Fredric P. Nelson, M.D., "Darwin's Logical Fallacy" (b.d.)

DARWIN’S LOGICAL FALLACY

By Fredric P. Nelson, M.D. 

 In The Origin of Species, [Endnote 1.] from the introduction on through the final chapter, Charles Darwin repeatedly wrote that virtually an infinite number of generations,  species, beings and tries were available for naturalistic macroevolution. Darwin stated that innumerable species inhabited this world (p. 20) and that the act of generation would  multiply slight alterations almost infinitely (p. 232). He claimed that there were innumerable inhabitants  (p. 22),  endless variations  (p. 25),  endless slight peculiarities  (p. 26), endless cases (p. 92), infinitely varied diversities of structure (p. 108), almost countless seeds (p. 146), innumerable progenitors (p. 165), innumerable organic beings in each class (p.  170), innumerable complex co-adaptations of structure (p. 173), innumerable slight variations (p. 612), infinitely many fine gradations (p. 617), countless generations of countless  species (p. 618), infinitely numerous kinds of animals and plants (p. 640), and innumerable beings within each great class (p. 641). He also wrote that there was an unlimited  number of generations (p. 34), an endless number of slight variations and individual differences (p. 107), an infinite diversity in structure, constitution and habits (p. 168), an infinite  diversity of structure (p. 260), an interminable number of intermediate forms (p. 616), an infinitude of connecting links (p. 617), an almost infinite diversity of means (p. 626), an  almost infinite number of generations (p. 639), and an infinitude of already recorded species (p. 645).

 Darwin made 10 of these 25 claims to infinity in the last chapter alone as if repetition solidified his argument. Though possibly used for literary effect, his appeal to the infinite  has seduced the minds of generations, for no counter argument could prevail. However, a counter argument can prevail if these claims are wrong, for that which is not infinite is  infinitely less.

 The number of generations is finite. If the primal cell divided every 10 minutes for 3.8 billion years, fewer than 1015 generations would have occurred.

 The number of species is finite. The National Academy of Sciences states that 10 to 20 million species exist today and that 99% of all species are extinct. [2.] About 1 to 2  billion species have existed.

 The number of beings is finite. Whether in the air, on or under the land or in the seas, the total number of chordates averages less than 100 per square meter of Earth’s surface.  Chordates propagate less than 10 times per year and have existed for less than 1 billion years. The total number of chordates ever existent is less than 1027 individuals.

                                        <100 indiv./sq.m. x <1015sq.m. x <10/yr. x <109 yr. = <1027 indiv.

 The fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals have accumulated their great differences with fewer than 1027 tries.

 E. coli are about 2 microns in length and 0.2 microns in diameter and have a volume greater than 0.25 cubic microns. Since a cubic meter contains 1018 cubic microns, fewer  than 4x1018 E. coli could be stacked into 1 cubic meter. A collection of 1050 E. coli would fill a volume greater than 2.5x1031 cubic meters. 

 Earth contains less than 1.5x1018 cubic meters of water. A volume of 2.5x1031 cubic meters is 1.66x1013 times the volume of Earth’s water. A collection of 1050 E. coli  could fill 100% of all bodies of water on Earth every day for more than 45 billion years. Therefore, fewer than 1050 E. coli have existed on Earth over the past 3.8 billion  years, and, as a logical deduction, a total of fewer than 1050 individual organisms from all species have existed on Earth during the same period of time. Each structure, each  variation and each link is represented by 1 individual, and the total number of each is less than 1050.

 Neither the number of generations, nor species, nor individuals, nor structures, nor variations, nor links is infinite. When divided by infinity, the quotient of each of the above  numbers is zero rather than one. Each of Darwin’s references to infinity is false.

 The probability of naturalistically assembling any gene is significantly less than 1 chance in 10 per try. Since the human genome contains over 20,000 genes, the probability of  assembling the human genome is far less than 1 chance in 1020,000 per try. Since there have been fewer than 1050 individual organisms, no scientific explanation exists or ever  will exist for the assembly of the human genome. The belief that the human genome assembled naturalistically has no scientific foundation.

 The probability of naturalistically assembling the genetic code for a small, integrated, functional, complex enzyme of 100 amino acid residues is about 1 chance in 1065 per  try. [3. & 4.] Chordates accomplished all their differentiation with fewer than 1027 tries. The probability that 1027 tries would generate one small, integrated, functional,  complex enzyme is 1 chance in 1038. Chordates did not differentiate naturalistically. Such an idea is absurd.

 The probability that naturalistic macroevolution ever assembled just one small, integrated, functional, complex enzyme with fewer than 1050 tries is less than 1 chance in a  million billion. Naturalistic macroevolution fails to account for the assembly of even 1 small, integrated, functional, complex enzyme, and absolutely fails to account for the  evolution of all species. The naturalistic macroevolution of all species is an extremely irrational scientific hypothesis. Since naturalistic macroevolution is an extremely irrational  scientific hypothesis, no scientific theory of evolution exists, and naturalistic evolution cannot be the unifying concept underlying the biological sciences.

 1. Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (New York: The Modern Library, 1993 Modern Library Edition).

 2. Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1998) pp. 1& 11.

 3. H. P. Yockey, “A calculation of the probability of spontaneous biogenesis by information theory.”  J. Theor. Bio. 67 (1977): 387.

 4. J. F. Reidhaar-Olson & R. T.  Sauer, “Functionally Acceptable Substitutions in Two á-Helical Regions of ë Repressor.” Proteins: Structure, Function, and Genetics 7  (1990): 315.