First Century Christianity

I had this paper up at my old site and remembered it today. I did get an "A" on this! 

Phyletic gradualism and punctuated equilibrium are polysyllabic terms that have been used to describe the extremes within those who hold to the theory of evolution. Phyletic gradualism means that changes occur over time, they are incremental, and evolutionary changes happen over a constant, cumulative period of change (Hazen & Trefil, 2010). Punctuated equilibrium is an idea that changes occur in short bursts between static periods. It is important to remember that the time frames referenced when speaking of the idea that life has evolved over millions of years are really long. In this vein, punctuated equilibrium’s “short” periods of time are actually long periods of time referenced against much, much longer periods of time.

The scientific method hinges on hypotheses being observable and testable. Evolution, being based on the assumption of a very old planet, makes observation quite difficult. As the textbook indicates, the fossil record is hindered by circumstances limiting the ability for fossils to be formed in a given time and/or geography (Hazen & Trefil, 2010). Punctuated equilibrium states that the fossil record will show leaps in evolution vice a constant state of change (The Pace, 2006). Since that theory holds that change happens between periods of a lack of change, the evidence throughout a multi-million year evolutionary chain would appear like a dashed line instead of a smooth transition.

In the models of punctuated equilibrium, it is surmised that evolution only occurs at the edge of a species, i.e., at the fringes. In order to deal with the problem of interbreeding, the theory expounds that the majority of the species does not change, but only a group that becomes isolated encounters the evolutionary changes (Evolution Library, 2001). These changes only become evident when they have been sustained in the isolated group long enough that the isolated group becomes something else and then can survive alongside or independent of the original group. 

We can observe intra-species evolution taking place in very short amounts of time and in real-time. Biological beings change very rapidly due to external forces. For instance, look at the Korean peninsula today. On the northern side of the thirty-eighth parallel we have a malnourished population that is significantly smaller than their kin on the southern side of the border. Sunyoung Pak, an anthropologist, performed a study of 2300 refugees from North Korea and discovered that their fourteen-year-old males averaged over six inches shorter than their kin from the south and the fourteen-year-old girls were nearly 3 inches shorter. Assuming that the political situation in the Koreas stays the same for another fifty years, that disparity would presumably be much the same for the entire populations of the two countries. Then, imagine a cataclysmic event causes a mass extinction of the human race on the Korean peninsula and a couple thousand years passes before anyone can excavate this area. What will archaeologists and paleontologists discover? They would discover two notably different skeletal remains of the same species separated by a definitive dividing line. This change only took one hundred years, yet because of the socio-economic status of the two Koreas, it would appear that the skeletal remains were from dramatically different time periods. If the culture a couple thousand years from now is similar to ours today, this “find” would be used to illustrate proof of the punctuated equilibrium theory of evolution.

It is interesting to study how changes are supposed to take a long time and a short time at the same time within the sphere of evolutionary thought. This is similar to the debate today with respect to climate change. The proponents of climate change have massaged their arguments over time as new evidence has been uncovered but at no time does the evidence ever lead them to reconsider the entire thesis. Essentially, no matter what is happening with our climate and weather patterns, it backs up the idea of global, man-made, climate change. Our textbook says that during earth’s evolution, both dramatic change and gradual change have happened, likely simultaneously (Hazen & Trefil, 2010). This is quite disturbing because it appears that no matter what empirical evidence is discovered, it will be used to show that grand, cross-species evolution is true. This is called “group think” and is very much present in cult religions. This is quite contrary to the scientific method where testing everything, being curious, and following the evidence to wherever it leads is the paramount goal. If every piece of evidence uncovered must be manipulated to fit within a pre-established paradigm, then science is not the goal. 

Evidence for our planet being old is established through the fossil record. There are many species of animal that existed that no longer exist, and those different animals appear to have lived in widely varying eras. It is difficult to accept that life evolved from one species that was created accidentally and that humans, while being a very young species, are the only species to have evolved into intelligent, sentient beings. Evidence of evolution can be seen in the Fantastic Caverns of Springfield, MO. There are quite a number of caves under the ground in the state of Missouri; hence it is called the “cave state”. In the Fantastic Caverns, a fish was discovered that was identical to the fish that exist above ground but it has no eyes. Since the fish that fell into the caves lived their entire lives in darkness, they stopped growing eyes. This is evidence of intra-species, short-term evolution.

The idea that our planet was created accidentally and accidentally began spinning on the exact axis to accidentally create the perfect atmosphere for life to accidentally evolve into what we have today appears to be a statistical impossibility. However, the evidence shows what it shows. There is more evidence in the stars that our planet is very old. The distance between the planets in our solar system is vast and the scope and depth of space is incomprehensible. Our moon shows scars from being bombarded with, presumably, space debris. This debris is nowhere to be found near our planet. The time it takes for objects to travel far enough away that we cannot see them appears to be quite long. This, to the author, is evidence of age.

References

Evolution Library: Punctuated Equilibrium. (2001). In PBS. Retrieved February 28, 2011, from 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/5/l_035_01.html

Hazen, R. M, & Trefil, J., (2010). The Sciences an Integrated Approach (pp. 531-556). Danvers, 

MA: John Wiley & Sons

McKie, R., & Saini, A. (2004, December 5). North Korea is failing to meet growth target. In The

Guardian. Retrieved February 27, 2011, from 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/dec/05/northkorea

The Pace of Evolution. (2006). In Evolution 101: The Big Issues. Retrieved February 28, 2011,

from http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/VIIAPaceevolution.shtml