Posted by Ilene on June 8, 2004, at 20:48:39
In reply to Re: ALTERNATIVES TO RITALIN, posted by sl on June 7, 2004, at 10:33:47
> Exactly.
> What makes you think we haven't evolved since god put us on the earth?? Our environment has changed, we would have to change or die out, regardless of how perfect His design was.
>
> In fact, now that I think about it, He designed man for the garden of eden. Then later he said "go forth and multiply"...I don't remember any part of the bible with god saying "here let me give you a little tweaking before I send you out in the wide and varied world". Why would you think that evolution isn't gods fingers on us, helping his children survive???
>
> Either way, this was not supposed to be a biblical debate. The point was that "mutations" have a bad rep and are honest to goodness the only way the human race advances biologically, at least until such time as genetic engineering becomes common. It may be slowed by modern medicine, but I assure you, in the long run evolution will win out.
> When and where this process started, I don't care to debate it, the debate could go on for years. It certainly has in the academic community.
>
> slActually...the human race is not going to evolve very quickly, even on a geologic timescale, unless there is genetic death, meaning that all the people carrying a certain trait fail to leave offspring that survive. It's bound to be a slow process on an earth where most people reproduce successfully.
However, Gould's and Eldredge's theory of punctuated equilibrium posits a slow rate of genetic change punctuated by periods of rapid change. One can see how this might happen if a comet or asteroid were to strike the earth.
The academic community (or more specifically, research community) doesn't much bother with creationism. The debate is elsewhere.
I.
poster:Ilene
thread:354268
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040602/msgs/354909.html