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Originally Posted by Shades

Photon, I'm not close-minded. Although I believe in ID, it doesn't mean I don't continue to read and research new journals. I'll give those two books a read.

Ok, post if you have questions about what they're saying or you read interesting points that would be worth talking about.

Incidentally ID's biggest proponents actually accept evolution at above a species level, common descent, and an old earth.

Originally Posted by Shades

For life to form from cosmic ejaculate billions of years ago, entirely new species would have to be created.

Not only new species, but new forms at every level of classification. But it's like a tree, the changes at each stage set the stage for all the subsequent changes. Mammals only evolved once, and all mammals now are descended from that first population that branched off. The differences along each step aren't that significant, but they add up.

You speak of a genetic barrier, but there isn't anything to prevent those changes from continuing. That in my mind should be a line of research for any ID proponent, finding the genetic mechanism to stop change. Finding that would be huge for them. But if they are looking for that, they're certainly keeping it quiet (or I suspect they aren't because understanding genetics means understanding that such a thing doesn't exist).

Originally Posted by Shades

What we have today is proof of evolution below a species level which, doesn't prove anything at all about the origin of life.

We have evidence far beyond the species level.

And the origin of life is irrelevant in a discussion about evolution. For the purposes of a discussion about evolution it doesn't matter if we say the first life arose naturally, was created by some deity, or was planted on earth by advanced aliens. A discussion about the origins of life is separate.