who honestly doesn't believe in evolution?

[kwc57]

So who doesn't believe in evolution? Not abiogenesis, but evolution.

I find it really hard to grasp that some people don't believe in evolution, which is proven, and I think many of those who question "evolution" are actually questioning abiogenesis:

Abiogenesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Proven? Keep in mind that it is called the THEORY of evolution for a reason. As a theory, it is the most plausable explanation available thru the scientific method.

 

[konradv]

I was going to start a thread like this one, so instead let me contribute here.

First, why is evolution an article of faith? Why do you ask if I "Believe" in it? Is it like time and gravity?

Second, I want someone to explain to me how evolution works, how is it propagated, what is the mechanism driving it forward? I'm especially interested in a coherent explanation of "Random mutation"

Third, have human beings stopped evolving? What's next, genetic prosthetics, clairvoyance, wings?

1) It isn't, it's a matter of scientific investigation.

2) There are all sorts of textbooks on evolution. You should review them BEFORE posting, to make sure you have a basic grasp of the subject.

3) No we haven't stopped evolving, but if I could answer part two, I guess we'd have already developed clairvoyance.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I was going to start a thread like this one, so instead let me contribute here.

First, why is evolution an article of faith? Why do you ask if I "Believe" in it? Is it like time and gravity?

Second, I want someone to explain to me how evolution works, how is it propagated, what is the mechanism driving it forward? I'm especially interested in a coherent explanation of "Random mutation"

Third, have human beings stopped evolving? What's next, genetic prosthetics, clairvoyance, wings?

1) It isn't, it's a matter of scientific investigation.

2) There are all sorts of textbooks on evolution. You should review them BEFORE posting, to make sure you have a basic grasp of the subject.

3) No we haven't stopped evolving, but if I could answer part two, I guess we'd have already developed clairvoyance.

I didn't think you'd be too helpful.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

So who doesn't believe in evolution? Not abiogenesis, but evolution.

I find it really hard to grasp that some people don't believe in evolution, which is proven, and I think many of those who question "evolution" are actually questioning abiogenesis:

Abiogenesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Proven? Keep in mind that it is called the THEORY of evolution for a reason. As a theory, it is the most plausable explanation available thru the scientific method.

This is true. In science "theory" means that it provides predictions that can be verified through experimentation and observation.

I think at this point denying the mechanism of evolution has the credibility of claiming the Earth is flat. We can actively observe evolution of single cell organisms, and evolution of bird, fish, and other species brought on by various environmental changes are well documented.

The two big issues are speed and species differentiation.

It is turning out that the speed changes can occur is actually much faster than expected. I was listening to a "Stuff You Should Know" podcast the other day on Epigeneteics which went over studies that had noticed considerable genetic changes happening in humans in as few as two generations. The podcast title is "Can your grandfather's diet shorten your life?" if you want to look it up in iTunes.

Speed has always been an issue as natural selection is a slow process, meaning evolution would require a VERY long time span in which to work.

Species differentiation is a matter of perspective. On a macro scale there's not a lot of different types of life on Earth. We designate a new organism a new species once it has enough different characteristics from exsisting life.

 

[Againsheila]

Belief is for religions. I accept the absolutely overwhelming evidence that evolution has occurred, is presently continueing, and will continue as long as life exists. This evidence is present in the rocks beneath our feet, in every cell in our bodies.

At present, we have enough knowledge concerning the processes of evolution to actually engineer living organisms. Of all the scientific theories present today, evolution is the most robust.

How are we "evolving" today? What has changed in the human body over the last 100 years?

Not that I don't necessarily believe in evolution, just that I don't necessarily believe in evolution.....yeah, I meant to say that.

They say dinosaurs evolved into birds.....what evolved into us? It wasn't the apes, they now say they are on a whole different line....

Did we come from humas erectus? How come some of us are white, some are black? Was that evolution, or just a fluke?

Why do the orientals have slanted eyes? Why do we have big noses? <yes, the orientals call us big noses>

What caused that particular "evolution". If it was the sun, wouldn't you think it's be the Norwegians that had the slanted eyes?

Sorry, I have a lot of question, none of which are answered by the simple word "evolution".

Oh, and to the one that doesn't believe in the supernatural......I've experienced that for myself...I haven't experienced evolution...does that mean I should believe in the supernatural but not evolution?

I'm not saying I believe in ghosts, but when my sister was pregnant with her first child, I was two blocks away and could hear her talk. I heard her say "Lemonade? Lemonade will be fine." This was at 2:30 in the morning, I decided that was God telling me not to worry about her and to go to sleep. Next morning, 8am, I walked to the hospital, she still hadn't had the baby and there was an empty pitcher by her bed. I kept looking at it while she was talking to me and finally she said, "Is something wrong?" I asked her if she had lemonade around 2:30 in the morning and she said, "How did you know?" Apparently her water pills made her so dehydrated, they wanted her to drink a lot of liquids so they gave her an entire pitcher of lemonade and made her drink it all.

How did I know? IMO, it was supernatural, meaning other than the 5 senses we all have.

 

[Mr Natural]

Belief is for religions. I accept the absolutely overwhelming evidence that evolution has occurred, is presently continueing, and will continue as long as life exists. This evidence is present in the rocks beneath our feet, in every cell in our bodies.

