| Selectionism was refuted in the 1990s. |
Evolutionary biology recognized many mechanisms besides selection, but natural selection remained an established evolutionary mechanism. |
Misleading. Criticizing adaptationism is not refuting natural selection. |
| Biology is fundamentally information-based. |
DNA stores heritable information and cells process molecular information. |
True observation, but information does not by itself imply intelligent design. |
| Biology functions through networks rather than isolated genes. |
Genes operate in complex regulatory, developmental and metabolic networks. |
True, but networks themselves evolve. |
| Mutations are not random. |
Mutation rates vary with genomic context, DNA repair, chromatin and other factors. |
Partly correct. “Random” does not mean equiprobable or causeless. |
| Stress can alter mutation processes. |
Stress responses can change mutation rates and mutation spectra. |
True, but this does not mean organisms deliberately produce the mutations they need. |
| Genomes contain mechanisms for generating variation. |
Recombination, transposable elements, gene duplication and other mechanisms generate substantial variation. |
True observation; the additional claim of design is not established. |
| Transposable elements contradict Darwinian evolution. |
Transposable elements can alter genome structure and regulation and can provide raw material for evolution. |
They are compatible with evolutionary theory, not a refutation of it. |
| Endogenous retroviruses demonstrate design. |
Some viral sequences incorporated into genomes have subsequently been co-opted for useful biological functions. |
The functional observation is real; design is an additional interpretation. |
| Genetic redundancy contradicts selection. |
Many genes are dispensable under particular experimental conditions, while redundancy and genetic robustness are widespread. |
Does not contradict selection. Fitness effects depend on environment and genetic background. |
| Natural selection cannot generate new genetic information. |
Evolutionary genetics documents novelty through duplication, divergence, recombination, regulatory evolution and de novo gene birth. |
Strongly challenged by modern evolutionary research. |
| New genetic information must already have existed in ancestral genomes. |
Some functional genes appear to arise from previously non-genic DNA. |
Not supported as a general principle. |
| Baranomes contained the information required for later biological diversity. |
Genomes certainly contain ancestral material that can be duplicated, rearranged and lost. |
The additional claim that all relevant information was originally present requires independent evidence. |
| Variation was “front-loaded” into ancestral genomes. |
Genomes contain mechanisms capable of generating variation. |
The mechanisms are real; their alleged intentional “front-loading” is an interpretation. |
| Gene duplication merely redistributes existing information. |
Duplicated genes can diverge and acquire new regulatory patterns and functions. |
Too restrictive. Duplication can provide raw material for evolutionary novelty. |
| Regulatory networks replace selection as an explanation. |
Developmental and regulatory systems constrain and bias possible evolutionary outcomes. |
Constraints and biases modify evolutionary dynamics; they do not eliminate selection. |
| Complex biological organization requires intelligent design. |
Biological systems are extraordinarily complex and functionally organized. |
Complexity is an observation, not by itself evidence for a designer. |
| Darwinism is an “atheists' religion.” |
Evolutionary biology is a scientific framework used by people with many different philosophical and religious beliefs. |
Rhetoric, not a scientific refutation. |
| Modern molecular biology has falsified Darwinism. |
Modern molecular biology has greatly expanded evolutionary theory and revealed additional mechanisms of variation and inheritance. |
The central claim is not demonstrated. |
Frank Visser, graduated as a psychologist of culture and religion, founded IntegralWorld in 1997. He worked as production manager for various publishing houses and as service manager for various internet companies and lives in Amsterdam. Books: Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion (SUNY, 2003), and The Corona Conspiracy: Combatting Disinformation about the Coronavirus (Kindle, 2020). 