Fred Hoyle argued in his books «The Intelligent Universe» (1983), «Mathematics of Evolution», «Evolution from Space» (1981) and «Why Neo Darwinism Does Not Work» (1982), that the calculation results state that the Neo-Darwinism theory either does not work at all, or works only partially. Many of the common arguments that biologists use to confirm evolutionary theory turn out to be doubtful.
Academician Yu. P. Altukhov (Алтухов Юрий Петрович), a Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of General Genetics named after N. I. Vavilov, the «Successes of Modern Biology» journal editor-in-chief, points out in his book «Genetic Processes in Populations» (2003) criticizing the synthetic theory of evolution:
«In any case, it is becoming more and more obvious that evolutionary consequences are not necessarily concluded from the results of a study of both natural and experimental populations with their systemic organization taken into account. On the contrary, it confirms once again that the genetic variability of the simplest populations, traditionally regarded as the evolutionary processs elementary units, is nothing but a stabilization mechanism for the species hierarchical, historically formed structure. Such a conclusion contrasts with the population genetics tradition, which has always been focused on the dynamics of populations, identifying it with the very evolutionary process».
However, the synthetic theory of evolution still remains the only scientific model to explain the known facts of the species origin and development. At the same time, the contradictions accumulated require the development of other theoretical concept of the of life occurrence on Earth.
1.4. THE THEORY OF EVOLUTIONS DISPUTABLE ISSUES
Many scientific researchers have been focused on the evolution doctrines problems, but it is absolutely clear that the unity of opinion regarding all its provisions has not been achieved yet. A rather general descriptive definition of the term «evolution» is the only aspect that arises no discussions. Many of the evolutionary theory critics drew attention to the low, in their opinion, probability of certain facts and events in the living beings development.
Among the number of the Darwinism critics appeared immediately after its appearance, the Russian philosopher N. Ya. Danilevsky is worth paying special attention, who carefully analyzed all the papers by Charles Darwin, as well as the critical papers related to them and introduced his own views on evolution. In his three-volume work, «Darwinism. A Critical Study» (1885), containing almost 1,500 pages, he comprehensively criticized Darwins doctrine. He wrote the following: «On the one hand, it is impossible for a mass of accidents not related to each other, to produce order, harmony, and surprising expediency; on the other hand, a talented scientist, having all the data of science and extensive personal experience in hand, shows you in a clear and obvious way how simple, however, it can be done. Only after a long study and even longer consideration I saw the fi st way out of this dilemma, and it was a great joy for me. Then a lot of such exits had been opened so that the entire theory building was riddled with, and fi ally fell apart in my eyes into an incoherent pile of garbage».
Much of written by N. Ya. Danilevsky still remains valid nowadays. In his papers, he provides 15 main incorrect conclusions formulated by Ch. Darwin and 10 logical errors that had led to them. Thus, Ch. Darwin did not indicate any single breed that could have arisen through the minor individual changes gradual accumulation, and greatly exaggerated the role of artificial selection in the formation of the plants arable forms and cultured animals, and also ignored large spasmodic changes, as this made his theory useless and ruined the natural explanation of organic expediency. He considered it inappropriate to extend the conclusions drawn from the domestic animals and arable plants observations to organisms living in natural conditions. Despite the domestic animals high degree variability obtained through the artificial selection, it does not go beyond the species. The role of the very artificial selection is greatly exaggerated. Selection is valid only within the species. It is impossible to cross the border between species, and if selection is stopped, the species returns to its original wild form. The thesis regarding treating varieties as «beginning species» is based on facts that cannot lead to such conclusions.
N. Ya. Danilevsky pointed out that free crossbreeding in natural conditions leads to the fact that all individual differences cannot be accumulated and are constantly destroyed. In his opinion, the vitality of an organism in vase of the environmental conditions change depends on the simultaneous change in a large complex of features, and any single change will be harmful, as it disrupts the existing relationships. If the trait turned out to be useful, it should be called not an individual variability, but a significant change in the entire population, i.e., the change should affect the majority of the population at once. Recognition of the changes simultaneity equals the recognition of the principle of the development appropriateness by Baer (Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer Edler von Huthorn).
