Creationist comics

[Tricky]

Well, Johnny Hart is at it again. In the March 14 "BC" strip (http://www.comics.com/creators/bc/archive/bc-20040314.html) he resurrects one of the tired old excuses that creationists like to pull out. This one is, if not for the "great flood", how did marine fossils come to be at the tops of mountains? Of course, this is thouroughly explained by tectonics and indeed it is very good evidence against young-earth creationism. But Hart even though he gives a thumbnail sketch of basic evolutionary principals, seeks to then discredit science with his final "bon mot". I can only hope that kids actually do ask that question in school so that they can learn how orogeny works. Sadly, many will go away thinking they have a pat answer to evolution, and will be encouraged in their ignorance by Hart and his ilk.

[Wrath of the Swarm]

And what's this with "humans are the most complex form of life" nonsense? Frogs genomes are what, eight times larger than ours? Humans are quite simple and straightforward - insects that undergo metamorphosis are complex.

[DarkMagician]

Bad logic makes Baby Dawkins cry.

[fishbob]

how did marine fossils come to be at the tops of mountains? I suspect he was playing to his demographic with an appeal to ignorance.

[Fade]

Originally posted by Wrath of the Swarm
And what's this with "humans are the most complex form of life" nonsense? Frogs genomes are what, eight times larger than ours? Humans are quite simple and straightforward - insects that undergo metamorphosis are complex.

Even from a "design" point of view, humans are so hodge podge. We have a host of unecessary parts that do nothing. We have a lot of parts that fit badly and give us problems throughout our lives. Our eyes have evolved badly.

I just think people don't like to accept the fact that we are, in a very literal sense, very close to Rats and Hyenas. We're an opportunistic species with a few specializations that allow us to mooch off of pretty much anything. We can thus thrive.

[Yahweh]

Even if the religious nonsense were stripped out of the comic, it would still have the dullest humor of the Sunday Funnies I've ever seen...

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by Wrath of the Swarm

And what's this with "humans are the most complex form of life" nonsense? Frogs genomes are what, eight times larger than ours? Humans are quite simple and straightforward - insects that undergo metamorphosis are complex. Yes, but are you quite sure that humans don't go through a metamorphosis?

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Yes, but are you quite sure that humans don't go through a metamorphosis? Physical metamorphosis? Of the complexity that most insects go through?

Fairly certain.

[Hexxenhammer]

Originally posted by Upchurch
Physical metamorphosis? Of the complexity that most insects go through?

Fairly certain. I'm open to the idea that Iachuss may still be in his pupal stage...

[LFTKBS]

Originally posted by Hexxenhammer
I'm open to the idea that Iachuss may still be in his pupal stage...

Move to now only refer to Iachuss as "The Grub." Any seconds?

[VicDaring]

Originally posted by LFTKBS
Any seconds?

No seconds here, thanks. I'm stuffed. Couldn't eat another bite.

[neutrino_cannon]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Yes, but are you quite sure that humans don't go through a metamorphosis?

Yes... if you define the word loosely enough.

Lessee, it means change in form.

Well, An infant or a haploid cell is hardly allometric with an adult now is it?

There you go.

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by neutrino_cannon

Yes... if you define the word loosely enough.

Lessee, it means change in form.

Well, An infant or a haploid cell is hardly allometric with an adult now is it?

There you go. Come again? :p

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by Upchurch

Physical metamorphosis? Of the complexity that most insects go through?

Fairly certain. Oh, I'm fairly certain of that too. But, are you fairly certain that she's not pregnant? :D

And what do they say about truth being stranger than fiction? How bizzare man ... How bizzare ...

[neutrino_cannon]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Come again? :p

We go through changes of form, though not of the type or to the extent that insects, most famously lepidoptera, do.

Look at the proportions of a an infant, or a sperm cell for that matter, and compare them to an adult human. I am glad that as a teenager, my head no longer constitutes 50% or thereabouts of my mass. Of course, now it's my legs but that's another thread.

Of course, I doubt that's what you meant. Is it absinthe or opiates today?

