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Falsifiability of Creation (view source)
Revision as of 12:14, December 9, 2008
, 12:14, December 9, 2008→Is Creation Separable?: Some examples of falsifiable creationary predictions.
But the direct falsifiability of the Creation story, apart from the rest of the Bible, is closely related to another story: that of the [[Great Flood]]. Perhaps it is for this reason that the central focus of scientific skepticism of the Bible has been on falsifying the Great Flood. The nearest attempt to do so has always been the [[uniformitarianism]] propounded first by Sir [[Charles Lyell]]. But, as has been shown, Sir Charles' assertion that "the present is the key to the past" remains merely that: an assertion. The scientific establishment has attempted to back uniformitarianism (now slightly modified from Lyell's model, because Lyell assumed no "beginning of time") with tools like [[radiometric dating]]. Today the [[RATE Group]] at the [[Institute for Creation Research]] are conducting a key research program to re-examine the entire edifice of radiometric "date" for geologic strata.
But the direct falsifiability of the Creation story, apart from the rest of the Bible, is closely related to another story: that of the [[Great Flood]]. Perhaps it is for this reason that the central focus of scientific skepticism of the Bible has been on falsifying the Great Flood. The nearest attempt to do so has always been the [[uniformitarianism]] propounded first by Sir [[Charles Lyell]]. But, as has been shown, Sir Charles' assertion that "the present is the key to the past" remains merely that: an assertion. The scientific establishment has attempted to back uniformitarianism (now slightly modified from Lyell's model, because Lyell assumed no "beginning of time") with tools like [[radiometric dating]]. Today the [[RATE Group]] at the [[Institute for Creation Research]] are conducting a key research program to re-examine the entire edifice of radiometric "date" for geologic strata.
In order to be falsifiable, a scientific theory must be able to make testable predictions.
In many cases, the results of the prediction may already be known, but if this ''postdiction'' really does follow from the theory and is not ''ad hoc'', then it is still a valid test.
The prediction must also be able to distinguish between different theories.
If two different theories both make the same prediction, testing the prediction and finding that it is true does not support one theory over the other.
* The Bible records that God created living things to reproduce "after their kind", so creationism predicts that living things will not transform into nor mate with different types of creatures, and there will therefore be no ''continuum'' between different types of living things. Evolution, by contrast, should predict that there would not be distinct types of living things, because at some time there would have existed myriad "intermediate" forms that would be impossible to classify as one type or another. The very existence of the [[biological Classification System]] demonstrates the existence of distinct types of living things, as per the creationist prediction.
* The Bible records a [[Great Flood|world-wide flood]], so creationism predicts that there would be world-wide evidence of large-scale sediments. The [[uniformitarianism|uniformitarian]] view, by contrast, proposes that only the processes that we see operating today operated in the past. We observe that sedimentary rocks make up at least 75% of the Earth's surface, and some sedimentary structures are so large that they be thousands of kilometres across,<ref>Panel of the Geodynamics of Sedimentary Basins, National Research Council, [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=5470&page=1 The Dynamics of Sedimentary Basins] The National Acadamies Press</ref> far larger than any being formed today.
* Creationary physicist Dr. [[Russell Humphreys]] has made a number of predictions based on his creationary views, with many of them being tested and supported. For example, in 1986 he predicted that we should find fossil magnetism showing reversals of Earth's magnetic field over periods of days or weeks. In 1989 paleomagnetists R.S. Coe M. and Prévot discovered evidence of Earth's magnetic field changing direction over a period of no more than 15 days.<ref>Snelling, Andrew, [http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/1233/ Fossil magnetism reveals rapid reversals of the earth’s magnetic field], ''Creation'' 13(3):46–50, June 1991</ref>
== Extraterrestrial life ==
== Extraterrestrial life ==