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originally posted by: neoholographic
originally posted by: QuinnP
a reply to: Barcs
I've been reading your posts too long to take you seriously. You don't know that much. And at the same time you think you know so much. Your closed mind, while pleasing to ATS and its moderators is not very impressive beyond.
Good points and they couldn't answer simple questions about a TATA or CAATA box.
Evolution and the origin of life are two separate problems. Darwin’s theory of evolution is among the most well-established in science. However, information theory shows that the origin of life is unknowable by scientific methods and must be accepted as an axiom of biology. (An axiom is an elementary fact that cannot be proved or derived from any other facts and therefore must be taken as a starting point.)
When Dr. Thaxton asked for me to supply him with a blurb for the book’s cover, I gave him one that was limited to the point on which we agree: chance and self-organization theories of the origin of life are not scientifically valid.
originally posted by: QuinnP
a reply to: Barcs
I've been reading your posts too long to take you seriously. You don't know that much. And at the same time you think you know so much. Your closed mind, while pleasing to ATS and its moderators is not very impressive beyond.
originally posted by: neoholographic
a reply to: peter vlar
First off, I know Yockey is an atheist and unlike you guys, I can quote atheist and Creationst when articulating an argument. As soon as you guys see Creationist, you shut down and stop thinking. When I posted something from a Creationist website, you guys spent two pages talking about a Creationist website instead of debating what was said.
Again, I'm not closed minded, so I can read things from both atheist and Creationist. Yockey acknowledges the Primary Axiom and as an athiest I expect him to have faith in his belief. Yockey even says atheism is a belief:
Theism and atheism both are irrelevant to science because they address problems of faith and belief.
I noticed you forgot to quote this part. Of course atheism is a belief but sadly atheist use evolution as a holy sacrament.
Secondly, Yockey admits in that same brief, that the origin of life or infrmation in the genome has to be an axiom of biology.
IT'S EXACTLY WHAT DR. SANFORD SAID IN MY OP!
Although I had achieved considerable success and notoriety within my own particular specialty (applied genetics), it would mean I would have to be stepping out of the safety of my own little niche. I would have to begin to explore some very big things, including aspects of theoretical genetics which I had always accepted by faith alone. I felt compelled to do all this, but I must confess I fully expected to simply hit a brick wall. To my own amazement, I gradually realized that the seemingly “great and unassailable fortress” which has been built up around the primary axiom is really a house of cards. The Primary Axiom is actually an extremely vulnerable theory, in fact it is essentially indefensible. Its apparent invincibility derives mostly from bluster, smoke, and mirrors. A large part of what keeps the Axiom standing is an almost mystical faith, which the true-believers have in the omnipotence of natural selection. Furthermore, I began to see that this deep-seated faith in natural selection was typically coupled with a degree of ideological commitment which can only be described as religious. I started to realize (again with trepidation) that I might be offending a lot of people’s religion!
www.uncommondescent.com...
Here's what Yockey said:
Evolution and the origin of life are two separate problems. Darwin’s theory of evolution is among the most well-established in science. However, information theory shows that the origin of life is unknowable by scientific methods and must be accepted as an axiom of biology. (An axiom is an elementary fact that cannot be proved or derived from any other facts and therefore must be taken as a starting point.)
He said this:
When Dr. Thaxton asked for me to supply him with a blurb for the book’s cover, I gave him one that was limited to the point on which we agree: chance and self-organization theories of the origin of life are not scientifically valid.
This is the ballgame and it's exactly why I quoted Yockey. Yockey is an atheist but Yockey can't deny the truth. He's saying, the origin of life is unknowable through Science. He says it's unknowable because CHANCE AND SELF ORGANIZATION THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ARE NOT SCIENTIFICALLY VALID!
I AGREE!!
He says this because there's zero evidence that nature can encode sequences of DNA with information and also make the machinery to decode this information. As an atheist, he says we can't know these things scientifically but what he means is, we can't know these things scientifically because materialism can't answer these questions so it has to be an axiom.
Exactly what Dr. Sanford said.
