How humans discovered fire (again)

Michael Denton has an article up on ENV

A Reasonable, but Incomplete, Account of How Humans Mastered Fire - Michael Denton - August 4, 2016 In short, the discovery of fire, our subsequent mastery of it, and the road it opened up to an advanced technology were only possible because of our inhabiting a world almost exactly like planet earth, complete with atmospheric conditions exactly as they are, along with the properties of carbon and oxygen atoms (and indeed many of the other atoms of the periodic table), and because we possessed a unique anatomical design (including the hand) uniquely fit for fire-making. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2016/08/a_reasonable_bu103048.html

bornagain77

a few notes:

Fire-Maker Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M337zLKamXE Dr. Denton Shows How We Were Designed to Transform the Earth -- with Fire - David Klinghoffer May 18, 2016 Excerpt: But even more strikingly, the design works two ways -- our planet was designed to be transformed by fire, and we were designed to accomplish this, with gifts unique to human beings. The new documentary from Discovery Institute, Fire-Maker: http://www.evolutionnews.org/2016/05/fire-maker_is_o102855.html The Fine-Tuning for Discoverability - Robin Collins - March 22, 2014 Excerpt: Examples of fine - tuning for discoverability. ,,A small increase in ? (fine structure constant) would have resulted in all open wood fires going out; yet harnessing fire was essential to the development of civilization, technology, and science - e.g., the forging of metals.,,, Going in the other direction, if ? (fine structure constant) were decreased, light microscopes would have proportionality less resolving power without the size of living cells or other microscopic objects changing.,,, Thus, it is quite amazing that the resolving power of light microscopes goes down to that of the smallest cell (0.2 microns), but no further. If it had less resolving power, some cells could not be observed alive. The fine - structure constant, therefore, is just small enough to allow for open wood fires and just large enough for the light microscope to be able to see all living cells. http://home.messiah.edu/~rcollins/Fine-tuning/Greer-Heard%20Forum%20paper%20draft%20for%20posting.pdf

Interestingly, for the last 10 million years the oxygen percentage has been holding steady around 21%. 21% happens to be a 'very comfortable' percentage for humans to exist. If the oxygen level was only a few percentage lower, large mammals would become severely hampered in their ability to metabolize energy; if only a few percentage higher, there would be uncontrollable outbreaks of fire across the land (Denton; Nature's Destiny).

Composition Of Atmosphere - Pie Chart and Percentages: http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfjps/1400/FIG01_010.JPG Discovering Fire: How We Became Pyrophiles - Michael Denton - April 21, 2016 And there is another factor that attenuates the vigor of the reaction between carbon and oxygen: the existence of a fire diluent in the atmosphere, nitrogen, which retards the rate at which flames spread. Without the relative inertness of the reactants, carbon and oxygen, and in the absence of a diluent in ambient conditions, the carbon-oxygen reaction would be an "explosive phenomenon" leading to catastrophic uncontrollable conflagrations that no hominin would ever have mastered. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2016/04/discovering_fir102784.html

Dr. Ross points out that the extremely long amount of time it took to prepare a suitable place for technologically advanced humans to exist in this universe, for the relatively short period of time that we can exist on this planet, is actually a point of evidence that argues strongly for Theism:

Life and Earth History Reveal God's Miraculous Preparation for Humans - Hugh Ross, PhD – video (2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Y496NYnm8 Anthropic Principle: A Precise Plan for Humanity By Hugh Ross Excerpt: Brandon Carter, the British mathematician who coined the term “anthropic principle” (1974), noted the strange inequity of a universe that spends about 15 billion years “preparing” for the existence of a creature that has the potential to survive no more than 10 million years (optimistically).,, Carter and (later) astrophysicists John Barrow and Frank Tipler demonstrated that the inequality exists for virtually any conceivable intelligent species under any conceivable life-support conditions. Roughly 15 billion years represents a minimum preparation time for advanced life: 11 billion toward formation of a stable planetary system, one with the right chemical and physical conditions for primitive life, and four billion more years toward preparation of a planet within that system, one richly layered with the biodeposits necessary for civilized intelligent life. Even this long time and convergence of “just right” conditions reflect miraculous efficiency. Moreover the physical and biological conditions necessary to support an intelligent civilized species do not last indefinitely. They are subject to continuous change: the Sun continues to brighten, Earth’s rotation period lengthens, Earth’s plate tectonic activity declines, and Earth’s atmospheric composition varies. In just 10 million years or less, Earth will lose its ability to sustain human life. In fact, this estimate of the human habitability time window may be grossly optimistic. In all likelihood, a nearby supernova eruption, a climatic perturbation, a social or environmental upheaval, or the genetic accumulation of negative mutations will doom the species to extinction sometime sooner than twenty thousand years from now. http://christiangodblog.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html Hugh Ross - The Anthropic Principle and The Anthropic Inequality - video (50:24 minute mark) https://youtu.be/mzIVrcSyprU?t=3028

And here is what Wernher von Braun, who harnessed fire in such a controlled way so as to land man on the moon, said in regards to the implications of it all

"Although I know of no reference to Christ ever commenting on scientific work, I do know that He said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Thus I am certain that, were He among us today, Christ would encourage scientific research as modern man’s most noble striving to comprehend and admire His Father’s handiwork. The universe as revealed through scientific inquiry is the living witness that God has indeed been at work." Wernher von Braun, rocket pioneer, leader of Apollo program. 1976.

bornagain77

The junk about accidentally benefiting from wildfires has NOTHING to do with the invention/discovery of methods by which a human could MAKE fire on demand using simple tools. NONE of the methods for MAKING fire has any connection with any other human activity. Excepting the chance discovery of striking sparks while shaping a spear head. But the much more universal method of friction between 2 sticks basically assumes that you already know how to rub sticks together. The only similar activity is using the "active" stick as a drill, and the "static" object is typically a shell or piece of ivory, not another stick. And you can spend all day twirling a stick against a sea shell and NEVER start a fire. Although Thogetta will probably be really impressed with the nifty necklace you made her. Hubba-hubba. mahuna