Question:
How can micro evolution be true yet macro evolution be false, when they really are the same thing?
Delusional Vikings Fan
2013-12-03 21:55:57 UTC
Macro is just micro evolution on a far greater time scale. It's on par with saying artificial selection is true but natural selection is not. Sounds like a lot of creationist doublethink.
Eight answers:
andymanec
2013-12-04 08:11:08 UTC
You hit the nail on the head. It's mostly an attempt by creationists to resolve the cognitive dissonance that arises from the belief that all life was created as-is, and the fact that we have observed changes occurring.



The problem is that there is no plausible mechanism that has ever been proposed to prevent the small-scale changes of microevolution from adding up into the large-scale changes of macroevolution. It's like arguing that a person can take a step forward, but that there's no possible way by which repeating that step a few thousand times could ever carry them a mile. It's also compounded by the fact that the difference between micro- and macro-evolution are intentionally kept vague (as evidenced by CRR's answer). That way, the goal posts can be moved around as necessary, so that the criteria for evidence can never be satisfied.
Smeghead
2013-12-04 13:33:12 UTC
"Micro-evolution involves adaptation due to selection from the EXISTING gene pool and can result in new varieties and species within the existing kind.



Macro-evolution requires the appearance of new genetic information to produce new kinds."



This is a lie, pure and simple. It is a flat-out falsehood. It is roughly as true as saying that the sky is typically a fluorescent pink. Lie, lie, lie, and lie some more. Utter nonsense, with no resemblance at all to reality. Of course, this is CRR, so that is to be expected.



CRR, I have asked you this before and gotten a resounding silence: what, precisely, is the molecular mechanism by which the forces of evolution are constrained within a "kind"? I believe most creationists are on record as saying that a "kind" is broader than a "species". Now, "species" has a biological meaning. We can point to observable facts about organisms to group them into species. This is not true of any higher-order grouping, like genus, or, presumably, "kind", though since all creationists refuse to actually define "kind", that remains vague. So, I will be FASCINATED to hear exactly how evolution is constrained to act only within an imaginary line that we humans invented only a few thousand years ago at most. To the best of my knowledge, no creationist has ever offered even a theoretical mechanism for this.
Michael Darnell
2013-12-04 12:54:01 UTC
Ring species are solid evidence that microevolution and macroevolution are really the same processes, since the species at the ends of the ring are usually not able to interbreed successfully while each of steps in the ring are variations which can breed with each other. So while species "A" can breed with "B", and "B" can breed with "C", and "C" can breed with "D", we find that "A" is infertile with "D". This is microevolution becoming macroevolution over distance in the same way that microevolution becomes macroevolution over time.



The terms are just framed in different analytical regimes. For microevolution we use reductionist analysis, while for macroevolution we use more of an holistic analysis. To most biologists its really just a term used to clarify which category of evolutionary processes we are studying.



To say that microevolution is real biology but macroevolution is not, is exactly like saying quantum-physics is physics but astrophysics is not. It's just another no-true-scotsman fallacy.
Athena
2013-12-04 05:35:09 UTC
Not actually No.

Micro evolution is the part you can see. (time wise mean).

However you have no idea what micro evolution will lead to, therefor Macro evolution is a product unto itself based on the environmental factors that favor it. NOT a product of a long line of micro changes.



The micro changes are in response to the environment of today. There is no reason to think that the environment of tomorrow will be a logical progression.
Bob B
2013-12-04 03:37:38 UTC
You're pretty much correct. Both types have been observed, and they indeed just the same process on different timescales. If microevolution can occur, then by definition, so can macroevolution.



It's more or less just another creationist tactic in the debate. In this case, the idea is basically to try and split them into two separate processes and only admit to the inconsequential one.



It's also a way to try and get around the ever-stronger evidence for evolution, whereby denying it outright in all forms is increasingly difficult to sustain.
The Lightning Strikes
2013-12-05 04:08:11 UTC
Negative, Microevolution is an uncontroversial, well-documented, naturally occurring biological phenomenon. It happens every day. It is the process whereby preexisting genetic information is rearranged, corrupted, and/or lost through sexual reproduction and/or genetic mutation producing relatively small-scale (“micro”) changes within a population. Two long-haired dogs producing a short-haired puppy would be an example of microevolution (we’ll look at why in a moment).



Macroevolution is the somewhat more controversial, theoretical extrapolation of microevolution that requires the introduction of new genetic information. It is believed to produce large-scale (“macro”) changes. An amphibian evolving into a reptile or a reptile evolving into a bird would be examples of macroevolution.



Macroevolution is an important concept because Darwinists believe that it is the mechanism for their idea that all life evolved from a common primordial ancestor. Since microevolution is small-scale (“micro”) biological change, and macroevolution is large-scale (“macro”) biological change, many Darwinists argue that macroevolution is simply the accumulation of microevolutionary changes over time. Ostensibly, this is a reasonable extrapolation of microevolution. Darwinists, therefore, often cite evidence for microevolution as evidence for macroevolution. However, because macroevolution requires new additional genetic information, no amount of rearrangement, corruption or loss of existing genetic information will produce macroevolution. In other words, no amount of microevolution will produce macroevolution. Darwinists draw a false correlation between the two. We will now take a closer look at both microevolution and macroevolution.



Microevolution



We will begin with microevolution. Let’s say, for example, that within the dog genome there are both a gene for long hair (H) and a gene for short hair (h). Now imagine that the very first dogs possessed both genes (Hh). If two Hh dogs bred, half of the Hh from one dog would combine with half of the Hh from the other dog through sexual reproduction, and there would be four possible outcomes for offspring: HH, Hh, hH and hh puppies.



Now let’s suppose that the longhair H gene is the dominant gene and the shorthair h gene is the recessive gene. That means that when a dog possesses both genes, only the longhair H gene will be expressed, i.e., the dog will have long hair. So, if two longhair Hh dogs bred, the odds are that they would have three longhair puppies (HH, Hh and hH) and one shorthair puppy (hh). The two longhair dogs having a shorthair puppy would be an example of change within a population resulting from the rearrangement of preexisting genetic information (i.e., microevolution).



If a longhair Hh dog bred with a shorthair hh dog, the odds are that they would have two longhair puppies (Hh and hH) and two shorthair puppies (hh and hh). If two shorthair hh dogs bred, they would produce only shorthair hh puppies. And if this group of shorthair hh dogs became isolated from the longhair HH, Hh and hH dogs, they would lose access to the longhair H gene altogether and become an “isolated gene pool.” When it comes to dogs, isolated gene pools are called “purebreds.” Likewise, if a group of longhair HH dogs became isolated from the shorthair h gene, they would be considered purebred. On the other hand, the longhair Hh and hH dogs would be called “mutts.” Human breeders have been exploiting this biological phenomenon for thousands of years, selecting dog couples to mate based on their appearance in order to accentuate and attenuate traits gradually over time and thereby introduce new breeds.



Read More: http://www.gotquestions.org/microevolution-macroevolution.html
anonymous
2013-12-03 21:56:30 UTC
Both macro and micro evolution are true. End of story.
CRR
2013-12-03 22:28:22 UTC
They are not the same thing.



Micro-evolution involves adaptation due to selection from the EXISTING gene pool and can result in new varieties and species within the existing kind.



Macro-evolution requires the appearance of new genetic information to produce new kinds.



Micro-evolution has been observed; macro-evolution has not.



@J Dawg. If you read my answer you will see that speciation is not evidence of macroevolution.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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