ethan@utastro.UUCP (Ethan Vishniac) (04/10/85)
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As long as these articles are being posted to the net I thought
I would provide a brief public service. A running tally will be
kept of the 161 reasons why creationism is correct with the total
broken down into the following categories:
1) Arguments in favor of creationism
2) Irrelevant points
3) Incorrect points
4) Arguments against evolution having occurred
5) Arguments which point out significant gaps in our current understanding
of evolution.
So far the score is
category articles total
1 - 0
2 3,4 2
3 2 1
4 - 0
5 1,5 2
Comments on the scoring:
I decided to put the most favorable reading on the abiogenesis argument
(number 1). Abiogenesis doesn't violate physical law, so I didn't put it
under number 4. However, I did count it as having to do with the theory of
evolution although it's actually about the origin of life rather than its
development.
Similarly, I decided that although 5(likelihood of favorable mutations)
was ineptly argued, it is true that the probability of a favorable mutation
in a large organism cannot be evaluated a priori (and cannot be observed
in a reasonable time scale). The barrier here is that we have complete
gene mappings only for *very* simple organisms and only a limited idea of
the detailed mechanisms by which particular genes express themselves.
In order to answer this question mathematically one would need to understand
the relationship between the genetic structure of an organism and every
aspect of its development and functioning (including how slight modifications
in the genes would affect the results). It's possible I'm reading more into
#5 than is really there.
"Don't argue with a fool. Ethan Vishniac
Borrow his money." {charm,ut-sally,ut-ngp,noao}!utastro!ethan
Department of Astronomy
University of Texas