99.9%

[LiveFreeOrDie]

Nick has claimed repeatedly that the vertebrate fossil record comprises only 0.1% of the fossil record, meaning that the remaining 99.9% of the fossil record is for non-vertebrates.

I'm just wondering, Nick, where did you get that number?  Thin air?

 

[Jerry Smith]

Probably he got it from the same place he got 16%.

 

[LiveFreeOrDie]

Hello?  Mr 99.9%?

 

[Late_Cretaceous]

maybe if you include coal and oil ...

 

[npetreley]

Where did *I* get it? I got it from the numbers of fossils as I recalled them from something I read (No, it wasn't a creationist site, and I even listed the data as I recalled it in my challenge -- 19-20 million fossils, about 300,000 of which are vertebrates). If you feel these numbers are inaccurate, go find some other numbers and disprove them. If I'm wrong, you should be able to find out pretty easily. But I find it difficult to imagine that I would be wrong. 95% of all known species TODAY are invertebrates, and as you go back in time (either from the perspective of evolution OR creation) you simply increase the number of plants and marine organisms leaving fossils behind. So you'll be hard pressed to disprove the number unless you can demonstrate that at some point in the past vertebrates comprised 95% of all species (good luck).

I did a search and found several creationist sites that confirm my rough percentages. Actually, the percentages listed here puts vertebrates at 0.0125%, which is lower than my estimate.

95% of all fossils are marine invertebrates, particularly shellfish.

Of the remaining 5%, 95% are algae and plant fossils (4.75%)

95% of the remaining 0.25% consists of the other invertebrates, including insects (0.2375%)

The remaining 0.0125% includes all vertebrates, mostly fish.

95% of the very few land vertebrates found consist of less than one bone. (For example, only about 1,200 dinosaur skeletons have been found.)

95% of the mammal fossils were deposited during the Ice Age.

 

[npetreley]

This might be a good place to start, but maybe not. I haven't looked at the data to see if it has numbers of fossils or what.

Fossil Record 2 Database

http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/frwhole/FR2.html

 

[euphoric]

Originally posted by npetreley
Where did *I* get it? I got it from the numbers of fossils as I recalled them from something I read

You gotta love Nick's painstaking attention to detail.  I think that's what makes his arguments so effective.

-brett

 

[Sabbath]

I think Nick has been brilliant and has shown considerable evidence against evolution. Keep up the good work Nick.

God Created everthing, he never said "I will evolutionize the Earth"

If the bible is correct, 10 or 12,000 years is sufficient to find fossils, missing links and transitional fossils are a good indication that evolution has not occured.

 

 

 

[seebs]

Sabbath, no offense is meant, but you aren't giving the impression that you've understood the technical issues here. Nick has yet to show a single piece of evidence against anything, except his own reading comprehension.

 

[blader]

Originally posted by Sabbath
I think Nick has been brilliant and has shown considerable evidence against evolution. Keep up the good work Nick.

God Created everthing, he never said "I will evolutionize the Earth"

If the bible is correct, 10 or 12,000 years is sufficient to find fossils, missing links and transitional fossils are a good indication that evolution has not occured.

 

 

Uhm... yes, 10 or 12,000 should be more than enough. But the theory of evolution has only been theorized for less than 200 hundred years. If you want to go farther, modern paleontology has a history of 3, maybe four hundred years.

 

[D. Scarlatti]

Christians sometimes ask: "Why do atheists come to this site?"

Christians, I give you Exhibit A:

Originally posted by npetreley
I find it difficult to imagine that I would be wrong.

"Why do atheists come to this site?"

Comedy.

 

[seebs]

Thank you! We'll be here all week.

 

[D. Scarlatti]

Ha!

 

[Sauron]

Originally posted by seebs
Thank you! We'll be here all week.

Try the veal!