Re: Morphologically intermediate species

Glenn Morton (grmorton@psyberlink.net)
Tue, 25 Feb 1997 21:03:54 -0600

At 09:39 AM 2/25/97 -0600, Lee A. Spencer, Ph.D. wrote:
>It has been interesting to read the debate about archaeopteryx. However,
>archae is not a bird with reptile teeth. It is really a reptile with
>feathers. Of the characters usually assigned to birds that archae shares,
>only two are uniquely avian: feathers and an opposable hallux (and maybe not
>feathers). The furcula has been found in dinosaurs (Bryant and Russell,
>1993, Jour. Vert. Paleo. 13(2):171-184). It has many more characters that
>are found only in reptiles (see Archaeopteryx FAQ, Talk.Origins.Archive).
>The reptile/mammal series is even more interesting.
>

Lee, it is good to hear from you again. I would not wish to argue against
your professional opinion of Archaeopteryx other than that your view appears
to be in the minority. Is this true or am I in error?

>The existance of morphological intermediates by itself does not prove or
>disprove any specific cosmology because one can always propose hypotheses
>for the existence of these rare cases. They do not prove evolution because
>the necessary steps from one form to another are still missing; archae is
>only one of many steps that would be necessary to evolve from a reptile to a
>bird. The missing steps are explained away by the ad hoc statement of
>incompleteness of the fossil record. Similarly, creationists can also
>explain away the problem by the ad hoc statement that God originally created
>a more complete scale of nature, most species of which are now extinct.
>Either of these ad hoc statements have equal probability of being true until
>tested. What creationists cannot do, however, is argue that morphological
>intermediates do not exist. Creationists need to spend less efffort
>attacking evolution and more time devising testable hypotheses consistent
>with their cosmology, and then changing their hypotheses to remove those
>aspects that have been falsified.

This was what drove me from being a YEC. I kept devising these tests for
the geological data I worked with every dat. I finally had to admit to
myself that nothing was turning up roses for the global flood concept.

glenn

Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm