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To: Virginia-American
ToE is independent of the origin of life.

So even if there was no origin of life, ToE would still operate????

As long as there is inheritable variation, mutation, and differential survival, there will be evolution.

I think you meant to say that ToE assumes the origin of life, otherwise I'm not sure where you get your inheritable variation, mutation, etc.

How could there not be?

So what are you saying? You don't need any evidence of evolution now? It's just obvious? You can just assume there's no genetic boundaries to this inheritable variation?

Differential survival can just as easily (more so?) ensure stasis. Does your little creation cocktail make stasis so obvious too? If so, which is more likely? Don't you need to factor in the environment? What if that's constant?

900 posted on 12/30/2005 2:13:58 PM PST by jbloedow
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To: jbloedow
Me: ToE is independent of the origin of life.

You: So even if there was no origin of life, ToE would still operate????

Huh? The ToE is a theory that describes the variety of life. All I said was that it doesn't matter how the earlier life came about; ToE doesn't address this point.

I think you meant to say that ToE assumes the origin of life, otherwise I'm not sure where you get your inheritable variation, mutation, etc.

No, all ToE assumes is that there is life, and that it has the properties listed. The origin is irrelevant

So what are you saying? You don't need any evidence of evolution now? It's just obvious? You can just assume there's no genetic boundaries to this inheritable variation?

Yeah, I'd say that it is obvious. Differential survival means that the frequencies of the various alleles will change from one generation to the next. If we assume that any gene can occasionally mutate, then there is the possibility of that gene spreading throughout the population. This can happen by random drift (if the mutation is neutral), or it can happen via selection(if the mutation increases the probability of reproduction)

If you assume there are some sorts of limits, then the succeeding generations, obviously, will stay within those limits.

Differential survival can just as easily (more so?) ensure stasis. Does your little creation cocktail make stasis so obvious too? If so, which is more likely? Don't you need to factor in the environment? What if that's constant?

If the environment is constant, there can still be favorable mutations, but the probability of this decreases as the population is more and more adapted to this environment. This is stasis.

The "differential survival" (I should have said success at reproduction) part depends on the environment.

907 posted on 12/30/2005 3:06:46 PM PST by Virginia-American
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To: jbloedow
Evolution does not need to assume the origin of life, because life can be observed. Evolution is independent of theories about the origin of life.
912 posted on 12/30/2005 3:38:34 PM PST by js1138 (Great is the power of steady misrepresentation.)
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