You can't separate the origin of life and evolution. I understand why Yockey wants to. It's because he has found a encoding/decoding system that can't be answered scientifically in a materialist manner. The only thing that "evolves" is organisms that come from this intelligently designed coding/decoding mechanism that Yockey admits is unknowable by the science of materialism.
However, if the mutation is present in a broad population
and is persistent
, then there's a possibility that it could become part of the germline and therefore a permanent mutation
originally posted by: rnaa
a reply to: Phantom423
However, if the mutation is present in a broad population
Wait a minute. How did the mutation become 'present in a broad population'?
It started in ONE individual, and propagated through that individual's progeny. Yes that is how biology works.
and is persistent
Wait another minute. How did it become persistent? What does persistence mean in this context?
It means that the mutation either helped the mutated organism or it was neutral in its effect. If it had hindered the organism's reproduction capability it would not have remained in the gene pool. In other words persistence means that natural selection did not filter it out.
, then there's a possibility that it could become part of the germline and therefore a permanent mutation
Wait, wait, wait. You already said that it is in a significant portion of the population and it is persistent. That means, by definition, that your mutation is 'part of the germline' and therefore a permanent mutation.
So you are agreeing 100% with the basic principles of Evolution.
It is really a pleasure to know that our humble efforts have enabled you to see the light.
Thank you and welcome to the 'Light Side'.
and somatic mutations (also called acquired mutations),[69] which involve cells outside the dedicated reproductive group and which are not usually transmitted to descendants."
Yockey even says atheism is a belief:
"Theism and atheism both are irrelevant to science because they address problems of faith and belief."
For example Cancer is not a somatic mutation and not a player in evolution because it is not genetically transmitted.
originally posted by: cooperton
a reply to: neoholographic
I still don't think they understand your argument. Great point regarding them being incapable of understanding the other perspective, whereas we can always empathize with their perspective.
I was thinking about the brain this weekend and the intricate circuitry involved in the organization of this immensely complex organic computer... Realizing the impossibility of self-assembly being involved in its creation. Even us intelligent beings fail to completely understand the intelligence involved in the structure and function of the nervous system.
Self-assembly is an intrinsic aspect of chemistry, else there would be no molecules of any kind. All molecules seek the lowest energy state, and if combining yields a lower energy state than being separate, two atoms or molecules will combine spontaneously. Even when this is not the case, in the presence of external energy sources and catalysts, atoms and molecules may still combine, as long as the overall energy state (i.e. the total energy state of the sources and recipients combined) ends up lower. All of the organic molecules (amino acids, phosphates, lipids, etc) present in a cell have been demonstrated to spontaneously assemble, given the right conditions. Some have been discovered on meteors, indicating they can form in space. Even complex protein precursors such as polypeptides (strings of amino acids) have been demonstrated to spontaneously assemble in the right conditions.
So this is not a discussion of whether random atoms can combine to form a protein. This is a discussion of whether or not polypeptides (already demonstrated to spontaneously assemble from amino acids, which have been demonstrated to spontaneously assemble from molecules, which spontaneously assemble from individual atoms) can randomly assemble to form a protein. And while the answer is currently "no, this has not been demonstrated", it is nowhere near as unlikely as CMI is attempting to suggest. As current belief is that life emerged around 500 million years after the Earth was formed, this seems like plenty of time for a protein to spontaneously form.
So the claim is, even assuming the "supposed evolutionary age of the universe" (i.e. 13.8 billion years), functional proteins emerging from a primordial soup is so improbable that the only acceptable explanation is to assume a designer (goddidit). This is fundamentally an argument from ignorance premised on CMI's refusal or inability to honestly consider the evidence and likely explanations. It is also predicated on the logically unsound premise that highly improbable events do not occur, which is known to be false. Just because the odds of something occurring are too small for a creationist to conceive of they are not therefore zero. Improbable things happen all the time. People get struck by lightning. Someone will eventually win the lottery. Proteins are highly likely to form, given enough time.
originally posted by: rnaa
a reply to: TzarChasm
Yockey even says atheism is a belief:
"Theism and atheism both are irrelevant to science because they address problems of faith and belief."
