HURDLE NUMBER 54. THE “HALDANE’S DILEMMA” HURDLE.
J.B.S. Haldane was the Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution from 1930 to 1932 and in 1933 he became full Professor of Genetics at University College London, where he spent most of his academic career. Four years later he became the first Weldon Professor of Biometry at University College London.).
Haldane was the first person to draw attention to a severe hurdle for Darwinism that has become known as “Haldane’s Dilemma”
Walter James ReMine, in his book The Biotic Message, published by St Paul Science, 1993, pages 208 to 236 provides a detailed explanation of Haldane’s Dilemma. I will paraphrase his argument:-
The evolutionary geneticist J.B.S. Haldane calculated that many species of higher vertebrates could not plausibly evolve (ie:- by Darwinian Natural Selection) in the available time. (Quoting ReMine directly) “Imagine a breeding population of 100,000 individuals. Imagine 99,998 have the old trait O, and the two (male and female) have the new trait N. Imagine trait N has just arisen from O by beneficial mutation. The evolutionary goal is to substitute trait N for trait O in the population. To accomplish this goal, DIFFERENTIAL SURVIVAL MUST ELIMINATE THE 99,998 TYPE O INDIVIDUALS AND ALL THEIR HEIRS - - - - THERE IS AN ENORMOUS COST INVOLVED. For every surviving type N individual, there are 49,999 type O individuals that must perish without heirs. THE POPULATION SIZE MUST BE REGENERATED FROM THE TWO SURVIVORS. - - - - - The results show that MANY HIGHER VERTEBRATES COULD NOT HAVE EVOLVED IN THE TIME ALLEGED BY EVOLUTIONISTS.” (My capitals and highlighting.)
Let me also quote from the Wikipedia article on Haldane’s Dilemma:- The article quotes Haldane himself:- “If - - - - the mean rate of gene substitution, as has been suggested, is one per 300 generations, it will take 300,000 generations to generate an inter-specific difference. It may take a good deal more.”
My comment:- Darwinians are asking us to believe something that is pretty implausible. You have a herd of (for example) 100,000 buffalo wandering the prairie. Two of these buffalo acquire by mutation a beneficial trait. Now miraculously all the rest of the herd (and their descendants) “goes extinct”, and the two buffalo with the beneficial mutation and their descendants survive and prosper. Even more implausibly, THIS TOTAL EXTINCTION EVENT HAS TO REPEAT ITSELF MILLIONS OF TIMES in the course of evolution. For a reptile to “evolve” into a mammal, a whole host of separate “beneficial mutations” are required, EACH MUTATION REQUIRING ANOTHER TOTAL EXTINCTION EVENT! The same problem exists for land mammals “evolving” into whales, for land mammals “evolving” into bats, etc. - - - Obviously this scenario is ridiculous.
The Darwinians , however, have found a way of “wriggling out from under” Haldane’s Dilemma. They accept that Haldane’s Dilemma presents an insurmountable hurdle. In that case, what has to happen is that a SMALL group “breaks away” from the herd, and becomes “genetically isolated”. In that case, when two members of the “mini-herd” acquire the beneficial mutation, the rest of the “mini-herd” has to go extinct. Because it is only a “mini-herd”, this total extinction (of only – let’s say – a hundred animals) is less implausible. This is the argument that Darwinians use to “wriggle out from under” Haldane’s Dilemma. Unfortunately, this argument is irredeemably bogus.
The first problem with this argument is that beneficial mutations are extremely rare. Most mutations are harmful. In a large herd of 100,000 animals, the chances of getting the same beneficial mutation TWICE are – let’s say – fair. However, in a herd of ONLY A HUNDRED ANIMALS, the chances of getting the same beneficial mutation TWICE (ie:- for one male and one female), are extremely remote.
The second problem with this argument is that THE MAIN HERD THAT WAS LEFT BEHIND (when the “mini-herd” “broke away” from the main herd) STILL HAS TO GO COMPLETELY EXTINCT. The “mini-herd breakaway” theory hasn’t actually solved the problem at all! Even on the “mini-herd breakaway” theory, we still have to hope for MILLIONS OF TOTAL SPECIES EXTINCTION EVENTS in order for evolution to “work”.
The fact is that Haldane’s Dilemma, although put forward by a genuine believer in evolution, is AN ABSOLUTELY INSURMOUNTABLE HURDLE FOR EVOLUTION. Once Haldane’s Dilemma is “taken on board”, it becomes clear that EVOLUTION BY RANDOM MUTATIONS COULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED.
Here are some further quotes that substantiate my above argument:-
The following quote is from the book Is Evolution a Myth? A debate Between Douglas Dewar (Fellow of The Zoological Society) and L. Merson Davies (D.Sc., Ph.D.) and Professor J.B.S. Haldane, Published by C. A. Watts/The Paternoster Press, London, 1949, page 72:-
Davies to Haldane:- Davies quotes Haldane who has suggested that evolution requires “an isolated locality”, and that “a major step is very unlikely in a large population.”
The next quote is from the book – The Encyclopedia of Evolution, by Richard Milner, published by Facts on File, 1990, page 451, Entry – Wagner (Moritz) – Founder of Isolation Theory:-
“Wagner(’s) - - - - - law of migration - - - - only when small populations are geographically isolated - - - - can new species arise. Isolation, he wrote, is the necessary condition for natural selection. - - - - Organisms which never leave their ancient area of distribution will never change. - - - - Revived by Ernst Mayr (who was Professor Emeritus in The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University) 75 years later, the idea that small isolated populations fostered speciation became part of The Synthetic Theory.”
The next quote is from the book The Science of God, by Gerald Schroeder (He worked five years on the staff of the MIT physics department. He was a member of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.), published by Free Press, 2009, pages 129 to 130:-
The author discusses population size in relation to evolution. “Increasing the herd size - - - provides a - - - - increase in the number of mutations per generation. However, more generations are required for each mutation to spread through the herd. Evolutionists talk of genetic bottlenecks, where small (breakaway) herds undergo large mutational changes. The herd’s small size allows the mutation to spread rapidly. But THE SMALLER THE HERD, THE FEWER THE NUMBER OF MUTATIONS PER GENERATION, AND THEREFORE THE MORE GENERATIONS REQUIRED FOR THE MUTATION TO SPREAD THROUGH THE HERD.” (My capitals.)