potholer54 | How to argue for science (and have fun!) @potholer54 | Uploaded November 2014 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
This title replaces the original "How to argue with 'assholes'", which many people misinterpreted despite my exhortations right at the beginning.
Here are the questions I showed on the video from 17:54, with my answers.
From: creation.com/15-questions
1. HOW DID LIFE ORIGINATE?
See my video "The Origin of Life Made Easy."
2. HOW DID THE DNA CODE ORIGINATE?
It probably evolved from RNA.
3. HOW COULD MUTATIONS CREATE THE HUGE VOLUMES OF INFORMATION IN THE DNA OF LIVING THINGS?
They probably couldn’t, as most modern biology textbooks explain.
4. WHY IS NATURAL SELECTION, A PRINCIPLE
RECOGNIZED BY CREATIONISTS TAUGHT AS
‘EVOLUTION’, AS IF IT EXPLAINS THE ORIGIN OF
THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE?
It isn’t, except in creationist schools.
5. HOW DID NEW BIOCHEMICAL PATHWAYS,
WHICH INVOLVE MULTIPLE ENZYMES WORKING
TOGETHER IN SEQUENCE, ORIGINATE?
Through natural selection.
6. LIVING THINGS LOOK LIKE THEY WERE DESIGNED, SO HOW DO EVOLUTIONISTS KNOW THAT THEY WERE NOT DESIGNED?
Because we can see from the fossil evidence that they evolved.
7. HOW DID MULTI-CELLULAR LIFE ORIGINATE?
From single-celled organisms clumping together.
8. HOW DID SEX ORIGINATE?
Probably through the DNA from one organism entering another cell.
9. WHY ARE THE (EXPECTED) COUNTLESS
MILLIONS OF TRANSITIONAL FOSSILS MISSING?
Because not everything fossilizes, and not every sedimentary rock has been cracked open.
(No space for the other questions)
From: breakingthepresidium.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/10-questions-evolution-cant-answer
1. Which came first? Time, Space, Matter or energy?
A: Time (nothing can exist ‘before’ time.)
2.Where did the necessary materials to create the universe come from and where did they exist if there was no space?
A: Matter condensed from energy (since the two are equivalent.) They existed in space (your question was wrong).
3. Where did life originally come from if it can not appear spontaneously?
Chemicals like methane, hydrogen cyanide and water (see answer to Creation Ministries)
4. Which came first? Male or Female?
Both at the same time, I would have thought. If there are no females, how can you tell something is ‘male’, and vice-versa.
5. Why do we find petrified trees standing up through supposedly “millions” of years worth of geological layers?
We don’t. If you think we do, please give an example.
6. What were the first elements to be formed?
Hydrogen and helium (and smaller amounts of lithium and beryllium).
7. When and how did the stars come to be?
Through fusion, about 100 million years after the Big Bang
8. When did the laws of nature(i.e. Gravity) first come into effect?
When our universe began.
9. Why is an unproven theory used as fact?
It isn’t, in science at least. If you think it is, please give an example.
10. How did the universe start(please provide specified details)?
Inflation of space from singularity.
From: americanthinker.com/2014/06/my_two_favorite_questions_for_global_warmists.html
Question 1: Did you know that there’s no such thing as a greenhouse gas?
A: No. (I’m stupid, remember?)
Question 2: How much actual CO2 is there in the atmosphere?
About 3 trillion tons. That’s about 400 parts per million, which is 0.04% by volume.
From freerepublic.com/focus/news/3163503/posts
Q: There was once nearly a mile of ice over what is now Manhattan. Was the warming that melted its good thing or a bad thing? What caused it?
Q: The Glaciers covered New York, Chicago and Seattle with a mile and a half of ice as recently as 11,000 years ago and also formed the great lakes. Geologists claim they have come and gone many times previously. What caused them to retreat (and advance) then?
ANSWER TO BOTH QUESTIONS: Ice advance and retreat was triggered by a slight change in the Earth’s orbit, amplified by positive feedback.
Q: What’s causing the documented warming on Mars?
A: Dust storms which exposed darker patches which absorbed more solar energy.
Q: Can you tell me +/- 3 degress F what the optimal "correct" temperatures "should" be on the high end and the low end?
There is no “optimal” temperature for the entire Earth because ‘optimal’ means most favorable, i.e. the temperature which yields the best results. No single temperature will achieve the best results for everything from coral to moose to brussel sprouts, even if the Earth was able to achieve a uniform temperature (which it can’t), because each has very different optimal temperatures.
Does the historical data indicate that an increase in temperature followed [or preceded] an increase in atmospheric CO2?
