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The Source of "Phil's" List



Well I'm back now and frankly quite amazed at the response to "Phil".
Perhaps most of you are so used to what is for the most part a courteous
discussion between colleagues on PHYS-L that you aren't familiar with
trollers and the like who seek to create havoc wherever they can. If
you still have any doubts as to the fact that "Phil P Johnson" is a
complete hoax and in fact probably not even a creationist - take a look
at http://icarus.uic.edu/~vuletic/cefec.html

To start with, here is "Phil's" list (comments to follow):

The sun contains most of the mass, but only 2% of the angular momentum
of the solar system. If the solar system had condensed from a gas cloud,
most of its angular momentum would be in the sun.
** item 1.1 on the web page - verbatim


Most sets of fundamental constants would lead to a universe in which
life could not exist. Therefore, the fundamental constants of the
universe must have been fine-tuned by a creator who wished to bring man
into existence.
** item 1.2 on the web page - verbatim

The 1st law of thermodynamics states that the energy in the universe is
constant. The Big Bang theory states that the universe came out of
nothing, so it violates this thermodynamic law.
** item 1.4 on the web page - verbatim

The 2nd law of thermodynamics states that disorder in the universe
always increases. This means that the universe could not have started in
an ordered state unless it was "wound up" by a Creator. &&&Even though
the Earth is an open system, the second law of thermodynamics still
poses an insuperable barrier to abiogenesis, since order in an open
system will increase only when there is a complex system (such as a host
of enzymes or a supernatural creator) to influence the reactions. An
increase in order in the absence of such a complex system would be like
sunshine causing loose parts in a junkyard to assemble itself into a
pickup truck.
** up to the &&& is verbatim 1.5 from the web page


The rotation of the Earth has been slowing at a rate of 30 seconds per
century. If the Earth were billions of years old, the rotation rate at
the outset would have been so great that the planet could not have held
together, much less support life.
** item 1.6 - verbatim

Quantum mechanics proves the existence of a creator, since there must
have been some entity external to the universe to observe it and thus
collapse it into a determinate state.
** item 1.7 - verbatim

The rate of decay in the geomagnetic field sets an outside limit of
10,000 years for the age of the earth.
** item 2.3 - verbatim

If the earth were as old as geologists say, uranium decay would have put
into the atmosphere more helium than we currently find there.
** item 2.3 - verbatim

The law of biogenesis states that life comes only from previous life.
Therefore prebiotic synthesis - which states that life first developed
from nonliving molecules - contradicts a major law of science.
** item 3.1 - verbatim

Amino acids in living organisms are all left-handed, but in nature,
equal amounts of left-handed and right-handed amino acids form, so one
would expect them to occur in equal proportions in living organisms if
abiogenesis were true.
** item 3.2 - verbatim

Nucleic acids cannot replicate without the help of proteins. Proteins,
however, cannot form unless specified by nucleic acid sequences. Thus,
genetic systems could not have started naturally.
** item 3.3 - verbatim

Mutations are universally deleterious, and thus cannot be a driving
factor in evolution.
** item 4.7 - verbatim

There are plenty of records of mutations causing birth defects, but none
of mutations causing "birth improvements."
** item 4.8 - verbatim

The rate of mutation is so small that it could never serve as a source
of variation.
** item 4.9 - verbatim

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
etc etc etc. Need I go on? So here we have a case of somebody assuming
a false identity to make a quick intrusion and to present a copied list
as "irrefutable" even though the source they copied it from is itself a
point by point refutation of the list. Clearly deceit and havoc are the
major goals here and I'm 99% certain that "Phil" is not a creationist.

A good rule to keep in mind is that if somebody is seeming to be begging
to be flamed, you are probably playing into some sadistic game of theirs
by bothering to do so. They may be doing the old "make the other side
look bad by pretending to be one and then looking like an idiot/jerk"
game, or they may simply be giggling at how many people spent time
composing serious responses to their satire.

()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()

Doug Craigen
Latest Project - the Physics E-source
http://www.dctech.com/physics/