> The record of evolution is still surprisingly jerky and, ironically, we have even fewer examples of evolutionary transition than we had in Darwin’s time.
Remember that this quote is almost 50 years old. Some transitional series have been found since then (whales from Pakicetus to Basilosaurus, Tiktaalik, feathered dinosaurs etc). Second, Raup was not questioning natural selection. He was arguing about the tempo and mode of evolution.
I think the point is that we are always dependent on information dissemination. You have not personally looked up the fossil records. You are depending on a lot of what others say, and a lot of what they say is reinforcing, or at least sets bias.
I'm not at all a creationist or young eather, but I did listen to some when I was younger and the ones who had done their research did find a lot of issues with extrapolation done from limited data sets. However, they do had biases they wanted to fill. I knew a Geology professor at a Christian college who had to teach young earth, but had doubts and problems with it based on his own research and what was present in his field. In reality, fossilization is incredibly rare. Most animals the die complete decompose; ripped apart by other life within a century. So it's difficult to deduce a lot.
I think the big takeaway is that scientism is essentially a religious belief. It fills in the missing gaps in many of the ways religion has, no matter how much people try to say it's more rational. They still end up deferring to experts (priests in the white lab coats). Some of what they state is true, and some will end up being totally wrong (remember arsenic was once a treatment in small doses for certain illnesses, and let's not forget leaches and bloodletting).
I think vaccines (discovered 185+ years ago by Jenner btw; the original has been lost completely to time) will have to go away as well since they're essentially worthless and dangerous (along with most preventative medicines: CT scans can cause cancer, mammograms crush breast tissue in older women, colonoscopies can cause tearing, gastrointestinal problems and find things to operate on that wouldn't be an issue if left alone, biopsies can spread cancer cells into the body causing malignancy).
Most preventative medicine causes more issues than they solves, but also generate a lot of revenue. If you're feeling angry, enraged and emotional ... well you've proven the religious belief.
Remember that this quote is almost 50 years old. Some transitional series have been found since then (whales from Pakicetus to Basilosaurus, Tiktaalik, feathered dinosaurs etc). Second, Raup was not questioning natural selection. He was arguing about the tempo and mode of evolution.
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