(May 21, 2013 at 11:22 pm)Alter2Ego Wrote: ALTER2EGO -to- MISTER AGENDA:The expression "could have" amounts to speculation aka personal opinion.
That's not his point. The lack of a verified scientific theory regarding the origins of life has no bearing on the validity of the theory of evolution, for which there is ample evidence. He isn't speculating that god may have dipped his finger into the primal soup and conjured up a few single-celled organisms. He's pointing out that even if this was the case, it doesn't invalidate our understanding of why life is so diverse.
You seem quick to dismiss his opinion, yet have placed a great deal of faith on unverifiable claims made by ancient men who weren't even concerned with whether or not they had their stories straight. Or do you have some evidence for your creationist claims that go beyond filling a gap or admiring the night sky? Let's hope you're not going to rely on Frances Hitching for help on this one.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
