Probably the most common theme in the evolution vs. creation debate is the creationist argument that biological systems and units are too complex to have arisen by chance. A specific example argument along this line is how speciation is possible. The creationist would argue that the first rat must have evolved into the rat miraculously at the same time as another creature evolved into the rat in order for them to reproduce more rats. Another specific example along this line is the rise of specific structures like the eye and the wing. The creationist would argue that something like the eye would have required all the necessary components to assemble at the same time in order for the eye to exist. Both cases show a gross ignorance of the power of accumulation.
Why do creationists have such trouble understanding the concept of accumulation? It is literally in our faces every second of everyday of our lives.
Let's look at John Doe's life. John Doe didn't simply poof right into his mother's womb. He started out as a single cell. His physical being came into existence inside his mother's womb through the accumulation of cells through mitosis. After he was born, the knowledge of talking, walking, and eating didn't simply poof into his mind. He learned how to do those things one step at a time and through the power of accumulation he became a walking and talking toddler. As he grew up, his material possessions didn't simply poof into existence. Through time, his possessions accumulated. As he matured and pursued a career in engineering, the academic and life experiences required to go into this field didn't simply poof into existence. Rather, they accumulated through years of schooling and social interaction. He then got married and started a family of his own. His eventual family of 5 children didn't simply poof into existence. Rather, they came one by one, each came into existence through the same process as John did when he was in his mother's womb.
As a family of 7, they one day decided to take a vacation. They flew from Illinois to Virginia, took a train to Florida, took a bus to Miami, drove a rented car down to the Keys, walked to a ship yard, took a boat to half a mile out from an island, and swam the rest of the way to their vacation island. They got to the island through the power of accumulation of distance. They didn't simply decide to take a vacation on that island and poof their way there. Instead, they gained the distance inch by inch every step of the way. The means to which they took didn't simply poof into existence. The plane they flew in, the train and bus they rode in, the car they drove in, the shoes they walked in, the boat they rode in, and the flippers they swam with all were assembled piece by piece, all accumulated their parts into their whole.
By now, you should have the idea that practically everything in a person's life is gained through the power of accumulation. This nation's infrastructure didn't simply poof into existence. Every building, every house, every street, every sewer system, and every water pipe were all assembled piece by piece until they accumulated to what we have now. This nation's 350 million citizens didn't simply poof into existence. Instead, they arrived here through either immigration of natural birth until they accumulated to their number today.
Every system and every unit within that system that one can possibly fathom came about through the power of accumulation. Why on Earth, then, do creationists insist that the biological systems of the planet and the individual components of these systems were magically poofed into existence? Why do creationists have such trouble understanding the power of accumulation when it comes to biological diversity when everything else that we can directly observe came about through the power of accumulation?
PS - Ned the Nose's alter-ego's question of where to put this thread will not simply poof into existence. Rather, the question will come about through accumulating letters from the alphabet and arranged in a specific way. My answer of "where ever you think is best" will not simply poof into existence. Instead, each the sentence will come about through the power of accumulation by me typing each letter at a time until a proper sentence is assembled.
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