FRDB Archives

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.


Go Back   FRDB Archives > Archives > Religion (Closed) > Biblical Criticism & History
Welcome, Peter Kirby.
You last visited: Today at 03:12 PM

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 08-07-2007, 07:31 AM   #871
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: California
Posts: 2,215
Default

AFDave, I notice you stopped talking about the 1 mi. of Flood sediment in Egypt. Why is that?

Let me guess your answer - "it's possible future geologists will find it, and won't the geologist of today look silly!"

You also cowardly avoided forgot to tell us which of those 174 major earth asteroid/comet impacts were early Flood, and which were late Flood.

Still too lazy to do a 15 second Google search for "limestone formation" I see.

Just another day at the office, right Davie-doo?
Occam's Aftershave is offline  
Old 08-07-2007, 07:31 AM   #872
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Athens, Greece
Posts: 1,057
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by afdave View Post
Why do committed materialists always say "science is self correcting" when faced with the fact that their materialist theories are wrong? Why not give credit where credit is due and say "Yup ... We were wrong about slow and gradual here ... And here ... And here ... Maybe that Henry Morris guy was onto something ... Maybe we should give his ideas a chance."

Non sequitur, my dear dave.

Imagine if scientists said: "Yup ... We were wrong about heavier-than air flight for man being impossible ... Maybe that weird guy who says you can fly if you flap your arms REALLY hard was onto something ... Maybe we should give his ideas a chance....*thud*"

Nice "logic", innit?
Faid is offline  
Old 08-07-2007, 07:42 AM   #873
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Near Liverpool, UK
Posts: 1,072
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by afdave View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sauron View Post
Except you are no Harlan Bretz, dave. Bretz was an actual geologist, for starters, unfettered by a religious obligation to prove an ancient text. He started with the evidence, formed a coherent theory that was testable, and kept looking for a mechanism for the Palouse flood. And he knew that had he failed to find the mechanism, he knew that his theory would have crashed.

Bretz was conducting science. You haven't even scratched the surface.
NOW you say that ... in retrospect. Would you have said this in 1940? I doubt it ... judging from your present MO, you probably would have been bashing Bretz with everyone else. You would have said he's a pseudo-scientist ... he's a crackpot, etc.

Quote:
Oh really? Let's see your list of HORRENDOUSLY wrong things.
Well, just off the top of my head there is ...

1) cellular simplicity -- wrong, cells are the antithesis of simplicity
2) multitudes of transitional forms -- wrong, there aren't ANY truly transitional forms in the fossil record
3) modern synthesis of ToE -- wrong. It's dead according to Allen MacNeill. He's off and running with what he calls the 'evolving synthesis.'
4) Lyellianism -- wrong, just about every geologist accepted Lyell's "the present is the key to the past" -- now it's been largely discarded

I could go on and on.
[1] Got a citation for any scientist who said that cells were simple? I'll bet that was the prevailing view in the 19th century, at a time when cellular biology was in its infancy. That's the whole point though Dave - scientists have acquired a vast amount of extra knowledge since then. Indeed that's the whole point of science - updating hypotheses in the light of new experimental data. An approach that has yielded incalculable benefits, and the very antithesis of the approach you would have the world adopt, namely rigid adherence to the precepts of a 3,000 year old text as the last word on all scientific questions.

[2] People here and elsewhere have exhibited transitional forms that are accepted as such by legions of genuine scientists. Just because you don't accept them as such (or accept their ages) because doing so doesn';t conform to your religious preconceptions does NOT in any way invalidate this. In fact, Dave, biologists have been aware for decades that since the very concept of 'species' is a dynamic one, all organisms that are alive today and that have ever lived are 'transitional'. How else could it be given that dissemination of variation across generations via DNA is an established fact?

[3] I wasn't around when this was being dealt with at AtBC, but I gather that several other people here were, and can provide us with what MacNeill actually said in this regard. Might be intereting to see his full words to see if they match your interpretation (it would hardly be setting a major precedent if they did not) ...

[4] Actually, what geologists accept nowadays is a mixture of slow, gradual processes puncutated by intermittent larger scale events. They haven't "largely discarded Lyellinaism", they've refined their approach, which is somewhat different. I think you'll find that the typical accredited geologist accepts that quite a few important processes take a long time. Sedimentary deposition in lakes not subject to high-speed water flows being one of them.
Calilasseia is offline  
Old 08-07-2007, 07:44 AM   #874
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 3,027
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by afdave View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sauron View Post
Except you are no Harlan Bretz, dave. Bretz was an actual geologist, for starters, unfettered by a religious obligation to prove an ancient text. He started with the evidence, formed a coherent theory that was testable, and kept looking for a mechanism for the Palouse flood. And he knew that had he failed to find the mechanism, he knew that his theory would have crashed.

Bretz was conducting science. You haven't even scratched the surface.
NOW you say that ... in retrospect. Would you have said this in 1940? I doubt it ... judging from your present MO, you probably would have been bashing Bretz with everyone else. You would have said he's a pseudo-scientist ... he's a crackpot, etc.
And how did Bretz overcome this "bashing"? By doing actual research, publishing papers, amassing evidence. And how do creationists deal with it? By whining that they're the victims of "discrimination."

Quote:
Quote:
Oh really? Let's see your list of HORRENDOUSLY wrong things.
Well, just off the top of my head there is ...

1) cellular simplicity -- wrong, cells are the antithesis of simplicity
Find some evidence that any biologist ever thought cells were simple.

Quote:
2) multitudes of transitional forms -- wrong, there aren't ANY truly transitional forms in the fossil record
Every fossil is transitional. This is the stupidest claim creationists make.