Answer: The historical data shows both. See my video “The 800-year lag explained.”
This title replaces the original "How to argue with 'assholes'", which many people misinterpreted despite my exhortations right at the beginning.
Here are the questions I showed on the video from 17:54, with my answers.
From: creation.com/15-questions
1. HOW DID LIFE ORIGINATE?
See my video "The Origin of Life Made Easy."
2. HOW DID THE DNA CODE ORIGINATE?
It probably evolved from RNA.
3. HOW COULD MUTATIONS CREATE THE HUGE VOLUMES OF INFORMATION IN THE DNA OF LIVING THINGS?
They probably couldn’t, as most modern biology textbooks explain.
4. WHY IS NATURAL SELECTION, A PRINCIPLE
RECOGNIZED BY CREATIONISTS TAUGHT AS
‘EVOLUTION’, AS IF IT EXPLAINS THE ORIGIN OF
THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE?
It isn’t, except in creationist schools.
5. HOW DID NEW BIOCHEMICAL PATHWAYS,
WHICH INVOLVE MULTIPLE ENZYMES WORKING
TOGETHER IN SEQUENCE, ORIGINATE?
Through natural selection.
6. LIVING THINGS LOOK LIKE THEY WERE DESIGNED, SO HOW DO EVOLUTIONISTS KNOW THAT THEY WERE NOT DESIGNED?
Because we can see from the fossil evidence that they evolved.
7. HOW DID MULTI-CELLULAR LIFE ORIGINATE?
From single-celled organisms clumping together.
8. HOW DID SEX ORIGINATE?
Probably through the DNA from one organism entering another cell.
9. WHY ARE THE (EXPECTED) COUNTLESS
MILLIONS OF TRANSITIONAL FOSSILS MISSING?
Because not everything fossilizes, and not every sedimentary rock has been cracked open.
(No space for the other questions)
From: breakingthepresidium.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/10-questions-evolution-cant-answer
1. Which came first? Time, Space, Matter or energy?
A: Time (nothing can exist ‘before’ time.)
2.Where did the necessary materials to create the universe come from and where did they exist if there was no space?
A: Matter condensed from energy (since the two are equivalent.) They existed in space (your question was wrong).
3. Where did life originally come from if it can not appear spontaneously?
Chemicals like methane, hydrogen cyanide and water (see answer to Creation Ministries)
4. Which came first? Male or Female?
Both at the same time, I would have thought. If there are no females, how can you tell something is ‘male’, and vice-versa.
5. Why do we find petrified trees standing up through supposedly “millions” of years worth of geological layers?
We don’t. If you think we do, please give an example.
6. What were the first elements to be formed?
Hydrogen and helium (and smaller amounts of lithium and beryllium).
7. When and how did the stars come to be?
Through fusion, about 100 million years after the Big Bang
8. When did the laws of nature(i.e. Gravity) first come into effect?
When our universe began.
9. Why is an unproven theory used as fact?
It isn’t, in science at least. If you think it is, please give an example.
10. How did the universe start(please provide specified details)?
Inflation of space from singularity.
From: americanthinker.com/2014/06/my_two_favorite_questions_for_global_warmists.html
Question 1: Did you know that there’s no such thing as a greenhouse gas?
A: No. (I’m stupid, remember?)
Question 2: How much actual CO2 is there in the atmosphere?
About 3 trillion tons. That’s about 400 parts per million, which is 0.04% by volume.
From freerepublic.com/focus/news/3163503/posts
Q: There was once nearly a mile of ice over what is now Manhattan. Was the warming that melted its good thing or a bad thing? What caused it?
Q: The Glaciers covered New York, Chicago and Seattle with a mile and a half of ice as recently as 11,000 years ago and also formed the great lakes. Geologists claim they have come and gone many times previously. What caused them to retreat (and advance) then?
ANSWER TO BOTH QUESTIONS: Ice advance and retreat was triggered by a slight change in the Earth’s orbit, amplified by positive feedback.
Q: What’s causing the documented warming on Mars?
A: Dust storms which exposed darker patches which absorbed more solar energy.
Q: Can you tell me +/- 3 degress F what the optimal "correct" temperatures "should" be on the high end and the low end?
There is no “optimal” temperature for the entire Earth because ‘optimal’ means most favorable, i.e. the temperature which yields the best results. No single temperature will achieve the best results for everything from coral to moose to brussel sprouts, even if the Earth was able to achieve a uniform temperature (which it can’t), because each has very different optimal temperatures.
Does the historical data indicate that an increase in temperature followed [or preceded] an increase in atmospheric CO2?
Answer: The historical data shows both. See my video “The 800-year lag explained.”
