The Nature of Science, Evolution

1
The Nature of Science, Evolution Creationism

• Mike Phillips
• Geology Professor

2
Foundations of Science

• Natural Cause The universe behaves in a
  predictable way under rules that can be
  determined through observation and
  experimentation.
• Efficient Cause effect follows cause (no Final
  Cause, no teleological)

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Foundations of Science

• Uniformity The rules are constant through
  space and time.
• Parsimony All other things being equal, the
  simplest explanation is the best.
• Objectivity

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Scientific Explanations

• must be natural
• must be supported by available data
• must be testable falsifiable
• subject to revision or refinement or negation
• should be predictive

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Scientific Explanations

• no arguments from or appeals to authority
• can should build on published work of others
• must be prepared to defend that work as well as
  your own

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Theory Hypothesis

• Hypothesis
• a working explanation or educated guess
• competing hypotheses are often investigated
  simultaneously
• Theory
• the best explanation supported by a preponderance
  of the evidence
• the best a scientist can hope for

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Should we use biblical explanations instead?

• St. Augustine No. He was concerned that if
  Christians asserted that the Bible contradicted
  reason and experience with natural phenomena,
  potential converts would reject the spiritual
  message.
• Isaac Newton No. He was concerned that mixing
  science and religion would corrupt religion.
  (Believed nature operates according to Gods
  laws.)
• Creationists Yes. (sort of)

8
Why give science precedence?

• It works!
• Examples
• Germ theory explains why we get sick
• Plate tectonics theory explains earthquakes
  volcanoes predicts economic deposits
• Gravity theory allows safe space travel
• Natural selection theory agricultural
  development, improved medical practice
  (laboratory experimentation germ control),
  enhanced pest control

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Why not give the Bible precedence?

• Purpose of Bible
• ethical philosophy (likely)
• scientific resource (unlikely)
• Gap problem
• moves focus away from ethical message
• Bible doesnt always match up with nature
• Gods realm diminished as science grows
• Bible missing most of modern science, medicine,
  and technology

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Was the Bible written to be a science text?

• Would the writers have comprehended the material?
• Would the original audience have comprehended the
  material?
• Is there room for all of the sciences?
• Has it worked well as a science text?

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Is the natural world a better scientific source?

• Direct record
• traces of what happened
• incomplete
• Objective record
• unfiltered
• must be interpreted
• available to all

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Tests for a scientific explanation

• Was the explanation derived from observation?
• Does the explanation rely on natural cause?
• Is it supported by natural data?
• Can the explanation be changed or negated in the
  light of new information?

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Is it science?

• Evolution
• derived from observation yes
• natural cause yes
• supported by natural data yes
• change with new data yes

• Creationism
• derived from observation no
• natural cause no
• supported by natural data no
• change with new data no

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Science religion(some perspectives)

• Nature is Gods will, no need to investigate.
• If its in the Bible, thats how it is (was) all
  scientific explanations must conform to the
  Bible.
• Nature operates according to Gods laws, what
  science cannot explain is where God has
  intervened.
• Nature operates according to Gods laws, God
  never intervenes.
• Nature operates according to natural laws. (no
  comment on God)
• Nature operates according to natural laws. (there
  is no God)

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Old Earth Creationism Intelligent Design

• Reasons to Believe
• http//www.reasons.org/index.shtml
• International Society for Complexity,
  Information, and Design
• http//www.iscid.org/
• The Discovery Institute
• http//www.discovery.org/
• Intelligent Design Network
• http//www.intelligentdesignnetwork.org/

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The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics

• We affirm that since God is the author of all
  truth, all truths, biblical and extrabiblical,
  are consistent and cohere, and that the Bible
  speaks truth when it touches on matters
  pertaining to nature, history, or anything else.
  We further affirm that in some cases
  extrabiblical data have value for clarifying what
  Scripture teaches, and for prompting correction
  of faulty interpretations.
• We deny that extrabiblical views ever disprove
  the teaching of Scripture or hold priority over
  it.

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The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics

• We affirm the harmony of special with general
  revelation and therefore of biblical teaching
  with the facts of nature.
• We deny that any genuine scientific facts are
  inconsistent with the true meaning of any passage
  of Scripture.

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The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics

• We affirm that Genesis 1-11 is factual, as is the
  rest of the book.
• We deny that the teachings of Genesis 1-11 are
  mythical and that scientific hypotheses about
  earth history or the origin of humanity may be
  invoked to overthrow what Scripture teaches about
  creation.

