You Say Macro I Say Micro |
C R E A T I O N N E W S L E T T E R
Creation Science Newsletter
Compliments of Creation Science Alive
January 2006 - Co-Founders: Nick Lally & RoseAnn Salanitri
You Say Macro – I Say Micro
By
RoseAnn Salanitri
Those who have been swept ashore by the cultural tide of evolution
often argue that they can observe evolution at work in the world they
see around them. But is it evolution that they are observing?
Evolution is the process by which living organisms adapt to their
environment through natural processes, including natural selection or
mutation. This adaptation supposedly results in better organisms,
better suited to survive.
We have to understand the differences between a “kind” and a
“species”. A kind represents a family (or phyla), i.e. dogs and cats
represent two specific kinds; while Great Danes & poodles, angora &
Siamese represent species within their respective kinds. It is very
important to understand the distinction between kinds and species.
Species represent variations within a kind, and we do observe many
species occurring throughout history and even in our present day.
This is micro-evolution. We know we can crossbreed different dogs to
create desired species of dogs. However – and this is where we have
to be careful - we never observe a change from one kind to another
kind – or macro-evolution. This defies the concept of evolution
because evolution requires that through adaptation, natural selection,
or mutations one kind at some point changes into another kind – like a
dog eventually evolving into a cat.
Information has to be added in order for one kind to change into
another kind. Whereas, for speciation to occur, the information that
exists within a kind to produce different species is simply reshuffled.
Again - because it is important – for speciation to occur existing
information is reshuffled; for evolution to occur new information must
be added. Think of a computer keyboard. It has keys with all the
letters of the alphabet. With this keyboard you can craft an infinite
number of messages. However, if you have a keyboard with English
letters you cannot type a message in Chinese because you do not
have those characters on your keyboard and your computer is not
equipped to translate into Chinese. In order for you to be able to type
a message in Chinese you would have to add Chinese characters to
your keyboard or add information to your computer to be able to
translate into Chinese. The laws of heredity (DNA and RNA
respectively) do not allow for a mechanism that adds or translates
information. Mutations, argued to represent such a mechanism,
always result in a loss or reshuffling of information.
We also need to consider natural selection, and what is referred to as
“survival of the fittest”. Creationists fully acknowledge that the fittest
of a kind will survive in extreme conditions, but like micro- and macro-
evolution, this does support the concept of evolution. Public school
science books describe a situation where two species of finches
existed on an island. One species had a hard beak and the other had a
soft beak. The island where they resided experienced a drought,
eliminating the food source for the soft-beaked finches leaving only
nuts that the hard-beaked finches were able to crack and eat. The
book concluded that this was an example of evolution and survival of
the fittest. While I agree that this is an example of the fittest being able
to survive, I disagree with their conclusion: Nothing adapted or
evolved. Actually, just the opposite is true. The soft-beaked finches
were unable to adapt, resulting in their extinction on this island. This
represents a loss of information. Where there were two species of
finches, now there is one. Furthermore, we need to understand that
the hard-beaked finch was there to begin with. Information was NOT
added to the genes of the finches to allow a new species to “evolve” –
the information was already there. I often say that the best defense
against evolution is critical thinking, and this a perfect example.
Contact us at: creationfacts@aol.com
Permission to copy this newsletter in its entirety with acknowledgment
of its authorship is granted.
Creation Science Newsletter
Compliments of Creation Science Alive
January 2006 - Co-Founders: Nick Lally & RoseAnn Salanitri
You Say Macro – I Say Micro
By
RoseAnn Salanitri
Those who have been swept ashore by the cultural tide of evolution
often argue that they can observe evolution at work in the world they
see around them. But is it evolution that they are observing?
Evolution is the process by which living organisms adapt to their
environment through natural processes, including natural selection or
mutation. This adaptation supposedly results in better organisms,
better suited to survive.
We have to understand the differences between a “kind” and a
“species”. A kind represents a family (or phyla), i.e. dogs and cats
represent two specific kinds; while Great Danes & poodles, angora &
Siamese represent species within their respective kinds. It is very
important to understand the distinction between kinds and species.
Species represent variations within a kind, and we do observe many
species occurring throughout history and even in our present day.
This is micro-evolution. We know we can crossbreed different dogs to
create desired species of dogs. However – and this is where we have
to be careful - we never observe a change from one kind to another
kind – or macro-evolution. This defies the concept of evolution
because evolution requires that through adaptation, natural selection,
or mutations one kind at some point changes into another kind – like a
dog eventually evolving into a cat.
Information has to be added in order for one kind to change into
another kind. Whereas, for speciation to occur, the information that
exists within a kind to produce different species is simply reshuffled.
Again - because it is important – for speciation to occur existing
information is reshuffled; for evolution to occur new information must
be added. Think of a computer keyboard. It has keys with all the
letters of the alphabet. With this keyboard you can craft an infinite
number of messages. However, if you have a keyboard with English
letters you cannot type a message in Chinese because you do not
have those characters on your keyboard and your computer is not
equipped to translate into Chinese. In order for you to be able to type
a message in Chinese you would have to add Chinese characters to
your keyboard or add information to your computer to be able to
translate into Chinese. The laws of heredity (DNA and RNA
respectively) do not allow for a mechanism that adds or translates
information. Mutations, argued to represent such a mechanism,
always result in a loss or reshuffling of information.
We also need to consider natural selection, and what is referred to as
“survival of the fittest”. Creationists fully acknowledge that the fittest
of a kind will survive in extreme conditions, but like micro- and macro-
evolution, this does support the concept of evolution. Public school
science books describe a situation where two species of finches
existed on an island. One species had a hard beak and the other had a
soft beak. The island where they resided experienced a drought,
eliminating the food source for the soft-beaked finches leaving only
nuts that the hard-beaked finches were able to crack and eat. The
book concluded that this was an example of evolution and survival of
the fittest. While I agree that this is an example of the fittest being able
to survive, I disagree with their conclusion: Nothing adapted or
evolved. Actually, just the opposite is true. The soft-beaked finches
were unable to adapt, resulting in their extinction on this island. This
represents a loss of information. Where there were two species of
finches, now there is one. Furthermore, we need to understand that
the hard-beaked finch was there to begin with. Information was NOT
added to the genes of the finches to allow a new species to “evolve” –
the information was already there. I often say that the best defense
against evolution is critical thinking, and this a perfect example.
Contact us at: creationfacts@aol.com
Permission to copy this newsletter in its entirety with acknowledgment
of its authorship is granted.