Really Tim its all over the place, start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transitional_fossils
And what do you mean by missing link? On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 4:04 PM, Timothy Heald <[email protected]>wrote: > > I don't disagree with anything you wrote. > > The questions for me are more about the middle species and missing link. > On Jan 2, 2014 4:01 PM, "Judah McAuley" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Which parts of evolution do you consider not proven facts? One of the > big > > problems with the word "evolution" is that many people mean different > > things when they use the word, so I never know what someone thinks has or > > has not been proven. > > > > I'll go for a fairly simple definition of evolution, starting with > Darwin. > > > > It was recognized long before Darwin that species change over time. Every > > dog breeder knows that species change. They also know that those changes > > can be adaptive (short legs for tunnel hunting dogs, long shaggy coats > for > > winter dogs, etc). Nothing in those notions was new at the time of > Darwin. > > > > What Darwin proposed that was novel was pretty much right there in the > > title of his book: "On the origin of species by means of natural > > selection". He proposed that new species arose from old species and that > > old species went extinct. And that the means of the creation of new > species > > and the demise of old species was differential survival of individuals > with > > characteristics favored by their (often changing) environment and that > > those characteristics can be passed on to the offspring, creating > diverging > > paths of development and the creation of new species. > > > > The biggest argument to the contrary, at the time, was that > characteristics > > of species could change over time (a small value of evolution) but could > > not give rise to new species. This was primarily driven by biblical > > literalism, that God created the Heavens and the Earth and all the > species > > that walk the earth and swim the seas and was ordered just so. This view > is > > incompatible with a system of evolution that allows for the creation of > new > > species that did not exist at the time of creation. > > > > Now, then, onto the facts. > > > > #1: Speciation occurs. This is an observed fact. Existing species die > off. > > New species arise. The variety of ways in which speciation occurs and > even > > the most useful definition of species are areas of debate and research. > > Speciation still occurs. > > > > #2: Natural selection occurs. This is also an observed fact. There is > > differential survival of species members based on phenotype (what > > characteristics the individual possesses). > > > > #3: Characteristics that natural selection acts upon are heritable. This > is > > also an observed fact. More efficient mechanisms for using water in an > arid > > environment, for example, can be passed down to future generations and > have > > a differential effect upon the survival of those offspring. > > > > That, in a nutshell, is Darwinian evolution and there are generations of > > scientific documentation of all of the above items. It is real, plain and > > simple, and well established and tested. > > > > Now, there are a whole bunch of things that are awesome open questions > and > > things that challenge established notions. The field of Epigenetics alone > > is causing me to rethinking some views I have about where the level(s) of > > natural selection work, how they interplay, what role genes versus > > environment have, all sorts of stuff. It is exciting. But it does nothing > > to change the validity of the items I list above. > > > > Cheers, > > Judah > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 12:26 PM, Timothy Heald <[email protected] > > >wrote: > > > > > > > > Or that you don't. > > > > > > Simply put it's not a proven fact. > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:369101 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
