(a.k.a. Ad Hoc Hypothesis or Just-So Story)
A story made up to explain away experimentation and observation against a pet theory
An additional story invented to save the stories of a favored theory when new information conflicts with the favored theory
Using well-known radioisotope technology, scientists dated the Santo Domingo rock formation in Argentina at 212 million years old. This happened to agree well with a nearby geologic formation that was also radiometrically dated. The radiometric date of the Santo Domingo formation also agreed with the dating based on fossil wood found entombed in the rock. This wood came from an extinct species of tree conventionally believed to have existed around 200 million years ago.
Well-preserved and abundant tracks were also found in the rock, similar in appearance to bird tracks. The scientists, who assert that the earth is billions of years old, concluded that the footprints must have been made by an unknown species of a small bird-like dinosaur, because according to Darwinian theory birds weren’t supposed to be around 212 million years ago. The results were accepted and published by the science journal Nature in 2002. ~ http://creation.mobi/radiometric-backflip
In this example, the scientist explains away a surprise observation using an ad hoc rescue fallacy. The scientist claims a small bird-like dinosaur must have made the bird tracks. This way the scientist can maintain the evolutionistic paradigm.
In an ad hoc rescue fallacy, some part of a worldview doesn’t match reality, so the worldview-owner makes up ad hoc stories to rescue the worldview by explaining away reality. We see it repeatedly as evolution runs into conflicts with various observations, but scientists always make up a hypothesis to rescue evolution. The evolutionist then calls this storytelling “scientific progress” and “proof.”
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