Quote:
3) modern synthesis of ToE -- wrong. It's dead according to Allen MacNeill. He's off and running with what he calls the 'evolving synthesis.'
This is the stupidest claim you make. This claim has beaten bloody for months.
Quote:
4) Lyellianism -- wrong, just about every geologist accepted Lyell's "the present is the key to the past" -- now it's been largely discarded
Bullshit. The same mechanisms that have shaped the earth throughout its history are still at work today. You've shown zero evidence that any mechanisms at work in the past no longer happen today.

Quote:
I could go on and on.
You could go on and on being wrong, as you always do.
ericmurphy is offline  
Old 08-07-2007, 07:51 AM   #875
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 3,027
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by afdave View Post
You are correct that a catastrophist view of the geology of Egypt needs evidence. I am sure I won't be the one who investigates it and provides that evidence. My purpose here for discussing it is to point out how wrong geologists can be, given the inherited mindset of Lyell.
Our purpose in discussing the geology of Egypt, in case you've forgotten, is to get you to point out what should be far and away its most obvious feature: a layer of flood-deposited sediment a mile or more thick. But unsurprisingly, you cannot find it. That's because it's not there.

Quote:
Are they actually wrong in the case of Egypt? I cannot say. But I would say it is highly likely, judging from the increased interest in catastrophism as an explanation for many geological phenomena among mainstream geologists in the last 20 years.
None of these "catastrophes" were a year-long flood that inundated the world in a mile of water. If there had been such a "catastrophe," it should have been plain the geological column. It's not; it's completely absent.

Quote:
As for limestone, I haven't a clue how it can form in such massive quantities. Have not studied it. As I have said before, Walt Brown has a hypothesis ... read his if you like.
We've looked at Brown's "hypothesis." It's about the stupidest thing I've ever seen. It's ruled out by observation on so many levels (continents zooming around at hundreds of miles an hour? GMAFB), I can't believe Brown can talk about it without embarrassment.
ericmurphy is offline  
Old 08-07-2007, 07:51 AM   #876
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: California
Posts: 2,215
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by afdave View Post
Why do committed materialists always say "science is self correcting" when faced with the fact that their materialist theories are wrong?
Er...because it's true. Is that a trick question?

Quote:
Why not give credit where credit is due and say "Yup ... We were wrong about slow and gradual here ... And here ... And here ... Maybe that Henry Morris guy was onto something ...
And data that shows localized catastrophic events separated by thousands of miles and millions in years in time supports a 4500 year old global catastrophe by.....?

Quote:
Maybe we should give his ideas a chance."
You mean besides the 150 years of chances the YEC Flood catastrophe idea has already had? The ones if failed miserably on?

Sure Dave, we'll give it a chance. All it has to do is provide its own positive supporting evidence, and explain the existing evidence better than the old theory. Like those pesky independent but cross-correlating C14 cal curves, remember?

Lies, evasions, cherry-picking data, and pulled-from-ass assertions just don't cut in the scientific community Davie. Never has, never will. You YECs need a new game plan.
Occam's Aftershave is offline  
Old 08-07-2007, 07:54 AM   #877
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Altadena, California
Posts: 3,271
Default

Bretz managed to publish 12 articles during the time his theory was in question. It was in question due to his lack of a mechanism by which such flooding could occur. This could have been avoided on his part, back in 1925.

12 papers published puts the lie to the claim that science doesn't entertain novel theories.

The lack of such peer-reviewed papers by all creationists since that time speaks volumes about the lack of data supporting any global flood.

You could go back over the year and a half that you have been talking about a global flood and put it all onto one sheet of paper, Dave.

This sheet of paper would be laughed at because it contains nothing by way of specific evidence for a global flood at 2500-2800 or whatever BC, Dave.

End of story.
deadman_932 is offline  
Old 08-07-2007, 07:56 AM   #878
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 3,027
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by afdave View Post
Why do committed materialists always say "science is self correcting" when faced with the fact that their materialist theories are wrong? Why not give credit where credit is due and say "Yup ... We were wrong about slow and gradual here ... And here ... And here ... Maybe that Henry Morris guy was onto something ... Maybe we should give his ideas a chance."
Because we know he's not onto something. Just because geologists have been wrong about things in the past (plate tectonics wasn't fully accepted by the geological community until the 1960s, and do you honestly think continental drift is anything but "slow and gradual"?) does not mean Morris is "onto" something. Now, he may be "on" something, but he sure as hell does not have a workable model of geophysical processes. His "model" is laughable.
ericmurphy is offline  
Old 08-07-2007, 10:17 AM   #879
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Leeds, UK
Posts: 5,878
Default

Another question for afdave which I think he'll find too difficult to answer: how long did the Flood last? (I mean 'til the grasslands appeared on which the grazers could feed)
Stephen T-B is offline  
Old 08-07-2007, 01:04 PM   #880
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Near Liverpool, UK
Posts: 1,072
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by afdave
Why do committed materialists always say "science is self correcting"
Because it's true?

Quote:
Originally Posted by afdave
when faced with the fact that their materialist theories are wrong?
Slight problem Dave. What decides which theories will survive and which will not is that little thing you have such trouble mastering the basic concept of ... evidence. Your creationist chums have never supplied any, so your futile attempt to suggest that there is some symmetry between Bretz (see other posters on the 12 papers he published in the struggle to establish his views) and Henry Morris (wrote lots of books aimed at fundie rubes but never had any peer reviewed material published that even remotely supported a creationist agenda) is precisely that - futile.
Calilasseia is offline  
 

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 09:24 PM.

Top

This custom BB emulates vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2015, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.