[pupdog]

Yes, but are you quite sure that humans don't go through a metamorphosis? Well, someone did--Caligula. He became a god. He said so, and I don't think anyone said otherwise.

[c4ts]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Yes, but are you quite sure that humans don't go through a metamorphosis?

I metamorphosized into an ugly bug just last week, thank you very much.

[Fade]

Originally posted by Hexxenhammer
I'm open to the idea that Iachuss may still be in his pupal stage...

Sheer brilliance.

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by LFTKBS

Move to now only refer to Iachuss as "The Grub." Any seconds? Yes, but when you get to thinking about it, we're all just "grubs" grubbing around in the dark now aren't we? As we set up our meager little grubstakes, hoping that it'll last ...

Actually the whole thing sounds kind of pathetic if you ask me. :D

[RandFan]

Didn't Isaac Asimov say that "the human brain was the most complex and orderly organization of matter in the universe."?

I agree that it is rather presumptious to assume that man is the pinnacle of evolution in the face of so much evidence to the contrary. The cockroach is likely to out live us.

That being said, cant humans claim the greatest intelectual tool that evolution has had the time to toy with?

[tdn]

Originally posted by RandFan
Didn't Isaac Asimov say that "the human brain was the most complex and orderly organization of matter in the universe."?

Asimov obviously never had to deal with the checkout clerks at my local 7-11.

[c4ts]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Yes, but when you get to thinking about it, we're all just "grubs" grubbing around in the dark now aren't we? As we set up our meager little grubstakes, hoping that it'll last ...

Actually the whole thing sounds kind of pathetic if you ask me. :D

We're not all grubs, just you. Some states of ignorance are self imposed, just as the fool who steers his ship in a circle will wonder how he ever got lost.

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by c4ts

We're not all grubs, just you. Some states of ignorance are self imposed, just as the fool who steers his ship in a circle will wonder how he ever got lost. What, am I the only one capable of transformation? See what I mean by pathetic? Of course maybe that's the wrong choice of words, since most grubs simply don't know. ;)

"Forgive the little grubs father for they know not what they do." :D

[neutrino_cannon]

Originally posted by Iacchus
What, am I the only one capable of transformation? See what I mean by pathetic? Of course maybe that's the wrong choice of words, since most grubs simply don't know. ;)

"Forgive the little grubs father for they know not what they do." :D

I would forgo all the perks of metamorphosis to be a reptile, or more derived grade.

It is they who sup upon those lacking spines...

Anyway, what were you trying to get at with the whole human metamorphosis thing anyway?

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by Zep

Dust in the wind dude!Originally posted by Iacchus

Yes, if in fact that's all we are? ;)

I kind of like the grub analogy better myself. You know, What do grubs know? ... Who spend their day munching off the Tree of Knowledge, and yet don't know the first thing about being a butterfly. However they continue to fill themselves up, this big sack of knowledge that they are, in the hopes that their grubstake will last. Oh well, sooner or later they'll be laid to rest in their little coffins, only to find out -- if, they're lucky enough -- that death is just a beginning!

[RussDill]

Originally posted by Iacchus
What, am I the only one capable of transformation? See what I mean by pathetic? Of course maybe that's the wrong choice of words, since most grubs simply don't know. ;)

"Forgive the little grubs father for they know not what they do." :D

Does that mean every creature should start assuming with no evidence that they also undergo a physical transformation?

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by RussDill

Does that mean every creature should start assuming with no evidence that they also undergo a physical transformation? No I'm just speaking about insects and human beings here. And for the most part it isn't understood or assumed here either, as near as I can tell. :)

[Nyarlathotep]

Originally posted by Yahweh
Even if the religious nonsense were stripped out of the comic, it would still have the dullest humor of the Sunday Funnies I've ever seen...

I have to disagree with you. That honor goes to Family Circus, IMO.

[Nyarlathotep]

Originally posted by LFTKBS


Move to now only refer to Iachuss as "The Grub." Any seconds?
Seconded

[Funkenstien]

I just read the comic strip. aren't these things called "funnies?"