The ID Report

The basic theory of evolution has been confirmed so completely that most modern biologists consider evolution simply a fact. -- Ernst Mayr

"This changes everything." Those words summed up the sentiment when, hardly able to contain their ecstasy, scientists this month unveiled what could very likely be their single most important find ever: a virtually complete fossil of a 47 million-year old lemur nicknamed Ida. The panting media hype surrounding Ida's introduction to the world was justified, if for no other reason because Ida was found "on the ground." Deemed "the eighth wonder of the world" by one enraptured scientist, Ida should silence once and for all those who doubt the fact of gravity. "This fossil rewrites our understanding of gravity," gushed one glassy-eyed paleontologist who described how Ida is thought to have "fallen" into the water of a volcanic pit. The "falling" aspect of Ida's instantly legendary saga was reinforced by another scientist who, with raised hands compared Ida's impact on gravitational science to "an asteroid hitting the earth." Still another, seen with head bowed reverently, compared Ida to the Mona Lisa, noting both have existed undisturbed for years under the influence of gravity. Wait, maybe it was Ida's impact on evolution that inspired such breathless declarations; statements on these two settled facts of science are easy to confuse.

For those mercifully spared from the recent carpet bombing of media-driven science propaganda, Ida, officially named Darwinius masillae, is merely the latest in the protracted drip of "now (and-this-time-we-really-mean-it!) we have a missing link" fossil finds. Ida is different because, unlike Tiktaalik, the last celebrity fossil thought to finally put to rest all doubts about evolution, Ida is being reported as THE missing link. Yes, Ida is reported to hold the key to indisputably proving human evolution. Reported, of course, is an understatement, as the news about Ida was blared, trumpeted, and generally shouted from media rooftops in what appeared to be one of modern secularism's rare hallelujah moments. Holy Grail. Rosetta Stone. Scientists tried, but no superlative seemed adequate to the task. Even Google, the only thing starting with G-o that most people consult daily, succumbed with the ultimate tribute by yielding its iconic logo to the image of Ida.

But before science pronounces us all made in the image of Ida, consider two questions. First, why does Ida change anything? We the less presumptuous of the world have been berated for years by overbearing and generally arrogant Darwinists for not accepting that Darwinism is an unassailable fact. Darwinism stands, they shout, so well confirmed by evidence that it is a fact on par with other facts, such as gravity. Yes, we have been abused for years with the ignorant spoutings of belittling know-it-alls that anyone who questions Darwinism may as well be questioning the fact of gravity. And to prove the point, we are lectured like children on how "scientists" use words like "theory" and "fact". The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), for example, assures us that when speaking of evolution scientists use the word "fact" to mean "something that has been tested or observed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing or looking for examples." Oh really? And evolution is a fact? Why, then, the continued mad frenzy to look for transitional fossils, and the public ejaculations of joy when a so-called missing link like Ida is found? Are any NAS scientists still looking for examples of gravity? Why not?

Secondly, and more importantly, isn't the hyperventilating media reporting the trumpery of smugly irreverent scientists evidence of a disturbing intellectual undercurrent? Is there not in every glowingly smirky sound bite a tincture of "Ha! This will shut up the stupid creationists!" Why the unfettered joy at reporting what is surely destined to become simply another ordinary fossil? It's as if a humanistic (read "God-free") Paradise of Science is being held back from the masses, groaning under the oppressive weight of pesky "intelligent design creationists" and their simple-minded, unsophisticated reliance on plain evidence of design. And many in the media, convinced that the sooner the Enlightened Kingdom of Humanistic Science comes the better, stand ready to rush any news of scientists finally finding the smoking gun evidence to silence the Christians once and for all.

Here's the obvious truth that the Darwinian junta and their media mouthpieces don't get: if Darwinism is truly a fact, all of nature, fossils and all, should be nothing but evolutionary smoking guns. To paraphrase Darwin himself, "we should be up to our ears in transitional fossils." There should be innumerable quantities of indisputable transitional fossils, so that finding one should be as newsworthy as finding that another dropped ball went down instead of up. But rather than being engulfed in a world of smoking guns, we are subjected to a whirl of smoke and mirrors, and told we are fools for suspecting we are being made fools. Is this really science? How long are the real fools to be suffered?

If Ida "changes everything", then clearly evolution was not the settled fact we were previously led to believe. Knowing that evolution is not what Darwinists demand we must unquestioningly accept should be freeing to the free thinkers of the world. Just what does Ida mean in the big picture of things? For one, Ida appears to have more perfectly an attribute that all fossils exhibit: design. Is it intelligent design? Can we know? Are we allowed to even make the hypothesis?

Ironically, therefore, saying Ida is scientific evidence supporting the inference of intelligent design cannot be disputed, but saying Darwinius masillae is clear evidence to prove Darwinian adesign goes too far.

Ida. She simply goes one letter too far.

Roddy Bullock, a skeptic of Darwinism, is a freelance writer, engineer, lawyer, the Executive Director of the Intelligent Design Network of Ohio and is the author of The Cave Painting: A Parable of Science, published by and available from Access Research Network.

Send comments to: roddybullock@idnetohio.com.

If you like this essay, go here for many more.

Copyright (c) 2009 Roddy M. Bullock, all rights reserved. Quotes and links permitted with attribution.

References:

Mayr quote: Mayr, Ernst, Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist (1988, Cambridge: Harvard University Press).

NAS quote: Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition (1999), National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy Press, Washington DC, 2006.

Evolution/Gravity fact-equal exposition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_as_theory_and_fact#cite_note-Mayr-6

For more on the concept of "adesign" go here: http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/2/2009/02/28/darwinists_on_design_jumping_to_confusio

For a compilation of Ida's media hyperbole, see Ida: The Holy Grail of Missing Links?