TASC - Triangle Association for the Science of Creation

TASC endeavors to show Christians and others in the Triangle area that the facts of science are consistent with the Biblical account of origins and inconsistent with the evolutionary worldview. 

Does the Fact that Random Genetic Mutations Can Result in Adaptation Prove Macroevolution?

January, 2020

Michael Behe (Fig. 1), author of Darwin’s Black Box and originator of the concept of “irreducible complexity,” has written his third major book: Darwin Devolves: The New Science About DNA That Challenges Evolution. 1 Behe, a well-known proponent of intelligent design and a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute, 2 is professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University. Over the last three decades, Behe has pointed out many of the unsolved problems for macroevolutionary theory. Behe is a Roman Catholic and can be considered a theistic evolutionist. Behe accepts much of the secular cosmic and biological stories, including descent with modification from common ancestors and deep time. However, based on the evidence in the literature, he rejects the notion that random genetic mutations, acted upon by natural selection, can account for the enormous organized complexity found in the biological world. Instead, he advances the idea that the complexity seen in biology could only have been the work of a supreme intelligence. Although Behe is a theistic evolutionist, his insights into macroevolution are still valuable to the creation/evolution debate. In Darwin Devolves (Fig.

Restoring the Truth About Origins: Book II—Introduction, Availability, and Overview

December, 2019

We are excited to announce that the Triangle Association for the Science of Creation's (TASC's) Restoring the Truth about Origins: Book II is now available! We pray and hope you will purchase copies for yourself, your children, and friends as gifts to enjoy and be better edified on this important topic of origins. What we think about our origins has had a profound influence on the thinking and actions in our society in the past and today and will in the future, especially on our children. So we encourage you to get copies today (see ordering information under Availability and Purchase heading below and note particularly our current Christmas Special 25% Discount for purchases of Books I and II)!

Book Review: A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos, Part 2

November, 2019

Figure 1

The book A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos (Cambridge University Press, 2016, Fig.1), by Geraint F. Lewis and Luke A. Barnes, is one of the most recent and comprehensive books on the fine tuning of the physical laws of our universe. Last month, I reviewed the first six chapters of the book in which they summarized current thinking on the subject. 1 In this article, I’ll review the final two chapters. These chapters give Lewis and Barnes’s views on the various responses to fine tuning they have encountered from people who have read their book or heard them speak. They also lay out their own personal interpretations of fine tuning.

The first six chapters of the book explained how the fine tuning of physics is seen in the masses, electrical charges, and spins of elementary particles; the four elementary forces; the number and type of dimensions in our universe; the geometry of space-time; and the various symmetries and constants associated with physical laws. We also touched upon quantum mechanics, wave-particle duality, coupling constants, radioactivity, the Big Bang, inflation, nucleosynthesis, and more. We now turn to what people think about fine tuning.

Chapter 7: A Dozen (or so) Reactions to Fine Tuning

Here are several common responses the authors have encountered to fine tuning.

Book Review: A Fortunate Universe:Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos, Part 1

October, 2019

Figure 1

The book A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos (Cambridge University Press, 2016, Fig. 1) by Geraint F. Lewis and Luke A. Barnes is one of the most recent and comprehensive books on the fine tuning of the physical laws of our universe. The “fine tuning of physics” refers to the discovery that the laws of nature, as currently understood, are just what they must be for life forms such as us to exist. Change any of these laws even slightly, and life as we know it would be impossible. The authors explain the various ways the universe is fine-tuned and then explore what fine tuning may imply. Lewis and Barnes examine particle physics, the funda- mental forces, cosmology, inflation theory, the flatness and horizon problems, the idea of a multiverse, string theory, the nature of the constants in the equations of the laws of physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, dark matter, dark energy, the double slit experiment, and much more. Both authors accept the standard cosmological and biological evolutionary stories including deep time. Nevertheless, even within the Big Bang/inflationary paradigm, fine tuning is seen everywhere from quarks to galaxy clusters. As we shall see, the fine tuning of physics renders naturalistic explanations untenable. Much of the discussion is useful to biblical creationists as the fingerprints of God are clearly seen throughout the created order.

Lewis and Barnes are both graduates of the University of Cambridge (Fig. 2). Lewis holds a PhD in astrophysics while Barnes has a PhD in astronomy. Both men work at the Sydney Institute of Astronomy in Australia. Both men freely acknowledge fine tuning but differ in their interpretation of it. Lewis looks to the multiverse to explain fine tuning. Barnes, a Christian, argues for theism as the best explanation.

The book is accessible to layman yet informative to specialists. The concepts are laid out logically and clearly with an occasional dash of humor.

This review will discuss some of the highlights of the book, chapter by chapter.

The Mystery of 90 East Ridge

September, 2019

90 East Ridge

Fig. 1 - 90 East Ridge indicated by arrows; the Himalayas are circled. 1

Mysteries

  1. Why is there a 3,000-mile-long, underwater ridge 2,3 in the Indian Ocean?
  2. Why does it have a north-south orientation?
  3. Why is it south of and pointed toward the Himalayas?
  4. How did it form?

We will explore these questions in this article.

Clues

One clue is that directly north of the ridge is the most massive mountain range in the world - the Himalayas. We also note that the Tibetan Plateau is also present just north of the Himalayas. This plateau contains much elevated mass also. The average height of this plateau is 14,800 feet, and it stretches 1,600 miles east-west and 620 miles north-south. This is a lot of mass directly north of the ridge!

Another clue is the North-South orientation of the ridge.

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