From: the_thompsons@earthlink.net   
      
   Martin Harran wrote:   
   > On Sun, 25 Jan 2026 22:48:49 -0500, Chris Thompson   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >> Martin Harran wrote:   
   >>> On Thu, 22 Jan 2026 22:34:44 -0500, Chris Thompson   
   >>>  wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> Martin Harran wrote:   
   >>>>> On Wed, 21 Jan 2026 09:57:04 -0800, Vincent Maycock   
   >>>>>  wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>> On Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:11:02 +0000, Martin Harran   
   >>>>>>  wrote:   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> snip   
   >>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> The ToE was developed   
   >>>>>>> inside Darwin's head, Natural Selection is not something we can   
   >>>>>>> directly examine by  putting it inside a test tube or picking up to   
   >>>>>>> measure or weigh - it is an intellectual explanation for what we see   
   >>>>>>> happening in evolution.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Wow wow wow wow.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> And just like that, millions of hours of field studies and thousands of   
   >>>> peer-reviewed articles go POOF!   
   >>>   
   >>> As Thomas Edison put it "Genius is one percent inspiration,   
   >>> ninety-nine percent perspiration." Darwin's identification of NS was   
   >>> pure inspiration, prompting Huxley to declare"How incredibly stupid   
   >>> not to have thought of that.". That inspiration, however, did not come   
   >>> out of the blue, it came from the "perspiration" of many years of   
   >>> studying evolution.   
   >>>   
   >>> The same applies to Lemaitre's identification of the Big Bang; it too   
   >>> was inspiration after the "perspiration" of slogging through the works   
   >>> of Einstein and Hubble; or Mnedel whose inspired identification of   
   >>> traits working in pairs came from years of experimenting with peas.   
   >>>   
   >>> It seems to me that your remarks would be better pointed to Vincent   
   >>> who doesn't seem to regard perspiration as particularly necessary.   
   >>   
   >> I don't think so. Vincent was not the one who asserted we cannot   
   >> directly observe and measure natural selection.   
   >   
   > Nor did *I* say we could not observe it - on the contrary, I referred   
   > to "what we see happening in evolution."   
   >   
      
   "Natural Selection is not something we can   
   directly examine by  putting it inside a test tube or picking up to   
   measure or weigh..."   
      
   So when you say we cannot directly examine or measure natural selection   
   it means we can directly examine and measure natural selection.   
      
   I'm glad we cleared that up.   
      
   Chris   
      
      
   >> That assertion, to put   
   >> it mildly, is utter bollocks.   
   >   
   > It would be if I had made it.   
   >   
   > Yet again, I wish people would criticise things I said rather than   
   > things I didn't say.   
   >   
   >   
   >>   
   >> Chris   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>> Questions have been asked about the existence of God for thousands of   
   >>> years and millions of words have been published - Aquinas wrote about   
   >>> 1.8 million in Summa Theologica alone. Vincent reckons that can all be   
   >>> just ignored, that he can figure it out by simply reading one book   
   >>> written about 3500 years ago, mostly figuratively, for an uneducated   
   >>> audience.   
   >>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I will see your "not something we can directly examine" and raise you a   
   >>>> _Biston betularia_.   
   >>>   
   >>> Again, that would be better directed to Vincent who reckons the   
   >>> supernatural cannot exist because it's not something that can be   
   >>> directly examined.   
   >>>   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)