Post by Dave on May 8, 2012 9:32:17 GMT -5
Darwin said, “…an interminable number of intermediate forms must have existed, linking together all the species in each group by gradations ... Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory.” Confident in his theory, he acknowledges the limitations of paleontology in 1859, and hopes future discoveries would eventually locate enough of his missing intermediate forms to validate his theory.
The term “Missing Link” has been morphed by the mythology to mean that one creature ½ Ape and ½ Man. Yet, even Darwin predicted, “... The number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed on the earth, (must) be truly enormous.” So, evolution shouldn’t be looking for “the” missing link, they should be looking for any missing link.
The fossil record today has literally millions more samples of fossil evidence, complete with more individual species and from different time periods. The conclusions from the evidence, “The fossil record itself provided no documentation of continuity -- of gradual transitions from one kind of animal or plant to another of quite different form.” (Stanley, S. M., The New Evolutionary Timetable: Fossils, Genes, and the Origin of Species, 1981,p. 40, Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, N.Y)
“The absence of fossil evidence for intermediate stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution.” "Is a new and general theory of evolution emerging?" (Gould, S.J., Maynard Smith, J. (editor), Evolution Now: A Century After Darwin, 1982, p. 140, W. H. Freeman and Co. in association with Nature)
"Moreover, within the slowly evolving series, like the famous horse series, the decisive steps are abrupt and without transition." (Goldschmidt, Richard B. "Evolution, As Viewed By One Geneticist,” 1952, pp. 84-94, American Scientist, Vol. 40, No. 1)
The term “Missing Link” has been morphed by the mythology to mean that one creature ½ Ape and ½ Man. Yet, even Darwin predicted, “... The number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed on the earth, (must) be truly enormous.” So, evolution shouldn’t be looking for “the” missing link, they should be looking for any missing link.
The fossil record today has literally millions more samples of fossil evidence, complete with more individual species and from different time periods. The conclusions from the evidence, “The fossil record itself provided no documentation of continuity -- of gradual transitions from one kind of animal or plant to another of quite different form.” (Stanley, S. M., The New Evolutionary Timetable: Fossils, Genes, and the Origin of Species, 1981,p. 40, Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, N.Y)
“The absence of fossil evidence for intermediate stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution.” "Is a new and general theory of evolution emerging?" (Gould, S.J., Maynard Smith, J. (editor), Evolution Now: A Century After Darwin, 1982, p. 140, W. H. Freeman and Co. in association with Nature)
"Moreover, within the slowly evolving series, like the famous horse series, the decisive steps are abrupt and without transition." (Goldschmidt, Richard B. "Evolution, As Viewed By One Geneticist,” 1952, pp. 84-94, American Scientist, Vol. 40, No. 1)