Yea, at last count, I learned about 5 mechanisms.
I watched the video. It didn't address any of the points I made in my previous posting (
#948). The key points of that posting were that:
a) The actual mechanisms of genetic change have been observed.
b) The acquisition of a new biological trait via natural processes has been observed.
The experiment also showed that the new metabolic pathway was acquired in two steps. The first step was taken by a single lineage of the test bacteria about 20,000 generations into the experiment. And the second step was taken about 10,000 generations later. That is, the first of the two genetic changes that ultimately resulted in the acquisition of the ability to digest citrate languished, useless and irrelevant, for about 10,000 generations before the second change allowed both features to be used together to digest citrate. The video said that biological systems like vision require multiple components, and that it would be impossible for all of those elements to evolve separately. The Lenski experiment shows that that assumption is false.
Apparently you think that there is some law or rule that prevents an accumulation of such changes from resulting in a new species that cannot reproduce with its progenitor:
The experiment failed to show the basic flaw of evolution; bacteria do not "evolve" into different kinds of animals, like sting rays, birds or squirrels.
What exactly is that law and how would you test for it? Can you cite a specific experiment that demonstrates the reality of that law? If not, then the law you propose is hypothetical. On the other hand the proposition of evolution is the following:
a) We have evidence of a 3.5 billion year history of life on earth.
b) Over that time we see massive changes in the types of organisms present on the planet-- beginning with single celled archaeans, followed by bacteria, then single celled eukaryotes, then more complex forms of life, first in the oceans, then on land.
c) All life forms on earth employ the same mechanisms (DNA/RNA) for transmitting genetic traits.
d) We have directly observed natural processes that can result in changes to the genetic code in living organisms.
e) We have directly observed the acquisition of a new biological mechanism in a single celled creature by natural processes alone.
f) Therefore genetic changes across all species and all time are explainable by natural processes alone.
The final statement (f) is an inference at this point, as no experiment has explicitly demonstrated a new species arising from another. We can argue about whether that is a reasonable inference, but the lack of evidence on this point does not prove that evolution is completely false. It only proves that this particular aspect of evolution has not been definitively proved. Personally, I'm willing to give it more time. The Lenski experiment represents a huge stride forward. I'm not willing to speculate on what future experiments and observations might discover.
@Illuminator has adopted the view that God created the mechanisms of evolution and set them in motion. I'm OK with that interpretation, so long as it doesn't serve to upend the facts observed by science. I presented, in posting
#873, a table showing that the story of creation in the Bible has absolutely no correlation to the facts as established by science. So you have to start with that. Whatever science cannot specifically rule out you are, in my view, free to elaborate with divine intervention.
The position of the Discovery Institute is that an Intelligent Designer has personally directed all genetic change over time by an unknown and undetectable mechanism. Well, the "Intelligent" part of that position has definitely been ruled out. The major extinction events of life on earth are as follows:
Years ago | Event |
2.5 - 2.0 billion | The Great Oxygenation Event. Photosynthetic organisms produced oxygen as a waste product. As the oxygen content of the oceans increased, organisms that consumed Hydrogen Sulfide would have been killed off. |
550 - 540 million | Ediacaran extinction. All of the Ediacaran species became extinct, perhaps because they were out-competed by newer forms of life. |
445 - 443 million | Late Ordovician Extinction (Himantian event). Gondwanaland was covered in ice for 1 million years. 85% of all species and 30% of all families of animals went extinct due to plunging temperatures. |
372 - 370 million | Late Devonian Extinction (Kellwasser event). 19% of marine families and 50% of marine genera were wiped out. The cause of this event is still debated. |
358 - 357 million | Late Devonian Extinction (Kellwasser event). 19% of marine families and 50% of marine genera were wiped out. The cause of this event is still debated. |
252 million | Permian Extinction. Up to 95% of all species were wiped out. The lava flows that resulted in the Siberian Traps produced immense amounts of poisonous gasses, as well as massive amounts of carbon dioxide and acid rain with a PH of 2. Global temperatures averaged about 97 degrees F. |
201 million | Late Triassic Extinction. 22% of marine families, 53% of genera, and 76 - 84% of marine species went extinct. Many terrestrial plants and animals also went extinct. The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province indicates that about 11 million square kilometers of lava were belched forth at this time. |
65 million | Late Cretaceous Extinction. A comet smashed into the Yucatan peninsula and wiped out 30% of all animal families, including all of the dinosaurs except birds. |
If the Designer were so intelligent why did he/she find it necessary to wipe out huge numbers of species, again and again? That just doesn't sound very intelligent.
So okay, the scientific theory of evolution has not been 1000% confirmed in experiment. But the story of creation in the Bible definitely has been thoroughly and exhaustively refuted. And the notion of an Intelligent Designer has been ruled out. The simplest remaining explanation that is consonant with all observed facts is evolution.