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Irreducible Complexity

• A functional system is irreducibly complex if it
  contains a multipart subsystem (i.e., a set of
  two or more interrelated parts) that cannot be
  simplified without destroying the systems basic
  function.
• Irreducible complexity differs sharply from
  another form of complexity that may be called
  cumulative complexity. A system is cumulatively
  complex if the parts of the system can be
  arranged sequentially so that the successive
  removal of parts never leads to the complete loss
  of function.

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Irreducible Complexity

• To determine whether a system is irreducibly
  complex employs two approaches
• An empirical analysis of the system that by
  removing parts (individually and in groups) and
  then by rearranging and adapting remaining parts
  determines whether the basic function can be
  recovered among those remaining parts.
• A conceptual analysis of the system, and
  specifically of those parts whose removal renders
  the basic function unrecoverable, to demonstrate
  that no system with (substantially) fewer parts
  exhibits the basic function.

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Young Earth Creationism

• Institute for Creation Research
• http//www.icr.org
• Answers in Genesis
• http//www.answersingenesis.org/
• Creation Research Society
• http//www.creationresearch.org/
• The Biblical Creation Society
• http//www.biblicalcreation.org.uk/

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ICR Tenets of Scientific Creationism

• A Christ-Focused Creation Ministry
• 1. The physical universe of space, time, matter,
  and energy has not always existed, but was
  supernaturally created by a transcendent personal
  Creator who alone has existed from eternity.

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ICR Tenets of Scientific Creationism

• 2. The phenomenon of biological life did not
  develop by natural processes from inanimate
  systems but was specially and supernaturally
  created by the Creator.

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ICR Tenets of Scientific Creationism

• 4. The first human beings did not evolve from an
  animal ancestry, but were specially created in
  fully human form from the start. Furthermore, the
  "spiritual" nature of man (self-image, moral
  consciousness, abstract reasoning, language,
  will, religious nature, etc.) is itself a
  supernaturally created entity distinct from mere
  biological life.

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ICR Tenets of Scientific Creationism

• 6. Processes today operate primarily within
  fixed natural laws and relatively uniform process
  rates but, since these were themselves originally
  created and are daily maintained by their
  Creator, there is always the possibility of
  miraculous intervention in these laws or
  processes by their Creator. Evidences for such
  intervention should be scrutinized critically,
  however, because there must be clear and adequate
  reason for any such action on the part of the
  Creator.

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ICR Tenets of Scientific Creationism

• 7. The universe and life have somehow been
  impaired since the completion of creation, so
  that imperfections in structure, disease, aging,
  extinctions, and other such phenomena are the
  result of "negative" changes in properties and
  processes occurring in an originally-perfect
  created order.

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ICR Tenets of Scientific Creationism

• 8. Since the universe and its primary components
  were created perfect for their purposes in the
  beginning by a competent and volitional Creator,
  and since the Creator does remain active in this
  now-decaying creation, there do exist ultimate
  purposes and meanings in the universe.
  Teleological considerations, therefore, are
  appropriate in scientific studies whenever they
  are consistent with the actual data of
  observation, and it is reasonable to assume that
  the creation presently awaits the consummation of
  the Creator's purpose.

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ICR Tenets of Scientific Creationism

• 9. Although people are finite and scientific
  data concerning origins are always circumstantial
  and incomplete, the human mind (if open to the
  possibility of creation) is able to explore the
  manifestations of that Creator rationally and
  scientifically, and to reach an intelligent
  decision regarding one's place in the Creator's
  plan.

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Answers in Genesis

• Believing in a relatively 'young Earth' (i.e.,
  only a few thousands of years old, which we
  accept) is a consequence of accepting the
  authority of the Word of God as an infallible
  revelation from our omniscient Creator.

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CRS Statement of Belief

• All members must subscribe to the following
  statement of belief
• 1. The Bible is the written Word of God, and
  because it is inspired throughout, all its
  assertions are historically and scientifically
  true in the original autographs. To the student
  of nature this means that the account of origins
  in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple
  historical truths.

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BCS Creation Manifesto

• While the Bible is not a scientific textbook, it
  makes some clear statements which have a direct
  bearing on the study of various areas of science,
  which provide both frameworks and baselines for
  the study of those subjects. The disciplines and
  issues dealt with in this section are of crucial
  and central importance (though many others could
  be cited), and failure to incorporate them into
  the relevant disciplines will result in failure
  to fully understand the subject, and failure to
  glorify God in that area of His creation.

