Practically all mammals come with four extremities, right?

[MrScorpio]

If that doesn't blow "Intelligent Design" out of the water, I don't know what does.

[Splatter Phoenix]

1. Well...

Dolphins...*dubious*

Ah, hell, why am I trying to defend that sack-of-shit theory? :D

[Ladyhawk]

4. Archaeocetes, the predecessors of today's dolphins and whales, had

four limbs. :)

[XemaSab]

2. Some mammals

such as porpoises and dolphins have vestigial hindlegs, and bats have VERY different forelegs than most mammals.

Birds are a better example, but they're less variable overall.

[benburch]

11. Even some birds have claws on their wings...

showing that the wing evolved from a forelimb.

[Floogeldy]

3. Is "Intelligent Design" a code word for alien intervention?

:shrug:

[moof]

5. Conjecture does not need blown out of the water

It is up to the person putting forth the conjecture to offer evidence to support it.

P.S. the hocus pocus mentioned here does not yet meet the criteria of conjecture.

[ismnotwasm]

6. Oh there's a bunch of stuff that blows that out of the water

The ID folks are frightened of the unknown, so they create comforting myths. Science sees the unknown chases it down--doesn't always catch it of course, but continues to search for answers. And the funniest thing, science doesn't have a damn thing to do with whether there is a Deity or not-- that's not on the agenda for most scientists. Plenty of them believe in God. They just know how to separate faith from the scientific method. Of course way back a few decades there was some scientist, I forget his name, who tried to prove the existence of God by pointing out the missing mass evident in the universe. I guess that was supposed to be God. Long since debunked, but he gave it the old college try.

[KitchenWitch]

7. I am a believer in the Flying Spaghetti Monster theory of creation.

[Floogeldy]

9. Well, that settles it.

You are definitely going to hell.

;)

[HawkerHurricane]

10. Right!

For not believing in the Invisible Pink Unicorn, blessed be her holy hooves.

[benburch]

12. I've been touched by his noodly tendrils!

Oh, FSM, rain down your Marinara of love upon your people!

[WCGreen]

14. I brought that very point up just tonight.....

Glad your back KW....

Missed you around here...

[BlueJazz]

23. Alright..I didn't think anybody else on this board was that Hip!

:)

[HawkerHurricane]

8. Worse...

There's this whole massive supergrouping (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammels) called 'Tetrapods', all related by the fact they have four limbs. I believe Tetrapod means 'four feet'.

[nickgutierrez]

13. I always said the human body is evidence against ID

What intelligent being would design the human spine the way it did? That's not going to work, and any engineer would tell you so. :)

[Lisa]

19. and knees! it's as if they were just slapped together hastily one night !

And don't get me started on the digestive system (especially the appendix).


There is actually an old planning school joke about the origins of the human body, with the punchline being "whose bright idea was it to site the prime recreational facility right next to the waste disposal outlet?"

[NMMNG]

Don't you be dissin' my Flying Spaghetti Monster!

All hail his Noodly Appendages

[NMMNG]

15. Don't you be dissin' my Flying Spaghetti Monster!

All hail his Noodly Appendages

[-..__...]

16. What about mammals with prehensile tails?

http://www.answers.com/topic/prehensile-tail

"A prehensile tail is the tail of an animal that has been adapted for use as a "fifth hand". Fully prehensile tails can be used to hold and manipulate objects, and in particular to aid arboreal creatures in finding and eating food in the trees. If the tail cannot be used for this it is considered only partially prehensile - such tails are often used to anchor an animal's body to or dangle from a branch, or as an aid to climbing.'

Actually, that would be a pretty cool and useful thing to have.

If "intelligent design" is that intelligent, how come humans don't have one?

:think:

[ismnotwasm]

17. We lost it

It's left in the form of a tail bone.

[Lisa]

20. each of us actually has a fairly respectable tail ...

when we're in embryonic form. But we lose it during the later stages of fetal development. Most of us, anyway.

My mom, a former surgical nurse, actually assisted during the removal of a very small (1" or less) rear appendage from a baby, back in the 1950s.

[JohnLocke]

21. Vestigial organ (nt).

[-..__...]

22. Lot of good that does.

Ever have it hit the wrong way?

[SOteric]

18. Whales are mammals.

[benburch]

24. Whales have four limbs!

Or, at least some of them do.

On some whales vestigial hind limbs are found, but in most the hind limbs are re-absorbed during fetal development.