Simon Conway Morris at Cambridge
In an interview with the University of Cambridge’s alumni magazine (Issue 65, Lent 2012, pp. 32–35) Conway Morris says it’s because of “convergence”.
That’s the tendency of very different organisms to evolve similar solutions to biological problems. He wrote of this phenomenon extensively in his 2003 book Life’s Solution.
Conway Morris illustrates with the “camera eye”—“the kind of eye which you are using to read this feature.” That eye comprises a lens suspended between two fluid-filled chambers.
Conway Morris points to the octopus, which:
“has a camera eye which is remarkably similar to our own. … And yet we know that the octopus belongs to an invertebrate group called the cephalopod molluscs, evolutionarily very distant indeed from the chordates to which we belong.
“The common ancient ancestor of molluscs and chordates could not possibly have possessed a camera eye, so quite clearly they have evolved independently. The solution has been arrived at by completely different routes.”
Or, as the interview explained, “evolution has converged on a solution.”
Convergence is a simple word used to hide evidence for design. Convergence means that the Creator used similar designs for similar functions in unrelated creatures.
The interview continues: “Most biologists agree that convergence is a common occurrence; but Conway Morris goes a step further, believing that evolution converges on the best possible solution, rather than on a best fit, random solution.”
Conway Morris says his discussion of convergence has lead many commentators to accuse him of being a creationist—something he finds amusing, but says is rubbish.
Of course, Conway Morris has to distance himself from creation explanations because scientific institutions have been taken over by a philosophy of naturalism. They are committed to finding naturalistic solutions. No matter what evidence is found, creation is forbidden. Anyone advocating a creationist solution will likely lose their job (see Expelled).
Conway Morris concludes that “the manner in which life constructs itself must be dealing with some other principle which we’ve failed to identify.”
Failed to identify! 150 years of evolutionary research but its basic principle has not been identified? It’s amusing how our intelligent, academic culture is confounded by the clear, simple evidence for design in the living world.
And they will continue to be confounded so long as they refuse to allow a Divine foot in the door.
Further Reading
Review of Life’s Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe (pdf) by Simon Conway Morris, in which he deals extensively with convergence.
Tags: Burgess Shale, CAM, Cambridge, Evolution, natural selection, Simon Conway Morris
Wide-angle view of the Grand Canyon, clearly showing its branching structure. The Colorado River flows from right to left (east to west). Arrows show some side branches of the canyon.
Scheele shows in graphic detail that the Grand Canyon was formed while the waters of Noah’s Flood receded from the American continent, when they temporarily ponded over a large plateau in the south-west. As this receding water flowed from east to west, the Grand Canyon was mainly carved out in the opposite direction, from west to east.
This receding-Flood scenario explains many of the unique and puzzling features of the Grand Canyon, such as its location through the top of a ridge, its branching structure, its numerous major and minor side canyons, its meandering and the presence of multiple ‘outflow points’ in its terminal escarpment.
Tags: Grand Canyon, Journal of Creation, receding floodwaters, USA
Titanic’s last hours from collision at 11:40 pm until sinking at 2:20 am. (from Titanic sinking animation by Prioryman on Wikipedia)
The images to the left illustrate its last two hours and forty minutes following its collision with the iceberg, at 11:40 pm on Sunday 14 April 1912.
A catastrophe involving such a large object takes time to unfold. After the Titanic struck the iceberg, water gushed into the starboard side of the ship near its prow. Although the flow of water was large, it took a couple of hours to cause the ship to sink because of its enormous size. As it filled, the prow slowly sank into the ocean, raising the stern. At around 2:18 am the ship suddenly broke in two. The forward section sank to the bottom of the ocean, while the aft section floated vertically briefly before disappearing beneath the waves and following the prow to the bottom.
When the Titanic collided with the iceberg, it set in train a sequence of events that continued for more than two hours until the ship reached a new equilibrium on the ocean bottom. This process can be used as an illustration of the catastrophe of Noah’s Flood, which engulfed our globe.
The Flood began, according to the Bible with a breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, and the opening of the windows of heaven (Genesis 7:11). The Flood involved a train of events that followed a logical sequence of cause and effect, until the earth reached a new equilibrium. Because the earth is so much larger than the Titanic, the catastrophe of the Flood took much longer to unfold. The Bible records it lasted for just over 12 months. Ongoing climatic effects continued for hundreds of years.
During Noah’s Flood, vast quantities of water moved over the surface of the earth, eroding the landscape and depositing sediment in enormous sedimentary basins. This redistribution of mass caused movement of the earth’s plates. This in turn generated huge volumes of molten magma, the movement of which further redistributed mass on the globe—laterally and radially. The cooling of the magma also affected the movement of plates and ocean levels. Through the process some parts of the earth’s crust gradually sank lower and others rose, until the earth eventually reached a new equilibrium, which we enjoy today.
