ERVs Yet Again: Short Answers. (Follow the Links).

 

https://barryhisblog.blogspot.com/p/ervs-yet-again-short-answers-follow.html

ERVs (Endogenous RetroViruses) provide slam-dunk evidence for the common ancestry of different "kinds" or species of animals (notably humans and chimps).

An explanation is given in the answer #1 of my FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) @ https://barryhisblog.blogspot.com/p/what-is-case-for-common-descent-from.html.
A link to answers to other common questions is provided at the top of all my pages, as "ERV FAQ", (https://barryhisblog.blogspot.com/p/endogenous-retroviruses-frequently.html)

One common objection to this evidence is that ERVs could just as well have been designed into our genomes by an unnatural magic man using his ju-ju. This "hypothesis" raises a number of questions that are listed on this page, https://barryhisblog.blogspot.com/p/in-science-we-apply-principle-of.html. Links from that page go to the invariably inadequate attempts to answer the questions in support of the "hypothesis", and to my own answers to them.

Another objection is that elements of ERVs have been found to have function, and this negates their value as evidence for common ancestry. This is reminiscent of Payley's "watch on the heath" argument, long discredited, that if something appears to have been designed, there must have been a designer, and the designer must have been said unnatural magic man using his ju-ju. No. The case for common ancestry from ERVs does not depend on all this genetic material being "junk". To pretend that it does is an example of a fake (dishonest) straw-man argument. Nobody says this. But no complete, replication competent ERVs exist in our genomes (although some have been reconstructed from their remains). A complete retroviral provirus in any of your gametes could never produce any viable progeny. Evolution tinkers with what it finds, and if some sub-elements of retroviral genetics can prove useful, they will become adopted - "exapted" is the technical word, and it is a well understood process. Further notes on this question can be found @ https://barryhisblog.blogspot.com/p/the-not-junk-efence.html

As always, objecting "arguments" ignore the blaring evidence that ERVs derive from ancestral retroviral integrations with our genomes. See https://barryhisblog.blogspot.com/p/why-do-virologists-and-geneticists.html

Upon the idea that an unnatural magic man, falsifying evidence and using ju-ju to try and fool us into falsely believing what should be blindingly obvious, is, as  Galileo said, “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” And I concur.
 

Thank you for your attention.