Kamil Pasha

Adnan Oktar (aka Harun Yahya), the Turkish creationist cult leader, who sued to close down the world-renowned scientist Richard Dawkins’ website, has hatched another wild attention-seeking scheme. He has offered to pay 10 trillion Turkish lira to anyone “who produces a single intermediate-form fossil demonstrating evolution” – a sum roughly equal to £4.4 trillion. Two questions immediately come to mind. One, does he have that kind of money and, if so, how did he get it? Two, how does he define “intermediate-form fossil”?

If you’re already counting your money by planning to present him with Archeopterix (wings and feathers of a bird; tail and teeth of a lizard/dinosaur), you’re out of luck because here’s his definition of an “intermediate form fossil”:

“If evolution had taken place, then there should be millions of fossils showing that living things assumed their present forms on a stage-by-stage basis. The fossil record should contain strange creatures with organs not fully-developed, with pathological characteristics, with features belonging to many different species. Specimens unearthed from beneath the ground should bear the signs of a strange world like that of the Island of Dr Moreau, and fossils showing that strange creatures like those on the island had once existed should frequently be found.”

“The fact is that the living things referred to as transitional forms by evolutionists would have been very odd-looking entities, with limbs protruding from the most unlikely places, with ears where their eyes ought to be, legs protruding from their ears, with fins on one side of their bodies and legs on the other.” In fact, he explicitly rejects Archaeopteryx as an intermediate fossil because it “is a flawless bird with perfect wings and a perfect flight system”. (his quote is taken from this article, which is a debate between Inayat Bunglawala and Harun Yahya about evolution and the origins of life from a Muslim perspective.)

Yahya’s definition describes a life form from Hollywood (Revenge of Spiderman, The Creature in the Black Lagoon), not from Planet Earth. It demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of basic biology, not to mention the hubris of wilful ignorance. He is looking for a fantastic creature that could not have lived because it was imperfect. The assumption is that “intermediate” means “flawed and broken” and therefore rejected by nature and replaced by something better. Evolution as consumerism.

Here’s the article on the reward (in case you want to try your luck. Maybe with scissors and some glue?).  And click here for an entertaining response from scientists writing on the science blog Pharyngula. (Read the comments too.)

Tags: Education, Science //