Creation Moment 3/9/2024 - Spotting Darwinian Circular Reasoning, Tautology & Non-Sequiturs

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,... Romans 1:22

"Fossils of giant sea lizard show how our oceans have fundamentally changed since the dinosaur era (University of Bath, 5 March 2024). A “nightmarish” mosasaur the size of an orca has been found at a

phosphate mine south of Casablanca, Morocco. Researchers claim it lived 66 million Darwin Years ago. 

Do the evolutionary scientists know why there were so many top predators in the ocean when dinosaurs were roaming the land? 

Dr Nick Longrich of the University of Bath answers

“Modern ecosystems have predators like baleen whales and dolphins that eat small prey, and not many things eating large prey. The Cretaceous has a huge number of marine reptile species that take large prey. Whether there’s something about marine reptiles that caused the ecosystem to be different, or the prey, or perhaps the environment, we don’t know”

Dinosaur-age ‘nightmarish’ sea lizard fossil found (BBC News, 5 March 2024). The BBC News echoes what the evolutionary

paleontologists say about this mosasaur, and about relationships between mosasaurs and living representatives today. It seems unbelievable; they are so different. “Khinjaria acuta is a member of a family of giant marine lizards known as mosasaurs, distant relatives of today’s Komodo dragons and anacondas.” 

---Neither press release explains how mosasaurs “emerged” and why their relatives became forked-tongued dragons and snakes on land after the alleged impact that killed off all the dinosaurs and marine predators.

Study of slowly evolving ‘living fossils’ reveals key genetic insights

(Yale News, 4 March 2024). Another “slowly evolving” animal is described in this article from Yale University: the gar.

"The study, published in the journal Evolution, shows that gars — an ancient group of ray-finned fishes that fit the definition of a living fossil — have the slowest rate of molecular evolution among all jawed vertebrates, meaning their genome changes more slowly than those of other animals."

But then they allege that “gars’ slow rate of molecular evolution has stymied their rate of speciation,” which sounds like either circular reasoning or a tautology. 

Q: If they had a fast rate of molecular evolution, would they have more speciation? 

A: Well, duh. With this logic, Chase Brownstein, a graduate student inductee into the Darwin Party, waxes eloquent about all the understanding he is getting in evolution class. He thinks his work might cure cancer some day.

“Our paper shows that living fossils aren’t simply strange accidents of history but provide a fundamental demonstration of the evolutionary process in nature,” Brownstein said. “It shows that analyzing patterns in living fossils’ evolutionary history might have implications for our own story. It not only helps us better understand the planet’s biodiversity, but potentially could one day be applied to medical research and improve human health.”

It’s not improving his mental health so far. 

A non-evolving fish is helping him understand the evolutionary process, and this might help his doctor? 

Q: Ever hear of a non-sequitur?" 

CEH

Non-Sequitur---an inference that does not follow from the premises.
Tautology---the saying of the same thing twice in different words, generally considered to be a fault of style.
Circular reasoning---a logical fallacy that assumes what it tries to prove.