The critical paper author stated that the struggle for existence does not possess selective properties, which means that natural selection will not work. It is confirmed by the absence of transitional forms between both living species and fossil forms.
N. Ya. Danilevsky believed that the numerous facts that species have useless traits for them despite the fact that they are useful for other species contradict the selection theory. Such «useless» signs often include the most significant ones which serve the basis for the taxonomy from genus to type is built. Ch. Darwin, constructing hypothetical examples of the trait advantages increase from generation to generation, relied on the usefulness of new traits, taking them in ready-made form presented in the formed species because of the lack of real transitions.
N. Ya. Danilevsky stated in his scientifi papers that development is performed in accordance with the law that while its implementation makes expediency turn out to be a form of some inner plan. The types transformations are conceivable only in case of recognition of the internal law of development (every living organism possesses it). It is absurd to think that chance and probability could substitute mind and intelligence. The issue of expediency in nature has a much more important and profound philosophical meaning. In addition, natural selection provides a constant adaptation of species to a changing environment, but the process does not have the gift of foreknowledge; the natural selection responds only to the environment in the present and therefore, evolution cannot have any goals.
The evolutionary theory supporters believe that it is confirmed by the fossil evidence (fossils), the age of which approximately stands for 3.5 billion years. They show a story of the diversitys gradual complication and expansion, which has led to a great diversity of life forms that inhabit Earth today. There are now doubts that there is a strict order in the geological strata, and the typical fossils are detected in various layers. Sedimentary rocks typically occur in layers, so the deeper layers contain fossils formed at an earlier period. The evolutionary theorys supporters draw their conclusions about the main directions of the living organisms evolution while comparing fossil forms of the successive layers. When the evolutionary theory became the scientific Orthodoxy (dogma), any fossils found by paleontologists, were a priori adjusted to the generally accepted points. Their interpretation in any other way was treated as unscientific one.
However, these were the data accumulated in paleontology that hit the evolutionary theory. While examining the remains and layers of Earths crust, one can be sure that many organisms appeared on Earth all of a sudden. For example, remains were found in the Cambrian layer that belonged to such complex invertebrates as snails, Trilobite, sponges, worms, Aurelia aurita, starfish, floating crustaceans and sea lilies. An interesting fact is that all these species, different from each other, appeared at the same time and had a complex structure. Therefore, this amazing phenomenon was called the «Cambrian explosion» in Geology.
According to the concept by Ch. Darwin, there had been minor changes for a long time that being «accumulated», gradually led to the evolution of simple species into more complex ones. Judging from such an assumption, paleontological excavations eventually should have detected transitional forms from one species to other. Their number should have been huge and should have demonstrated how various species, classes, orders and families had been evolving. However, Cambrian rocks lack transitional forms from primitive organisms to organisms with a complex perfect structure. In geological deposits, it is not the stepwise appearance of new species, genera, and families in the process of evolution that is observed, but their sudden occurrence. They are not preceded by any transitional forms. For example, there are no traces of ciliary worms, the class of which unites more than 3,500 species.
The living organisms found in the Cambrian layer possess such developed and complex physiological systems as the eyes, gills, and circulatory system, which do not differ much from modern ones. These complex invertebrates are by no means associated with unicellular, which were the only living organisms preceding them. The trilobite has complex eyes (consisting of hundreds of hexagonal fragments) that have a two-lens system and, as David Raup, professor of geology, said, «Have a design that can be developed by a well-educated and gifted contemporary optical engineer». Moreover, such organized and complex animals have nothing to do with the simplest unicellular organisms that were the only living inhabitants of Earth prior to invertebrates. This fact clearly refutes the evolutionary theory point that living organisms evolved from primitive into complex ones. It should be noted that nowadays dragonflies and bees have the similar system of the trilobite eyes structure.
