Innovation, Speciation: strange DNA finding (Evolution)

by David Turell , Monday, November 26, 2018, 18:56 (2187 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

"And yet—another unexpected finding from the study—species have very clear genetic boundaries, and there's nothing much in between.

"'If individuals are stars, then species are galaxies," said Thaler. "They are compact clusters in the vastness of empty sequence space.'" (my bold)

"The absence of "in-between" species is something that also perplexed Darwin, he said."

David: Comment: The 'inbetween' is the gaps we see in the fossil record. This might explain, in a way, how the gaps occur, but not the underlying cause. God in action? These findings offer no support for 'natural' chance evolution, with no 'inbetween' found.

Tony: Or is it possible that there were epochs, periods, one might even say 'days', of creative activity, followed by a period of settling as the environmental changes they were created to implement came about. Could it be possible that animals were created 'according to their kinds', with all that 'in-between' space explicitly defining their genetic possibility space programmatically exactly as I have hypothesized? And, if so, what's wrong with that?

The last question is this. On what grounds do we claim to know more than our ancestors, those wonderful minds that formulated the ancient writings that have endured for thousands of years? What do we think we have, and know, that they didn't, and by what objective measure do we make that claim?

I'm with Tony. I do not agree with Darwin's concept of common descent in which each stage of life somehow makes the next more complex stage. Darwin does not explain the fossil gaps, which he knew were a major problem, that he expected to be filled. On the opposite the gaps are much more obvious and much worse for Darwin.

I view God as starting life with single cells, and after bacteria were perfected/programmed to have 'reasonable' responses to changing stimuli, moved on to develop multicellular forms with sexual production, which allowed for more complex advances.

Species appear and disappear with no truly minor transitions. Each species may modify a bit but each is still the same species. In the transportation industry the model T and the Rolls are the same species. The double-decker bus is a different spec is form of transportation as is the airplane, but the Wright Brothers wood and cloth biplane are the same species as a 787. A teacup Doberman can breed with a wolf. Dogs are still wolves!

But we still have bacteria, from the beginning, but 99% of all species are gone. Now we know why as the microbiome is studied. They perform necessary biomechanical services to all organisms as everything reaches a more advanced state. Bacteria have purpose!

I view Darwin as totally dead: survival is aided by species adaptation while they exist, but nothing more. 99% disappear without creating the next step. They did not survive to make the new species. They existed as an advance in complexity or especially in diversity since life must eat to live.

My view of Darwin's common descent is not his common descent or DHW's version.