| 5. Can any theory about supposed
processes of origins--for example, the beginning of life or the origin of the solar
system--be tested in a way that might conclusively falsify the theory?
Answer: Theories about the beginning of the
world or of life generally cannot be tested experimentally. This is because nobody
observed or can repeat what happened in the ancient past history of the earth.
Since no humans were present at the beginning, no scientists could be on
hand to record the conditions and the events. Furthermore, those conditions and events
cannot be repeated experimentally. Therefore, the only evidence available is that found in
the present world--in the rocks, fossils and living things. The data collected by
observation and experiment in the present world, and advanced in support of one or the
other theory or origins, is circumstantial evidence.2
By "circumstantial" we mean that the meaning
or interpretation given to the data depends strongly on the assumptions
and presuppositions of the
interpreter. Furthermore, any objection raised against a theory of origins
can often be answered by some additional new assumption. And this new
assumption cannot be tested
experimentally either. Thus theories of origins, be they evolutionary or
creationist, cannot conclusively be proved false by experimental test.3 Therefore, they are strictly speaking outside the realm of scientific theories.
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