<<Besides, this talk of a party sounds so conspiratorial. Is this the
evolutionist party like the communist party?>>
There similarities, sure. The majority of evolutionists are atheistic, some
militantly so (e.g. Dawkins, Dennett who have become the de facto leadership
for the science proletariat.) Nor does the Party tolerate dissent. When
Professors like Kenyon, and writers like Mims, dare to question the Party
line, they are shipped to the academic equivalent of Siberia. Informers lurk
around every school board. If the subject of "fair treatement" comes up, they
are reported to the KGB, er, I mean the ACLU.
So, yes, one can see the parallels. Human nature is pretty consistent when it
comes to orthodoxies.
JB, quoting Taylor<<"The real obstacles to such a move were the massive
structural changes needed to make life on land worthwhile. To bein with,the
fish would need legs simply in order to relieve the pressure of its body on
the ground, which would compress the lungs." >>
GM<< I can lay on my couch or the floor and breathe just fine. I think this
guy is wrong. >>
I didn't know you began life as an aquatic animal, Glenn. Your lungs, suited
to sub-marine pressure and located ventrally, must have instantly evolved the
capacity to withstand your lying face down on the floor. Of course, you also
instantly evolved a ventral ribcage to protect your lungs while you do this.
You had to, because the fish backbone is basically a rod (called a notochord)
surrounded by cartilage rings. (BTW, the remainder of the fish skeleton is
also cartilaginous, which still leaves the us with the knotty problem of the
evolution of bones). The lungs and swim bladder of the fish are under this
backbone and its attendant "cage." So the lungs, swim bladder, heart and
everything else are right on top of the soft underbelly.
A fish coming onto the land would need support to keep pressure off his soft
little belly as it flopped around. Of course, while it did so it wouldn't
notice its gills collapsing. Nor would it care that its body was drying out
rapidly, redcuing to zero the area of the respiratory surface and effectively
stopping the diffusion of oxygen into the blood. Easy stuff, this, right?
Evolution is so simple. All we have to do is imagine all these problems were
really "selective advantages." Poof!
BTW, what happened to your gills, Glenn, during your transition from Homo
Aquaticus to Texus Curmudgeonus?
<< Who is he anyway?>>
Gordon Rattray Taylor was the "Carl Sagan" of Britain, a science writer and
popularizer, Chief Science Advisor to the BBC, editor on several science
programs, one of which, "Eye on Research," won several awards for excellence.
Authored 15 books and countless articles. "The Great Evolution Mystery,"
published here by Harper & Row (1983), was his last.
He recognized that "evolutionists have been blinkered by a too narrowly
materialist and reductionist approach to their problems." Boy, sounds just
like Phil Johnson! Only Taylor was a staunch evolutionist. He was just one who
was not a puppet of the Party. He recognized the pressure the Party puts on
its members, and pleaded for a time when "scientists will feel free to look
around for new interpretations in a much less inhibited manner, free from any
fear of having their careers damaged by the awful charge of unorthodoxy."
We're still waiting for that time.
Jim