Fresh Fossil Evidence Of Eye Forerunner Uncovered

02 January 2008

 Once again lets re-define what science is. Science is empirical, observable, testable models that can be tested using the scientific method to produce hypothesis and theory's. This "Fossil evidence" could not be further from actual science. Dr Gavin Young has "analyzed fossilized remains of 400-million-year-old Devonian placoderms – jawed ancestors of modern fish...". How do you know that an animal was the ancestor of modern fish if it has been dead for 400 million years? To be able to definitively and scientifically say that these remains were the "ancestors" of any fish, you would need that first step in the scientific method of observation.

 He claims that this fish gives evidence of not only an "intermediate stage" between the evolution of jawless and jawed vertebrates, but also that it provides "definite fossil evidence of a forerunner to the human eye". What exactly is "definite fossil evidence"? One would think that many different fossils that all show slightly different features would indicate they all had a common ancestor. While this may be true, this is not science. Science deals with the observable, not lining things up in what looks like the correct order. My kindergartener has pictures that he has to cut out and put in the correct order also, but that does not prove that they evolved from each other, in fact, the pictures were all created at the same time and were then separated. Putting fossils in order by looks does not prove any more than the fact the the person doing the work is good at determining what looks most like the other.

 The weirdest part of this story is that he admits that not only is the eye fully formed and still exists today, but that it is completely different than any eye in vertebrates! Why would you even write the article if it doesen't tell us something new?

1. A fossil fish has eyes connected by cartilage
2. Modern fish have eyes connected by cartilage
3. Humans and ALL modern vertebrates do not have eyes connected by cartilage (they are connected by muscles)
4. What exactly did you discover again?


Australian National University. "Fresh Fossil Evidence Of Eye Forerunner Uncovered." ScienceDaily 2 January 2008. 14 January 2008 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080101193317.htm.