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Old 03-24-2004, 11:22 AM   #36 (permalink)
CSflim
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Thagrastay, apologies, but that is complete nonsense of the highest order.

Evolution is most definitely falsifiable.

The Origin of Species is full of examples of how the theory could be destroyed beyond all repair.
I gave one such example above, and also the argument of evidence for a merciful God due to endorphin release.
Such things if true, would most definitely disprove evolution.
At the time of Darwin, it would have been even more open to falsification. There was the blending problem, which could have proved fatal (that newly evolved traits would actually 'fade-away' due to inter-breeding, rather than being passed on down through the generations)...but it was shown not to actually arise (Mendel's peas showed how inheritance actually worked). Erwin Schroedinger in his book What is Life? made some speculations about how it might be solved.... reading this book today, it is striking how closely his speculation aligns with that 20th Century discovery: DNA.
Had the reproduction inheritance mechanism been different from such a thing, the blending problem would have been fatal, and destroyed evolution. You could very easily say that the theory of evolution by natural selection predicted modern genetics. While it certainly didn’t give details, it marked out what kind of mechanism would have been consistent.
In Darwin's time, there were not a huge amount of fossils. As more and more fossils came in, things generally fit into place. If Darwin's theory is a myth, it would be one hell of a coincidence for all of these fossils to slot so neatly into place. Now granted, there are exceptions...but they are, as you can guess...the exception not the rule. Also it is important to realise, that all of these exceptions which have occurred do damage NOT to the theory of evolution, but only our ideas of what actually happened.
(ie. it is one problem to come up with the laws of gravity. It is another to apply this law to predict the motions of the planets/comets) There is still much controversy among scientists of what actually happened (the classic argument being Punctuated Equilibrium vs. Gradualism). Regardless, all of the fossils that have been found fit within the theory, but it is certainly logically possible that fossils which couldn't be explained by evolution could be found.
There are plenty of ways that evolution could be falsified. Admittedly, it is very hard to see today, how such a thing could be done, given the massive amounts of evidence we have. But it is falsifiable none-the-less. Reconsidering the theory of gravitation:

Aristotolist: Unfair! You can’t use your theory of gravity to explain things...it’s unfalsifiable!

Newtonist/Einsteinist: Oh but it is! As soon as things start falling up, we can declare gravity well and truly falsified.

So as soon as we start seeing things inconsistent with basic evolutionary theory we will declare it falsified. The appearance overnight of a brand new species would certainly be devastating to evolution, to say the least. It would be as much proof as one could reasonably ask for for the existence of a higher intelligence (either god or aliens!) The discovery of a Pegasus, with a mixture of horse and bird parts, would do irrevocable damage to the theory, as would things like mermaids, centaurs and plenty of other such conceivable creatures. Don’t think that such a thing is a crazy claim; there are plenty of very weird and wonderful life forms on this planet, many incredibly alien seeming...yet they all have one thing in common...they are completely consistent with our biological flagship theory. Like I said above, a static fossil record would have falsified evolution. The discovery of a blending inheritance mechanism would have destroyed it. The discovery of a part of a creature, which is there for the sole purpose of the benefit of another creature would falsify it. There are endless ways in which evolution could be falsified.

Evolution can be falsified; but never has been falsified, even after more than a century of testing.

I also think that it is wonderfully ironic that creationists scream foul-play, with the claim that evolution is unfalsifiable....

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye"
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Last edited by CSflim; 03-27-2004 at 04:03 PM..
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