The Mesozoic era also impresses one by the sudden transition of reptiles to the mammals period, many of which are already significantly different from each other despite the fact that they appeared within the same geological period.
The alleged transitional forms were found only for the phylogenetic series from Hyperion to modern horse. The archaeopteryxs discovered remnants, according to some experts, can be considered an intermediate form between reptiles and birds with significant part of a hypothesis. The fossils state indicates that Archaeopteryx had feathers, wings and a beak, like a bird. However, this fossil representative had signs that gave palaeontologists the grounds to suggest its affinity for reptiles teeth on its beak and claws on its wings. None of these two features confirms that Archaeopteryx evolved from reptiles. In addition, according to radiometric dating, Archaeopteryx cannot be considered the missing link between reptiles and birds.
Nowadays it has become apparent to many palaeontologists that the fossils do not contain any alleged transitional forms at all. No transitional links sequential series, as well as individual random transitional forms, have ever been found among the minerals. At the same time, long periods of the same organisms stable existence within a relatively short time gave way to the new species rapid formation; they appeared completely formed in the fossil record. Despite the lack of continuity in the fossil record, which is strong evidence to oppose the theory of the new species formation through gradual evolutionary changes, fossil evidences do confirm the progressive increase in the organisms complexity.
The evolutionary theory supporters, in an attempt to explain the lack of transitional forms in the geological record, put forward the «discontinuous equilibrium» (punctuality) hypothesis, according to which evolution is carried out at an uneven rate with long periods of stability, with rapid qualitative leaps alternating the stability period that occur in small populations of organisms. Due to this, some new species arise very quickly, and the intermediate links are practically not found in the geological record because of their minor quantity.
These evolutionary sequence «leaps» originated the term «spasmodic evolution».
The evolutionary theory supporters believe that the paleontological data incompleteness can be explained by the fact that dead organisms were quick to decompose or were eaten by carrion-feeding animals. But then a natural question arises: why did this happen to transitional forms and did not affect existing species?
Charles Darwin and Louis Dollo formulated the «law of irreversibility of evolution,» according to which species cannot return to the state of their ancestors. At the same time, the examination of the fossilized remains of the Gastrotheca guentheri species frogs stated that they lost their lower teeth 230 million years ago, but the teeth reappeared about 20 million years ago. Thus, this does not fit the proposed concept.
Cases of the useful genes loss are also inconsistent with the evolutionary theory. Such a phenomenon was found among the stick insects winged species evolved from the wingless ones, which, in turn, had ancestors with wings. This case of the complex trait loss and its subsequent restoration in the evolutionary development may indicate that in this case the genetic information is regulated not by living conditions and selection, but by purposeful and thought-out changes. The giant forms of almost all types of contemporary living creatures have been discovered among the fossils. Mammals were often twice the size of their modern representatives: turtles, bears, camels, panthers, pigs, rhinos, elephants, tigers, wolves, birds and insects. The very fact of such giant fossils existence contradicts the evolutionary theory according to which animals evolve into more complex forms with an increase in their size.
It is also difficult to explain from the point of view of the evolutionary theory why the mental abilities improvement was accompanied by the loss of the ability to regenerate organs, the ability to detect radiation and earthquakes, as well as many other useful properties that could be improved along with the development of thinking. But that did not happen. If regeneration is the result of evolution, then why the ability to regenerate organs has been lost? It seems to be a necessary process that contributes to the preservation of the species. The inexplicable appearance of organs with a complex structure, such as eyes is one more weak point of the evolutionary theory. Ch. Darwin stated that the sensitive to light organs which even the simplest creatures possess, can be improved, beginning with simple pigment spots up to the facet eyes of insects or the human eyes complex high-precision visual system. This assumption does not provide a description of each intermediate stage formation and why each of the stages, taken separately, is useful for the survival of the body. It is also fundamentally impossible to explain the emergence of such complex organs as the liver or brain, or complex behavioral programs such as bee dancing since these objects and phenomena favour survival only when they are fully «packed» and individual minor changes do not lead to any evolutionary advantage and therefore could not gain a foothold.