Geological history is often presented as a list of disconnected events. We read about sedimentation, erosion, mountain building, volcanic eruptions, and ice ages, each separated from the other by tens of millions of years. With so much time between events they seem to be unrelated. However, by looking at geology as the unfolding of one huge catastrophe that overtook our globe, we can begin to connect the dots.
Further Reading
Tags: Genesis Flood, Geological History, Titanic
'Eromanga Sea' covering Australia during 'Cretaceous' (from ABC OZfossils website).
The diagram at left is from the science section of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website called called OZfossils. It says, “About one hundred and ten million years ago a shallow sea covered what is now arid inland Australia.”
This shallow inland sea has been called the Eromanga Sea and it is shown in the diagram. This is evidence for Noah’s Flood. The Bible says:
“The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. (Genesis 7:17–19)”
The reason why most scientists can explore this amazing geological evidence but not connect the dots is that they have the wrong search image in their minds. (These days we are well aware of how a scientist’s search image can affect their work.) Actually, the search philosophy they use was purposely designed in the early 1800s to avoid seeing Noah’s Flood. Some call that search image ‘uniformitarianism’, although geologists today prefer the term ‘actualism’.
Let’s mention a few of the many reasons why they don’t see the Flood.
- The dates are wrong. They say it was 100 million years ago, so no one connects that it is actually Noah’s Flood they are looking at. But the dates were assigned by assuming the sediments were deposited slowly, when in fact they were deposited catastrophically. Hence the imaginary time disappears. Geologists these days routinely recognize that sedimentation was rapid, especially considering the enormous dinosaur fossils preserved in the area.
- It was not a past environment. They assume they are looking at environments that existed for thousands, even millions of years. However, the kilometre thicknesses of sediments were deposited rapidly over a period of weeks or months during the Flood, as the waters were rising on the earth. (See Great Artesian Basin.)
- The vegetation did not grow in the area. They assume the vegetation grew where it was buried, but it was carried into the area after being ripped out the places where it did grow. What we are looking at was not a lush rainforest but the place where the debris was dumped.
- The animals did not normally live in the area. They assume the fosilized animals lived in the area. However, these were carried in by the floodwaters, some dead and some alive. The live ones continued to flee the rising waters (for a while) and we find their footprints at various places (see Dinosaur trackways (pdf)). The dead ones were buried in sediments in the area (had to be buried rapidly and lots of sediment). That is why is it common to find land and sea animals buried together. Also it is common to find animals and plants from warm climates fossilized in areas that now have cold climates (see Paradox of warm climate vegetation in Antarctica).
- The sea covered the whole of Australia, not just a proportion of it. In the above diagram,geologists show the extent of the inland sea according to the extent of the sediments that exist now. From the diagram we see there was a lot of Australia that was supposedly not covered with water at this time. However, the sediments covered a much greater area in the past. Kilometres of thickness and vast areas of sediment have been eroded away. This happened later in the Flood, especially as the floodwaters receded from the land (see discussion on Perth geology and Collie basin).
Next time you see a display about the geological history of Australia, or wherever you live, realise that they are reporting evidence for Noah’s Flood. Once you understand the way they think, you can connect the dots and see Noah’s Flood in graphic detail.
Tags: Australia, Eromanga sea, Flood geology, Fossils, Genesis Flood, receding floodwaters
Mapleton Falls Lookout, Queensland
The steep walls enclose a secluded rainforest, dotted with palm trees. Beyond the amphitheatre the rainforest gives way to a wide, green valley, through which Obi Obi Creek winds its way. The landscapes we enjoy were carved by the retreating waters of Noah’s Flood, not by the tiny creeks that flow in them now. Relatively little erosion has happened since the Flood.
From the lookout you get a good view of the steep walls. There is very little debris at the base of the cliff, indicating that not much erosion has occurred since the valley was formed. When the floodwaters carved the landscape, leaving the tall Mapleton-Maleny Plateau as an erosional remnant, they took the debris out of the area. If erosion had been going on for millions of years we would not expect to find steep escarpments like these.
Tags: Australia, Brisbane, Mapleton, receding floodwaters
Glass House Mountains from Mary Cairncross Reserve
The tallest plug on the right (to the west) is Mt Beerwah at 556 metres. To the left (east) is the truncated column of Mt Coonowrin, also known as Crookneck, rising 375 metres above sea level. In between are another two plugs, more rounded and not as tall. These are called The Tunbubudla, or the Twins.
