amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (01/24/84)
I'm pretty sure that Larry Bickford's quotations are from Steven J. Gould. This also seems to me to be a perfect example of what I find wrong with creationists, for example the quotes: "The fossil record with its abrupt transitions offers no support for gradual change..." "All paleontologists know that the fossil record contains precious little in the way of intermediate forms; transitions between major groups are characteristically abrupt." while appearing to be a denial of evolutionary theory (certainly as concieved by many creationists, to whom gradualism is a cornerstone of evolution as they understand it) is actually a major piece of evidence for Gould's theory of "punctuated equilibria", which states that evolutionary changes occur in fits and starts punctuating relatively long, stable periods of evolutionary stasis. Henry Morris (The Troubled Waters of Evolution, p. 20) states that, as Darwin, who favored the gradualist theory, pointed out "There ought ... to be a continuous intergrading series [of fossils]", but quickly converts this argument into something that Darwin never said (and is patently false) that the fossil world has revealed no intermediates between "basic kinds" such as "sharks and whales" (ibid.). This is a false test of evolution, similar to Luther Sunderland's widely publicised humourous slide of a modern cow "evolving" into a modern whale. Evolution does not demand that the series connecting any two extant organisms follow the shortest possible morphological line between them; it demands that they share a commaon ancestor--which in the case of the shark and the whale was a primitive fish. John Hobson AT&T Bell Labs Naperville, IL (312) 979-7293 ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2
lab@qubix.UUCP (Larry Bickford) (01/27/84)
As a not-so-aside, permit me to quote from a widely-known author. I will
delay publishing the author and sources for the quote, just to see the
feedback and ideas on who wrote it:
[Source 1]
"The fossil record with its abrupt transitions offers no support
for gradual change..."
"All paleontologists know that the fossil record contains
precious little in the way of intermediate forms; transitions
between major groups are characteristically abrupt."
"...Of what possible use are the imperfect incipient stages of
useful structures? What good is half a jaw or half a wing?"
"...Few systems are more resistant to basic change that the
strongly differentiated, highly specified, complex adults of
'higher' animal groups. How could we ever convert a rhinoceros
or a mosquito into something fundamentally different. [*]"
[Source 2, time frame near source 1]
"The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record
persists as the trade secret of paleontology. The evolutionary
trees that adorn our textbooks have data only at the tips and
nodes of their branches; the rest is inference, however
reasonable, not the evidence of fossil."
"The history of most fossil species includes two features
inconsistent with gradualism: 1. Stasis. Most species exhibit no
directional change during their tenure on earth. They appear in
the fossil record looking much the same as when they disappear;
morphological change is usually limited and directionless. 2.
Sudden Appearance. In any local area, a species does not
arise gradually arise by the steady transformation of its
ancestors; it appears all at once and 'fully formed.'"
[Source 3, again near time-frame as above]
"The three-leveled, five-kingdom system may appear, at first
glance, to record an inevitable progress in the history of life
that I have opposed in these columns. Increasing diversity and
multiple transition seem to reflect a determined and inexorable
progression toward higher things. But the paleontological record
supports no such interpretation. There has been no steady
progress in the higher development of organic design. We have
had, instead, vast stretches of little or no change and one [*]
that created the whole system."
The [*] is material I edited out, but will include when I publish the
author and source. You are also free to guess on these.
Larry Bickford, {sun,amd70,decwrl,ittvax}!qubix!lab