Tree of life not real (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, February 17, 2014, 11:19 (3934 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

TONY: Leaving God out of it for the moment, as I am not trying to get into the debate over whether or not God exists or whether he created anything (I think he did like its said he did, David thinks it did but not the way it's said he did, and DHW refuses to commit other than to say he can't believe what anyone says), but rather I am just trying to get beyond the hype and actually look at the empirical evidence without the additional burden of speculation and dogma. What do we know without adding speculation into the mix? We know these creatures existed. We know that there is variability within a species, and that there appears to be some very hard limitations on that variability. We know that complex and simple life have lived side by side for long epochs of time. 
I am just trying to reframe this discussion in terms of what we know instead of what we believe.-I like this approach from scratch. In terms of what we "know" (disregarding the absolute level on which it might be claimed that we "know" nothing), I would agree with you. Everything else is speculative explanation, for which ... as you pointed out earlier ... there is no "definitive evidence". If "definitive evidence" is to be our decisive criterion, let me be the first to welcome you onto my agnostic fence. But having conceded the limitations of our "knowledge", I eagerly await the next phase of your approach!