Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well, I have been debating with a good friend of mine over the classic Darwinism arguments. He keeps trying to prove me wrong with these two main points.

1) The universe is in a perpetual state of decay.

2) As is exhibited in human mutations, an organism with a mutation is weeker than standard organism of that species.

Can anyone give me some advice on an argument? This is one of my best friends, so I want to keep anything insulting out of the picture.

The deadline is Friday, for I'm seeing him again this Easter.

This is a gross misinterpretation of the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

It states that the total entropy in a closed system increases over time.

And the use of terms is scientific. Entropy here means energy that is not available to do work.

It says nothing on human concepts of "order" or "disorder".
It also allows for local decreases in entropy, as long as total entropy increases in any given closed system.

As the earth, the only place we know of where evolution is in action, is not a closed system, it is a bullshit argument.

If it were true then snowflakes would be impossible.


This is easily countered with a simple application of reason. Any change in DNA that is caused by a mutation can be reversed by another mutation.
If it was true that all mutations made the organism weaker then consider this example. Creature A give birth to creature B, with a point mutation.
If their argument holds water than creature B is weaker than creature a.
Creature b then gives birth to creature C, where the original mutation was reversed. If their argument holds water, then Creature C would have to be weaker than creature B, yet it is also identical to creature A, which has to be stronger than creature B.

It's ludicrous.

Apart from that you can show countless examples of positive mutations. Like the bacteria that mutated an enzyme that allows it to digest nylon, and that gives it a whole new food source to itself, that no other life form can eat. A HUGE advantage. Check the links page, or look through the guild for examples.

1) The universe is in a perpetual state of decay.

Someone already made the point about the Second Law of Thermodynamics, so I don't want to repeat it.

2) As is exhibited in human mutations, an organism with a mutation is weeker than standard organism of that species.

Actually, it depends upon what you mean by "mutation". If he means a birth defect or something, that's not a mutation...it's a birth defect. I have hazel eyes, which is, in fact, a genetic mutation. It doesn't mean I'm less fit to survive, it just means I have a genetic mutation. In fact, variation of the genetic code leads to increased resistance as a species to various diseases, and increases the longevity of that species as a whole. So really, if mutations are anything, they're helpful.

and none of these genetic mutations get lost cuz we have to be soo damn nice, and not leave the ugly, or genetically retarded to waste away and fade out of the genetic pool completely.

Bloody hell! If Modern Darwinism is the way to go, why don't we all just off ourselves right now? Whats the point of it all!? It's the cyanide solution all over again and I'm the one stuck bringing the mother f-ing fruit punch!

It is also worth noting that everyone has a few mutations hanging around in their DNA. The fact is, most of these don't effect us because they are not expressed - whether because they are circumvented by other sections of code or for other reasons.

Creationists and others who refuse to acknowledge evolution seem determined that a single hicup in genetic code destroys and organism. This simply isn't true - mutations are common and usually harmless.