Sunday, August 18, 2013

Apppendix 3.1 Evolutionary Predictions

All good scientific theories make predictions which are crucial to the verification of the truth of the theory and evolution is no exception. Again there are at least three I am a ware of..

(1) The Occurrence of Beneficial Mutations

Since it is just too improbable for a mutation or series of mutations to occur precisely when they are needed by a change in say the environment or food supply or predators etc. It is postulated that these accumulate in waiting as neutral or non fatal mutations which become available when the system is driven out of its previously stable pattern.

Unfortunately studies of mutations to date have not turned up anything remotely like what would be required to actually make evolution a possibility. The vast majority of mutations are neutral or of very small effect thanks to the redundancy built into DNA and the double helix. The elaborate proof reading and error correcting mechanism plays a vital role in verification of the copy and last but not least.. the biblical command to not marry your close relatives.. also practised in nature by larger animals.

Dr Lee Spetner in "Not By Chance" a graduate in both mathematics and genetics does a calculation of the required number of 'favourable' mutations required to meet the evolutionary requirement for a creature like the horse. Its of the order of 2 million!

Confirmation comes from the research like Motoo Kimura..  Kimura's data shows beneficial mutations as so rare to be not measurable. and from research in the Wikipedia "Out of all mutations, 39.6% were lethal, 31.2% were non-lethal deleterious, and 27.1% were neutral.". One often cited beneficial mutation called "Sickle Cell" gives resistance to Malaria but itself is ultimately shortens life expectancy?

The data clearly does not support this prediction..

No comments:

Post a Comment