I am curious about what part of that sentence you failed to understand?
Yockey didn't say atheism was a belief. He said the ideas of Theism and of Atheism are irrelevant because they are points on a continuum that has to do with faith and belief. Science is nowhere on that continuum, so the concepts are irrelevant.
You seem to be making the mistake that those who understand Evolution, and Scientists in general are, perforce Atheists. Besides being trivially untrue, your own source, Yockey is telling you that the dichotomy you see is non-existent and irrelevant.
By the way, Atheism is NOT a belief - it is lack of belief (And for the purposes he is addressing, Yockey doesn't care one way or the other - it is irrelevant to science).
I tell people all the time that at least their worthless lottery tickets won zero and that has to be better than nothing, right? At least they know that its a joke. But you aren't joking are you? You think that somehow or the other zero really is better than nothing - lack of belief is actually belief.
originally posted by: Barcs
Okay, so just to get this straight. You no longer consider evolution a lie? If this is the case, then yes I was off topic, although I could have sworn that statement was in the title. If you do still consider it a lie, you are going to need to define "evolution" and explain what exactly the lie is. "You can't answer question XYZ" isn't evidence against it for reasons I've already explained.
originally posted by: neoholographic
Again, I'm not closed minded, so I can read things from both atheist and Creationist. Yockey acknowledges the Primary Axiom and as an athiest I expect him to have faith in his belief. Yockey even says atheism is a belief:
Theism and atheism both are irrelevant to science because they address problems of faith and belief.
I noticed you forgot to quote this part. Of course atheism is a belief but sadly atheist use evolution as a holy sacrament.
www.uncommondescent.com...
Evolution and the origin of life are two separate problems. Darwin’s theory of evolution is among the most well-established in science. However, information theory shows that the origin of life is unknowable by scientific methods and must be accepted as an axiom of biology. (An axiom is an elementary fact that cannot be proved or derived from any other facts and therefore must be taken as a starting point.)
When Dr. Thaxton asked for me to supply him with a blurb for the book’s cover, I gave him one that was limited to the point on which we agree: chance and self-organization theories of the origin of life are not scientifically valid.
This is the ballgame and it's exactly why I quoted Yockey. Yockey is an atheist but Yockey can't deny the truth. He's saying, the origin of life is unknowable through Science. He says it's unknowable because CHANCE AND SELF ORGANIZATION THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ARE NOT SCIENTIFICALLY VALID!
He says this because there's zero evidence that nature can encode sequences of DNA with information and also make the machinery to decode this information.
As an atheist, he says we can't know these things scientifically but what he means is, we can't know these things scientifically because materialism can't answer these questions so it has to be an axiom.
You can't separate the origin of life and evolution. I understand why Yockey wants to. It's because he has found a encoding/decoding system that can't be answered scientifically in a materialist manner. The only thing that "evolves" is organisms that come from this intelligently designed coding/decoding mechanism that Yockey admits is unknowable by the science of materialism.
The book Information Theory, Evolution and the Origin of Life is written by Hubert Yockey, the foremost living specialist in bioinformatics. The publisher is Cambridge University press. Yockey rigorously demonstrates that the coding process in DNA is identical to the coding process and mathematical definitions used in Electrical Engineering. This is not subjective, it is not debatable or even controversial. It is a brute fact:
“Information, transcription, translation, code, redundancy, synonymous, messenger, editing, and proofreading are all appropriate terms in biology. They take their meaning from information theory (Shannon, 1948) and are not synonyms, metaphors, or analogies.” (Hubert P. Yockey, Information Theory, Evolution, and the Origin of Life, Cambridge University Press, 2005)
Evolution and the origin of life are two separate problems. Darwin’s theory of evolution is among the most well-established in science. However, information theory shows that the origin of life is unknowable by scientific methods and must be accepted as an axiom of biology. (An axiom is an elementary fact that cannot be proved or derived from any other facts and therefore must be taken as a starting point.)
When Dr. Thaxton asked for me to supply him with a blurb for the book’s cover, I gave him one that was limited to the point on which we agree: chance and self-organization theories of the origin of life are not scientifically valid.