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To: Carling
"If evolution is such a lock, why is it that there is not one documented instance in the past 200 years of a member of one species giving birth to a completely new species with a different genetic code?"

The question is oversimplified to fit an agenda. Evolution doesn't make the claim that one species all of a sudden sees its DNA altered within a generation to form an entirely new species. That's actually absurd. What evolution does is take what we already know about genetic variation, applies a little common sense to it, and then looks at the consequences of the result over a long-term period.

There are genetic differences between your parents and you. That does not make you a new species. Imagine for a moment, though, that you and a friend move to isolated spots on the planet. Let's assume you live in northern Canada, while your friend lives in central Africa. Assuming you remain completely isolated from each other, as do all those around you, your offspring over the next several dozen generations will begin to show signs of divergent evolution. Your group, living in a very cold place, sees those whose genes manifest poor homeothermic characteristics die off before they can pass those genes on to the next generation. Your friend's group, living in a more hospitable environment, does not lose those type of individuals. His group, however, will tend to see slower moving people picked off by predators often before they can pass on their genes to future generations. So we see two forces at work: the genetic variation/mutation/differentiation inherent to all known lifeforms, and the elimination of the genetic traits unsuitable for the differing environments.

What evolution tells us is that if you continue along this path for a sufficient amount of time (on the order of a few million years), you will reach a point where genetic variation and differentiation has created a difference between the two groups so great on a genetic level that they can no longer interbreed and produce viable offspring. It is the projection out to a few million years that tends to create the doubters. Few who've studied genetics doubt genetic variation/differentiation/mutation, and it's difficult to doubt the obiousness of the truth that those not fit to survive in an environment will not survive in that environment.

"My personal thoughts on this aside, how can anyone lend credence to calling evolution fact"

In my opinion, anyone who claims Evolution is a fact is just as silly as someone who claims it's entirely myth. It's a theory in progress which explains, with a high degree of accuracy, much of what we see around us in terms of differences between species, and in terms of the differences between modern and pre-historic species.

"when the theory cannot be proved even in a controlled lab environment?"

The driving principles of evolution have been shown in a lab, most dramatically using bacteria cultures which are exposed to various toxins. If you want another example, ask the people who make RAID why it is that they constantly have to develop new formulas for their bug-killing products. They'll tell you that when you've killed the 99% of bugs in your home as promised on the can, that 1% repopulates and is immune to the old stuff. (That's a partial simplification, but the principle holds true).
199 posted on 11/09/2004 3:28:20 PM PST by NJ_gent (Conservatism begins at home. Security begins at the border. Please, someone, secure our borders.)
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To: NJ_gent
...that 1% repopulates and is immune to the old stuff.

EVERY one of them???


HMmmm...

"Dare a WHOLE lot of assumin' goin' on hyere!"

201 posted on 11/09/2004 3:38:19 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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