Different in degree or kind: Egnor's take (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, October 10, 2016, 12:14 (2967 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: We agree that nobody knows how many different gradations there were before fins finally became fully formed legs, or how gradual the process was. But here we do actually have a transitional form, which you think was specially designed by your God (guidelines are just another way of saying preprogrammed, the alternative being that the organism designed itself, which you refuse to consider). My hypothesis is that when fish first stepped onto dry land, they set in motion a process whereby fins turned into legs. I have no idea how long it took, or how many transitional forms there were. So far, your hypothesis is that God specially designed the one transitional form we know. Do you think he specially designed more transitional forms? Or, since we haven't found any other transitional fossils, do you think the tikki's rudimentary legs were a divinely preprogrammed/dabbled saltation from fin to rudimentary leg, and then God preprogrammed/dabbled another saltation from rudimentary to fully formed? - DAVID: Either there were tiny steps in transition or there were not. Fossils have been collected for two centuries or more, and all we have are big gaps in form. That is the only evidence we have to work with and allow hypothesis to be developed. Your approach is to wish for more transitional forms to fill the gaps: dhw:I have no idea how long it took, or how many transitional forms there were. Wishful thinking, not any substantial points for evidence to support hypothetical speciation. - How “tiny” is “tiny”? But yes indeed, either there were transitions or there were not, and once again you are dodging my question. First you refuse to tell us whether you think your God provided fish with legs before they stepped onto dry land, and now you refuse to tell us whether, apart from your God specially designing the one transitional form we know of, he might have specially designed more transitional forms. I am not wishing for anything. I am asking you if you think your God's preprogramming/dabbling went straight from fin to tikki-“leg” to fully formed leg or also filled what you have called the gaps with more transitional forms of his own.