Chapter-by-chapter thoughts on Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
by John C. Snider © 2009
Chapter 6: Missing link? What do you mean, ‘missing’?
Okay, now the rubber hits the road. As Dawkins points out, we would know evolution was true even if we never found a single fossil. Nonetheless, given that there are fossils, the predictive power of the theory of evolution can be–and has been–thoroughly tested.
Dawkins addresses head-on the oft-heard (and completely wrong) criticism of Creationists that there are no transitional fossils–that we haven’t found the “missing link.” (As if the discovery of any one transitional form would convince the Creationists once and for all!) Scientists have, in fact, found numerous transitional forms, including Eomaia (a very, very early mammal), Eusthenopteron (a fish with finger-like bones in its fins), and of course Tiktaalik roseae (a fish/amphibian hybrid). Dawkins also discusses the ample–and sometimes mind-bogglingly complicated–fossil records of whale and turtle evolution.
It’s hard to see how a Creationist could have a decent retort to the information supplied in this chapter, although I saw Kent Hovind once–with a straight face–protest that all we know about fossils is that “the critter died, and we don’t know if that critter had any babies.” Strictly speaking, this is true, but it ignores the fact that the entirety of the fossil record confirms the predictions of evolutionary theory.
Perhaps the most amusing thing in this chapter is that Dawkins mocks the notion of the “crocoduck” without deigning to name his Creationist nemesis Ray Comfort. (If you’ve been watching the interviews Dawkins has been giving in support of this book, you’ll know he wears a special tie emblazoned with the infamous crocoduck!)
On to Chapter 7…!
The Greatest Show on Earth is available at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 5.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 4.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 3.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 2.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 1.
[...] « The Greatest Show on Earth, Chapter 6 [...]
[...] Read my thoughts on Chapter 6. [...]
Oh, easy: “LALALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”
Seriously, though, your garden variety Creationist, when presented with this evidence, will just wave their hand and say, “That’s not a transitional form!”
If there actually were such a thing as a crocoduck, Comfort and his ilk would simply scoff and say, “Oh yeah? Well show me a half-duck half-crocoduck! THEN I’ll be convinced.”
Which is why it was dumb of Dawkins to even bother say that his audience includes “history-deniers”, because, as you have pointed out, it makes him come across as disingenuous. The target audience for this book ought to be (and IMO is) threefold: Those who are already convinced, so that they will be armed with the proper retorts; “fence-sitters” whose skepticism on evolution is not based in dogma but rather on miseducation; and high school- or college-age Creationists who might actually be susceptible to new ideas.
[...] Read my thoughts on Chapter 6. [...]
[...] Read my thoughts on Chapter 6. [...]
[...] Read my thoughts on Chapter 6. [...]
[...] Read my thoughts on Chapter 6. [...]