On the other hand it is possible to make a bad theory look better by linking it with unsubstantiated claims. One problem for the theory of independent origin is the observed fact of succession in the fossil record. We do not find mammals appearing before reptiles, apes before monkeys and humans before apes. Anti-evolutionists have attempted to deny that such a succession exists, but more typically they accept it and try to explain it way using tactics like the following. Whitcomb and Morris give three sorting mechanisms purportedly explaining the fossil sequence, all of which involve a global flood.214 One is hydrodynamic sorting. The idea here is that the denser and more streamlined objects would have descended more rapidly and should be found in the lowest rock strata. Another is termed ecological sorting. The idea here is that the inhabitants of low regions would be overcome first by the floodwaters and will be in the lowest strata. Another is anatomical sorting. The idea here is that the least mobile animals would have succumbed to the ravages of the flood first, and would be in the lowest strata. These hypotheses are bad, not because they are unfalsifiable, but because they are mutually incompatible and false. As Gould says, whales, which are streamlined and marine, are found only in the upper strata, contradicting both the first and the second explanations. Sloths, which are not known for their mobility, are also found only in the highest strata contradicting the third explanation.215
Is evolution a theory or a fact? Is evolution a theory? Yes it is. It makes the grand claim that all living things on earth are related through common descent. Is it a fact? Not in the same sense as “my pet crow is black.� Evolution is far too important to be a fact in this sense! It can be a fact in the sense of explaining a huge body of data. We shall see in later chapters whether it is such a fact.
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