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A Critique of Douglas Theobald’s

“29 Evidences for Macroevolution”

by Ashby Camp Introduction

Part 1

. . . Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries, And daub their natural faces unaware More and more, from the first similitude. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh VII.821-22

NOTE:  The paper critiqued in this article was subsequently changed by Mr. Theobald, who also published a criticism of this article—and changed it too, after Mr. Camp responded.  Neither this article, nor Mr. Camp’s response to Theobald’s criticism, have been altered to accommodate Mr. Theobold’s on-going adjustments and modifications.

am convinced that various groups of organisms had an independent, nonevolutionary origin.  More specifically, I believe the founding members of these groups were created miraculously and separately by God.  Douglas Theobald, on the other hand, is convinced that all organisms (except the first) descended from a single, original species.

In “29 Evidences for Macroevolution,” Dr. Theobald sets forth the evidence that he believes proves scientifically that all organisms share the same biological ancestor.  In this critique, I argue that his evidence is insufficient to establish that proposition.

Outline

Part 1. One True Phylogenetic Tree Fundamental unity of life Nested hierarchy of species organization Independent convergence on true phylogeny Morphology of common ancestors Chronology of common ancestors Part 2. Past History Anatomical vestigial structures Molecular vestigial structures Ontogeny and developmental biology Present biogeography Past biogeography Part 3. Evolutionary Opportunism Anatomical paralogy Molecular paralogy Anatomical convergence Molecular convergence Anatomical suboptimal function Molecular suboptimal function Part 4. Molecular Evidence Functional evidence—protein redundancy Functional evidence—DNA redundancy Transposons Pseudogenes Endogenous retroviruses Part 5. Change Genetic Morphological Functional The strange past Stages of speciation Speciation events Morphological rates Genetic rates           Conclusion Part 6. Bibliography

Part 1

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