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39. Human fossils
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| 226 |
Human fossilized remains
have been found lower in the geographic table than dinosaurs. Not once,
but 28 times so far. |
An utterly preposterous assertion,
not backed by any real evidence. There is widespread evidence of fraud in
this field. |
unsupported assertion |
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40. Anthropic
Principle |
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| 227 |
Researchers for the
first time are measuring the far reaches of the cosmos. They have
uncovered a growing list of "designed-for-life" indicators.
They found a number of physical characteristics that had to be very
narrowly defined for any kind of life to possibly exist. These
discoveries are what spawned the anthropic principle, the observation
that all physical features of the universe, including the
characteristics of the solar system, are "just right" to suit
the needs of life, specifically human life. |
The anthropic principle
is an untestable metaphysical assertion, and offers nothing to this
debate. |
irrelevant |
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41. Comparative
Anatomy |
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| 228 |
This theory … |
It's not a theory, it's an investigative
discipline. |
FALSE |
| 229 |
...states that like
features inside two different creatures means that they are distant
cousins on the evolutionary tree. |
As it's not a theory, it doesn't
state anything. However, the interpretation of homologies is that they come
from a shared ancestor. |
Misleading |
| 230 |
The problem with this is
that many features that the scientists use to prove like ancestry
usually come from different areas on the DNA strand. They are not then
ancestors. |
Not many, some. It should be
added that our knowledge of how genetic expression is related to morphology
is a science in it's infancy. |
Irrelevant |
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42. Influx Of
Elements Into The Ocean |
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| 231 |
Scientists know with a
fair degree of accuracy how much of each of the elements are being put
into the ocean every year by rivers. They also know how many of each of
these elements are in the ocean currently. By simple division they can
find out how long it took to get to the present levels, even accounting
for sedimentation and dissipation. |
When plate tectonics is
taken into account, there is no problem - another support for the
ancient earth hypothesis. |
FALSE |
| 232 |
None of these elements
give an age of earth even coming close to billions of years required by
evolution. |
Only if you ignore any
mechanisms which can remove elements from the ocean. |
FALSE |
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Link
- Accumulation of metals into the oceans |
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43. Dirac And
Dicke's Coincidences |
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| 233 |
In 1961, noted American
physicist Robert Dicke noticed that life in the universe is possible
only because of the special relationship among certain cosmological
parameters (relationships researched by British physicist Paul Dirac 24
years earlier). Dirac noted that the number of baryons (protons plus
neutrons) in the universe is the square of the gravitational constant as
well as the square of the age of the universe (both expressed as
dimensionless numbers). Dicke discerned that a slight change in either
of these relationships and life could not exist. Stars of the right type
for sustaining life supportable planets only can occur during a certain
range of ages for the universe. Similarly, stars of the right type only
can form for a narrow range of values of the gravitational constant. |
This is a variation on the Anthropic
principle, which as I have stated above is an untestable metaphysical assertion,
and offers nothing to this debate. |
irrelevant |
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44. Uniformity Of
The Universe |
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| 234 |
Our universe has a high
degree of uniformity. Such uniformity is considered to arise from a
brief period of inflationary pressure expansion near the time of the
origin of the universe. If the inflation (or some other mechanism) had
not smoothed the universe to the degree we see, the universe would have
developed into a plethora of black holes separated by virtually empty
space. On the other hand, if the universe were smoothed beyond this
degree, stars, star clusters, and galaxies may never have formed at all.
Either way, the resultant universe would be incapable of supporting
life. |
Recent findings (i.e.
within the past ten years) have shown that the background radiation is
not uniform. The investigation of breaking symmetries in the fabric of
space-time is a hot topic in cosmology and physics. |
Out of date information |
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Link
- Footprints of Creation |
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45. Stability Of
Protons |
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| 235 |
This affects the
quantity of matter in the universe and also the radiation level as it
pertains to higher life forms. Each proton contains 3 quarks. Through
the agency of other particles (called bosons) quarks decay into
antiquarks, pions, and positive electrons. Currently in our universe
this decay process occurs on the average of only once per proton per 10
to 32nd power years. If that rate were greater, the biological
consequences for large animals would be catastrophic, for the proton
decays would deliver lethal doses of radiation. If the proton were more
stable, less matter would have emerged from events occurring in the
first split second of the universe's existence. There would be
insufficient matter in the universe for life to be possible. |
This is a variation on the Anthropic
principle, which as I have stated above is an untestable metaphysical assertion,
and offers nothing to this debate. |
irrelevant |
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46. Velocity Of
Light |
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| 236 |
This can be expressed in
a variety of ways as a function of any one of the fundamental forces of
physics or as a function of one of the fine structure constants. Hence,
in the case of this constant, too, the slightest change , up or down,
would negate any possibility for life in the universe. |
This is a variation on the Anthropic
principle, which as I have stated above is an untestable metaphysical assertion,
and offers nothing to this debate. |
irrelevant |
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47. Insufficient
Exponential bits |
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| 237 |
The universe contains no more
than 10 to the 80th power baryons and has been in existence for no more
than 10 to the 18th power seconds. The bottom line is that the universe
is at least 10 billion orders of magnitude too small or too young for life
to have assembled itself by a natural process. These kinds of calculations
have been done by researchers, both non-theists and theists, in a variety
of disciplines. |
This assumes that unconsolidated
chance alone led to the origin of life. It doesn't. Furthermore, even if
life originated from a chance event, the fact that it exists shows that
this event, no matter how improbable, did occur. It does not imply an higher
order of intelligence at work. I don't understand the argument that because
something is very unlikely, it proves that an intelligent designer created
it. |
False logic |
