homo erectus
made genetic (thus evolutionary)
contributions to modern humans.”
Isn’t the DNA of Humans and
Chimps 98% Identical?
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The genetic similarities between
chimpanzees and humans would just as
easily be explained by a Creator using the
same building blocks and designs to make
different creatures.
More recent research from the year 2003
indicates that humans are only 86.7 percent
genetically similar to chimpanzees.
What About Hurricanes?
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Hurricanes are necessary for life to exist on
Earth. Even more suffering and pain would result
if hurricanes never occurred.
Wind velocities are controlled by Earth’s rotation
rate.
Humanity appeared on Earth when the rotation
speed had decreased to 24 hours a day. This
means humans also arrived on Earth at the ideal
time when weather and temperature conditions
would be most suitable for them.
Hurricanes Continued:
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Hurricanes also serve positive functions.
Hurricanes significantly add to the amount
of chlorophyll concentrations found along
continental shelves.
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This process benefits the creatures that live
on the continental shelves.
Hurricanes Continued:
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Hurricanes also lift huge amounts of seasalt aerosols out of the oceans, and these
aerosols compose a large quantity of
clouds, and play a crucial role in forming
raindrops.
Consequently, sufficient rain falls to
support life.
Hurricanes Continued:
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Hurricanes also function as Earth’s thermostat.
For example, when tropical oceans become too
hot, they create hurricanes.
The sea-salt aerosols made by hurricanes cool the
tropical oceans to a better temperature.[1] This
cooling prevents some sea creatures from going
extinct.
All of these things indicate that a greater
Intelligence invested a considerable amount of
planning when creating the Earth.
What about Injuries and Deaths
Caused by Hurricanes?
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It is possible that Satan could still use the
forces of nature to inflict harm on
humanity, as he reportedly did to Job’s
family when he used strong wind to cause a
house to collapse (Job 1:19).
After all, Satan uses other aspects of God’s
good creation to cause suffering.