Athiests: can you explain why there is no transitory fossils or the Cambrian Explosion?

Question

bet you can't, can you?

and if energy can't be created or destroyed, where did it come from?
Ha!!!!

If you don't know, by all means, just correct my spelling or make a smart as s quip.

Answer 1

What, are we at bible camp for 10 year olds?

Check your data.

Bet you can't tell me where the Burgess Shales are without Wiki.

Ha!!!!

Answer 2

I'm not a biologist. I'm even less of an expert on the Cambrian Explosion. For a truly thorough response, if this is what you're truly looking for, try the biology section. This being said: 1) Creationists who try to use the Cambrian Explosion in their argument usually grossly exaggerate what "suddenly" means in this context. The sudden appearance of diversified forms, in this context, still means over several million years. 2) As far as my understanding goes - and as mentioned above, I'm not an expert nor do I claim to be - the Cambrian Explosion is the result of the appearance of complex, multi-cell organisms. This is the equivalent of a technological breakthrough that suddenly allows a whole bunch of new technologies to come along. It doesn't pose a serious problem to evolution.

Answer 3

If you are really interested in knowing the answer to that question, why not post it in the science section or the biology section?

First, I'm sure you've been given plenty of misinformation about the Cambrian Explosion. (Creationist websites tend to do that, and the creationist argument du jour is the Cambrian Explosion.) You've probably been given the impression that it was something that only took a few years. In fact, the Cambrian explosion took millions of years; the changes seems to have happened in a range of about 30 million years, and some stages took 5 to 10 million years.
"What we call 'the fossil record' is only the *available* fossil record. In order to be available to us, the remains of ancient plants and animals have to be preserved first, and this means that they need to have fossilizable parts and to be buried in an environment that will not destroy them.

It has long been suspected that the sparseness of the pre-Cambrian fossil record reflects these two problems. First, organisms may not have sequestered and secreted much in the way of fossilizable hard parts; and second, the environments in which they lived may have characteristically dissolved those hard parts after death and recycled them. An exception was the mysterious "small shelly fauna" -- minute shelled animals that are hard to categorize -- that left abundant fossils in the early Cambrian. Recently, minute fossil embryos dating to 570 million years ago have also been discovered. Even organisms that hadn't evolved hard parts, and thus didn't leave fossils of their bodies, left fossils of the trails they made as they moved through the Precambrian mud. Life was flourishing long before the Cambrian 'explosion'. "

For more information, (if you're truly interested, which I suspect you're not) see: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/4/l_034_02.html

And as for transitory fossils, there ARE transitory fossils. However, for each transitory fossil found, there is automatically created two new gaps. (If you have three fossils total, there are two gaps in-between) So no matter HOW many transitory fossils we find, creationists are going to whine about there being "missing links" between THOSE. The only way to solve that problem is to find every single decendant of an ancient fossil. And we all know that's not possible. A small list of transitory fossils that have been found include Fish to Amphibians, Tiktaalik roseae, Osteolepis, Panderichthys, Elginerpeton, Obruchevichthys, and Hynerpeton. And there's plenty more where that came from.

Oh, and in response to your energy question, it wasn't "created", it's always existed. Didn't you just shoot your creationist argument in the foot with that one?

Answer 4

Suppose there were no fossils---all living things decomposed efficiently once dead. Evolution might or might not still be true, but there would be no fossil record. Lack of fossils, or lack of fossils of a particular type, is not evidence against evolution. In fact, the fossil record definitely shows: (1) there were a lot of species in the past that are not alive today and (2) most of the species alive today were not alive in the distant past. That's pretty clear evidence that species change. The best evidence for evolution per se is from DNA sequences, which clearly show that all living things are related, either closely or distantly.

It is possible (in fact likely) that the total energy content of the Universe is zero. The positive energy of all the particles is balanced by negative gravitational potential energy. So it's possible that the origin of the Universe involves no "creation" of energy, just a separation of positive and negative energies.

Answer 5

Yes, I can. The reason is due to something called punctuated equilibrium.

The reason that different phyla evolved so rapidly during the Cambrian explosion was due to the landmass Gondwana (or Pangea) breaking up. This caused reproductive isolation between numerous populations of species, and each adapted to its different environment.

Also, energy didn't "come from" anywhere. Energy exists now. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Therefore, energy has always existed. Why is that a problem? There is no model of the universe that suggests that it once went from empty to non-empty. The only major change is the expansion of space-time, (the big bang) but that didn't change the amount of energy already contained in the universe.

Answer 6

Not exactly a question for an atheist. How about asking a paleontologist?


Okay, smart-***. . . Where does energy come from? And, don't say that God powers our light bulbs.


I can tell you that energy is a constant, all around us, more constant than we are. Human-beings even give off kinetic and biological energies. Harnessing energy for power is not a matter of creating it, but how to harness it.

For instance, why is it that when a magnet is circulated around a stationary conductor, the magnet obtains an outer-electrical field, but when a conductor is circulated around a stationary magnet, the conductor nor the magnet displays an outer electrical field?

There's a definite scientific answer.

A little Special Relativity for you to think about.

Answer 7

Energy came from the singularity the existed before the big bang. So did matter.

Fossils in general are hard to come by. It's not as though every animal's fossils survive indefinitely. The exact right circumstances have to be met to preserve fossils. Otherwise we'd have trillions of dinosaur bones every which way. A 'transitory' fossil comes from a unique species, and not a 'species in the middle of evolving' I fear you misunderstand evolution.

Answer 8

It's "atheists" and what does being atheist have to do with evolution? This question should go to the science forum.

In any case, fossils are extremely rare. It's ignorant and arrogant to expect every transitional fossil of all creatures to be found in all places of the world from all times.

Answer 9

I don't know what this question has to do with atheism, but as a biologist I can assure you there are hundreds of known transitional (not transitory) fossils known. Do a little reading!

Answer 10

All fossils are transitory fossils since all forms of life are constantly evolving. A CURSORY reading of ANY biology text would have enlightened you. But then you don't read anything but the bible, do you.

Answer 11

That something has not been found it is not a proof of non existence. There may be plenty of reasons for a period not producing enough fossils to be found.
Also, please leave God out of scientific discussions.
By definition science only deals with what is measurable, which does not deny the existence of God.
Simply, it is not scientific to put God into any equation.
In such case we leave the field of science and enter that of faith.
They are not mutually exclusive. They simply cover different human fields.