Altogether some fifteen volcanic plugs erupted into the area around this time. It happened during the catastrophic global Flood, some 4,500 years ago.1 When they erupted the land surface was hundreds of metres higher, comprising thick sandstone strata. This sandstone was deposited toward the middle of the Flood, as the floodwaters were rising and around the time they were nearing their peak. The volcanoes erupted as the floodwaters that covered Australia began to recede into the oceans, flowing from west to east (right to left) in this locality. The surrounding sandstone was eroded away leaving the plugs.
Note
- Tourist brochures quote ages of 25 and 30 million years, but note that geologists have not actually measured the age of these plugs. They measured various isotopes in rock samples, and based on assumptions about what they imagined happened to those isotopes in the past, they calculated some numbers that are now quoted. The samples that are selected, the assumptions that are made and the numbers quoted are chosen to harmonise with the accepted ages of local geology within the uniformitarian philosophy. This is a view of history that ignores (without discussion or evidence) the reality of the biblical Flood.
Artists speculation in ABC video of chunks of rock forming into planets, a process that is still not solved
The video is dramatic and persuasive with glowing rocks and dust tumbling and colliding in space. The theatrical commentary speaks of “Every fragment locked in gravitational mortal combat with every other lump of rock, metal, ice and dust in orbit.” Although this is portrayed as a factual documentary it is clearly an imaginative, speculative just-so story.
One problem that is not mentioned on the video is that the nebular hypothesis does not work. Jonathan Sarfati summarises some of insuperable problems with the hypothesis and concludes:
Although the nebular hypothesis is accepted uncritically by many evolutionists, there are severe problems with forming both the sun and the planets from a collapsing cloud.
Secular scientists admit that the naturalistic formation of planets is exceedingly difficult.
At 7 min 30 sec in the video we see glowing red chunks of rock orbiting in space and crashing together. But it’s cold in space. The chunks from which the planets formed would have been cold and black. Only after the earth’s formation when the iron core differentiated did the planet turn into a molten blob—according to the story.
But that’s artistic licence. Black rocks in black space would would not make an exciting video.
None of the problems with the numerous models for planet formation is mentioned. None of the scientific issues is hinted at. None of the unanswered questions is touched on. If you relied on the video you would think everything was completely settled, as if Richard Smith had watched the events all the way through.
But the science is far from settled. Indeed the difficulties continue to grow and accumulate. There are problems, surprises, ad hoc adjustments and speculations for every planet. One good video that deals with each of the planets, explaining the problems it presents for the naturalistic worldview is presented by Spike Psarris: Our Created Solar System. The evidence supports the biblical account that our solar system is created and young.
Australia: The Time Traveller's Guide
The video shows presenter Richard Smith driving a vehicle across outback Australia, which he uses as an analogy of geologic time. It’s a powerful way of teaching the secular 4.5-billion-year evolutionary story, using fun ideas and cool graphics.
Smith imagines that, at the press of a button, his car turns into a time machine. Presto, he is suddenly zipping into the past at a million years a minute. What an imagination.
Of course, there is no such thing as a time machine. Everyone knows that. But most people do not know that there is no scientific instrument that can measure time into the past. (See The fatal flaw with radioactive dating.)
Dr Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the USA, described evolution over millions of years as the “creation myth of the secular elites”. He calls it the “Great intellectual rival to Christianity in the Western World”.
A myth is a story without historical evidence. That is what Smith is telling—the secular myth. For those who need to be convinced of this, ask yourself questions as you watch the video. Whenever Smith makes a claim in the video, e.g. about human evolution, or dinosaurs, or how the earth formed, ask yourself: “Who saw that happen?” “What evidence do they have for that?” “Where were they standing when that occurred?”
Science is about evidence. So is history. But nobody saw the events that Smith describes. He is presenting the great Western myth of our time. Yet the video is described as “documentary/factual” on the ABC site.
So, how do we know what happened in the past?
We rely on witnesses who were present. We depend on their writings.
That is how we know the dates and details of the Battle of Waterloo. That is how we know about Julius Caesar. We have historical evidence. We have documents. That is how we know there was a global Flood at the time of Noah. That is how we know when it happened, how long it took, how high the water went and other significant details.
Dr Smith does not believe the testimony of these eyewitnesses concerning the global Flood, so he can only resort to speculation. This is how he and others in the West have come up with their own imaginative story.