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Geocentrism

• The Biblical Astronomer
• Dr. Gerardus D. Bouw
• http//www.geocentricity.com/
• (but the Earth is not Flat)
• http//www.geocentricity.com/flatearth.htm
• The Fixed Earth
• Marshall Hall
• http//www.fixedearth.com/

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Biblical Astronomer Credo

• The Biblical Astronomer was originally founded in
  1971 as the Tychonian Society, on the premise
  that the only absolutely trustworthy information
  about the origin and purpose of all that exists
  and happens is given by God, our Creator and
  Redeemer, in his infallible, preserved word, the
  Holy Bible. All scientific endeavor which does
  not accept this revelation from on high without
  any reservations, literary, philosophical or
  whatever, we reject as already condemned in its
  unfounded first assumptions.

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Biblical Astronomer Credo

• We believe that the creation was completed in six
  twenty-four hour days and that the world is not
  older than about six thousand years. We maintain
  that the Bible teaches us of an earth that
  neither rotates daily nor revolves yearly about
  the sun that it is at rest with respect to the
  throne of him who called it into existence and
  that hence it is absolutely at rest in the
  universe.

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The Flat Earth

• International Flat Earth Research Society
• Charles K. Johnson, president (deceased)
• grew to 2000-3000 members by 1995
• articles
• http//www.simegen.com/pipermail/simegen-l/Week-of
  -Mon-20010402/002100.html
• http//www.lhup.edu/dsimanek/fe-scidi.htm

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From Science Digest (July 1980)

• Johnson's beliefs are firmly grounded in the
  Bible. Many verses of the Old Testament imply
  that the earth is flat, but there's more to it
  than that. According to the New Testament, Jesus
  ascended up into heaven.
• "The whole point of the Copernican theory is to
  get rid of Jesus by saying there is no up and no
  down," declares Johnson. "The spinning ball thing
  just makes the whole Bible a big joke."

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Disclaimer (Georgia)

• This textbook contains material on evolution.
  Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the
  origin of living things. This material should be
  approached with an open mind, studied carefully
  and critically considered.

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Why not this?

• This textbook contains material on physics.
  Physics is a theory, not a fact, regarding the
  properties and nature of matter and energy. This
  material should be approached with an open mind,
  studied carefully and critically considered.

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Or this?

• This textbook contains material on gravity.
  Gravity is a theory, not a fact, regarding the
  interaction of massive bodies. This material
  should be approached with an open mind, studied
  carefully and critically considered.

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Age of the Earth observations

• rocks
• sedimentary 1000s of feet thick
• intrusive igneous rocks metamorphic rocks cool
  and exposed
• unconformities even more rocks are missing
• radiometric dating
• provides actual ages
• age of the sun
• from the rate it is fusing hydrogen

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Age of the Earth 4.5 BYO

• rocks earth is very, very, very old
• radiometric dating
• earth is over 3.8 billion years old
• moon is 4.5 billion years old
• sun 4.6 billion years old

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Organic evolution observations

• fossil record
• younger rocks have more organisms similar to
  those living today (at levels from species to
  kingdom)
• fossils record includes appearances and
  extinctions of many species
• geographic distribution of organisms
• anatomy
• genetics

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Organic evolution conclusions

• the characteristics of populations of living
  organisms have changed through time
• life has become more complex
• life has become more diverse
• all life is related
• this is excepted as a factual observation

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Natural selection observations

• populations of organisms display a variety of
  characteristics
• random mutations provide variety
• domesticated plants and animals can be bred to
  favor certain characteristics

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Natural selection observations

• the natural environment
• organisms with favorable characteristics for
  their niche are more likely to thrive and
  reproduce
• organisms with unfavorable characteristics are
  less likely to thrive and reproduce
• a new niche or stress on an existing niche will
  enhance selection

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Natural selection conclusion

• the natural environment provides conditions that
  result in evolution through the process of
  natural selection

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Natural selection speciation

• a population has a gene pool
• members of the population interbreed
• the population may become isolated from others of
  a species
• development of niches resource partitioning
• migration
• development of physical barriers
• populations may be selected
• by stress
• by opportunity
• isolation may result in genetic divergence