If macro-evolution is a fact, this should be illustrated by
the fossil record and how its patterns of common descent are paralleled by accompanying
genetic similarities. In other words, common structures should have common
genes if common descent is a reality. We should be able to detect a genetic and
morphological pattern of lineal descent, not a hodge-podge of common traits (homologies)
or structures found in unrelated species.
This assumption is so fundamental to the theory of evolution
that Linus Pauling and Emile Zuckerkandl predicted that there would be no
difficulty in demonstrating that common structures and their assumed common
ancestry – as reflected in the Darwinian tree of life – should coincide with
the tree of life generated from molecular (genetic) studies:
- If the two phylogenic trees [one constructed based on common morphology and the other on common genetics] are mostly in agreement in respect to the topology of branching, the best available single proof of the reality of macro-evolution would be furnished. (Evolutionary Divergence and Convergence of Proteins, 1965, 101)
While the undertaking was reasonable, the results were
damning. Biochemist, W. Ford Doolittle confessed:
- Molecular phylogenists will have failed to find the “true tree,” not because their methods are inadequate or because they have chosen the wrong genes, but because the history of life cannot properly be represented as a “tree.”
- It is as if we have failed at the task that Darwin set for us: delineating the unique structure of the tree of life.
Doolittle’s conclusions agree with those of many other
biochemists. Michael Syvanen had examined 2000 genes across different phyla in
an attempt to establish a lineal consistent pattern or tree. However, he found
that different genes told “contradictory evolutionary stories”:
- We just annihilated the tree of life. It’s not a tree any more; it’s a different topology entirely.
Casey Luskin summarizes these dismal findings:
- Biological similarity is constantly being found in places where it wasn’t predicted by common descent, leading to conflicts between phylogenetic trees. (Salvo, Issue 27, 50. All of these quotations have been taken from Luskin’s article.)
If this is true, this undermines the evolutionist’s claims
of common descent based on either common morphology or common molecules. But how
extensive is this problem? Luskin cites a 2012 paper that claims that it is truly
extensive:
- Phylogenetic conflict is common and frequently the norm rather than the exception.
Luskin cites another paper from the journal of Biological Theory (2006):
- Overall
similarity reflects degree of relatedness…Review of the history of
molecular systematics and its claims in the context of molecular biology
reveals that there is no basis for the “molecular assumption.”
“No basis?” However, Darwinism requires a tree – molecular and morphological - that can illustrate
some kind – any kind - of lineal descent! No tree, no evidence of common descent! But the tree seems to be
non-existent. Then, perhaps also macro-evolution?
Is the theory of evolution a dead man who is still walking,
meanwhile threatening and banishing opposition, in a vain attempt to circumvent
its inevitable demise?
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