Interestingly, when Richard Smith speaks about what happened in the past, when he supposedly drives backward in time, he is actually driving through country that preserves the devastation caused by Noah’s Flood. When they show us the landscapes we are looking at country fashioned by the receding waters of the Flood. When he talks about dinosaurs roaming the land, he is referring to the remains of these once-magnificent animals that were overwhelmed as the floodwaters approached their peak. When he shows the sea pens of the Ediacaran of South Australia he is referring to organisms buried much earlier in the Flood catastrophe. This is what we can truly call a “mind altering”, to quote the ABC, way of looking at the world.
So, the same evidence can be used to support different stories, but only one can be true. The biblical account is a story based, not on a time machine, which does not exist, but on the eyewitness testimony of people who recorded events that happened, so we would appreciate our place in this world. And that has implications for a lot of issues currently under debate in our country. The ABC, a publically funded institution, should provide balance, especially since our understanding of the past has such significance for the worldview battles in the present in our culture.
Tags: Albert Mohler, Australia
Figure 1. Location of Collie, Wilga and Boyup basins, Western Australia
Is there any evidence that these sediments once covered the plateau? Perhaps there are some erosional remnants that have been left on the top of the craton. We would be looking for sediments that were classified toward the bottom of the pile (Silurian, Devonian or Permian) not sediments that were from the top (Cretaceous or Tertiary). (See the section on the article about Perth geological cross-section.)
There are remnants of Cretaceous sedimentation on the Yilgarn Craton but this is not what we are looking for. We are looking for sediments that are classified of a similar ‘age’ as the base of the sediments in the Perth Basin. We keep in mind, of course, that the ‘ages’ assigned to the sedimentary layers based on the fossils need not necessarily represent an exact time correlation over the distances involved since the sediments do not represent in situ environments but areas of deposition from water that has flowed a large distance during the Inundatory stage of the Flood.
Indeed, we do find some impressive sedimentary deposits that have been preserved on the plateau. The booklet Coal Western Australia published in 1990 by the Geological Survey of Western Australia1 describes three ‘basins’ toward the south west of the Yilgarn craton. These are the Collie, Wilga and Boyup basins which are about 45 km east of the Darling Fault on edge of the craton and about 100 km south of Perth (figure 1). These deposits are classified as Permian which is similar to the strata at the base of the sediments in the Perth Basin. This is exactly what we are looking for.
Figure 2. Cross-section of Collie Basin
(from ref 2). Section 3 only is shown.
We see from the cross section (figure 2) that that the strata in the Collie Basin terminate abruptly at the faults. They have also been planed off at the ground surface. It is clear that these sediments were once part of a much larger deposit of sediments that covered a significantly greater area of the Yilgarn Craton. That was before the Yilgarn Craton was faulted and its surface eroded.
Similar sediments are also found in the Wilga and Boyup basins which lie 30 km and 45 km south of the Collie Basin. The booklet1 says these basins, “like the Collie coalfield, are relics of an areally extensive Permian succession that has been preserved in fault-bounded grabens on the Yilgarn Craton.”
From our assessment of the Perth geological cross-section, we conclude that these sediments were not only greater in areal extent but much greater in thickness on the craton. They were eroded away by the receding waters of Noah’s Flood. However, the downfaulted grabens preserved a remnant of them still at the surface. This has implications for the timing of the downfaulting.
It’s exciting to see how the biblical model based on biblical history throws light and insight into understanding the geology of a local area such as the Perth area of Western Australia.
References
- Coal: Western Australia, Department of Mines, Geological Survey, Perth, 1990.
- Varma, S., Hydrogeology and Groundwater Resources of the Collie Basin, Western Australia, Water and Rivers Commission, Resource Science Division, Hydrogeological Record Series, Report HG 5, 2002
Tags: Australia, cross-sections, Flood geology, Geological History, geological maps, receding floodwaters, Western Australia
Journal of Creation 26(1), 2012
In this issue there are many articles relevant to biblical geology:
- The moon’s former magnetic field—still a huge problem for evolutionists
- Thermal isostasy—a new look at its potential to advance diluvial geology
- Fossil ranges continue to expand through the geological column
- Three early arguments for deep time—Part 2: volcanism
- The origin of the American Indian populations
- Is plate tectonics occurring today?
That is just the geology.
The Journal deals with biology, history, genetics, evolution, and anthropology, to name a few.
Another excellent feature is the book reviews where you can get a good handle on a range of relevant books—and decide if you want to read the full version.
Each issue includes something like 100,000 words so there is plenty for people to get their teeth into. I always say, if you can only follow half of the articles you still have followed a lot. And the fact that you have the Journal means that you are developing your knowledge and skills.
I’m keen on the Journal because it raises the academic standard of creation science around the world and provides a forum of robust academic debate.
I’d like to encourage people to subscribe.
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