At present, we have enough knowledge concerning the processes of evolution to actually engineer living organisms. Of all the scientific theories present today, evolution is the most robust.

How are we "evolving" today? What has changed in the human body over the last 100 years?

Not that I don't necessarily believe in evolution, just that I don't necessarily believe in evolution.....yeah, I meant to say that.

They say dinosaurs evolved into birds.....what evolved into us? It wasn't the apes, they now say they are on a whole different line....

Did we come from humas erectus? How come some of us are white, some are black? Was that evolution, or just a fluke?

Why do the orientals have slanted eyes? Why do we have big noses? <yes, the orientals call us big noses>

What caused that particular "evolution". If it was the sun, wouldn't you think it's be the Norwegians that had the slanted eyes?

Sorry, I have a lot of question, none of which are answered by the simple word "evolution".

Oh, and to the one that doesn't believe in the supernatural......I've experienced that for myself...I haven't experienced evolution...does that mean I should believe in the supernatural but not evolution?

I'm not saying I believe in ghosts, but when my sister was pregnant with her first child, I was two blocks away and could hear her talk. I heard her say "Lemonade? Lemonade will be fine." This was at 2:30 in the morning, I decided that was God telling me not to worry about her and to go to sleep. Next morning, 8am, I walked to the hospital, she still hadn't had the baby and there was an empty pitcher by her bed. I kept looking at it while she was talking to me and finally she said, "Is something wrong?" I asked her if she had lemonade around 2:30 in the morning and she said, "How did you know?" Apparently her water pills made her so dehydrated, they wanted her to drink a lot of liquids so they gave her an entire pitcher of lemonade and made her drink it all.

How did I know? IMO, it was supernatural, meaning other than the 5 senses we all have.

Evolutionary changes in 100 years?

You can't be serious.

 

[Againsheila]

Belief is for religions. I accept the absolutely overwhelming evidence that evolution has occurred, is presently continueing, and will continue as long as life exists. This evidence is present in the rocks beneath our feet, in every cell in our bodies.

At present, we have enough knowledge concerning the processes of evolution to actually engineer living organisms. Of all the scientific theories present today, evolution is the most robust.

How are we "evolving" today? What has changed in the human body over the last 100 years?

Not that I don't necessarily believe in evolution, just that I don't necessarily believe in evolution.....yeah, I meant to say that.

They say dinosaurs evolved into birds.....what evolved into us? It wasn't the apes, they now say they are on a whole different line....

Did we come from humas erectus? How come some of us are white, some are black? Was that evolution, or just a fluke?

Why do the orientals have slanted eyes? Why do we have big noses? <yes, the orientals call us big noses>

What caused that particular "evolution". If it was the sun, wouldn't you think it's be the Norwegians that had the slanted eyes?

Sorry, I have a lot of question, none of which are answered by the simple word "evolution".

Oh, and to the one that doesn't believe in the supernatural......I've experienced that for myself...I haven't experienced evolution...does that mean I should believe in the supernatural but not evolution?

I'm not saying I believe in ghosts, but when my sister was pregnant with her first child, I was two blocks away and could hear her talk. I heard her say "Lemonade? Lemonade will be fine." This was at 2:30 in the morning, I decided that was God telling me not to worry about her and to go to sleep. Next morning, 8am, I walked to the hospital, she still hadn't had the baby and there was an empty pitcher by her bed. I kept looking at it while she was talking to me and finally she said, "Is something wrong?" I asked her if she had lemonade around 2:30 in the morning and she said, "How did you know?" Apparently her water pills made her so dehydrated, they wanted her to drink a lot of liquids so they gave her an entire pitcher of lemonade and made her drink it all.

How did I know? IMO, it was supernatural, meaning other than the 5 senses we all have.

Evolutionary changes in 100 years?

You can't be serious.

Did you read the post before mine?

is presently continueing

If it's continuing, wouldn't you think there would be some changes in 100 years? If not, how many years? We can go back thousands and still not find changes in humans.

 

[Kalam]

Second, I want someone to explain to me how evolution works, how is it propagated, what is the mechanism driving it forward? I'm especially interested in a coherent explanation of "Random mutation"

"Random mutation"?

Are you familiar with natural selection and adaptation?

 

[Kalam]

Did you read the post before mine?

is presently continueing

If it's continuing, wouldn't you think there would be some changes in 100 years? If not, how many years? We can go back thousands and still not find changes in humans.

Not really. If I recall correctly, each of our predecessors in the Homo genus was predominant for at least several hundred thousand years.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Sorry, I have a lot of question, none of which are answered by the simple word "evolution".

So do scientists. That's why its an ongoing area of research.

We can document changes, and quick ones at that, in various animals. General rule of thumb is the simplier the organism, the faster it adapts. Single cell organisms go through multiple generations in the space of hours and can adapt fairly quickly. You should look up the Great Influenza, which turned deadly very quickly by evolving to make the jump to humans. Then it just evolved a different way and went after other animals.

Questions about evolution in people are particularly sticky as the whole topic is politically charged. It isn't just fundamentalist Christians who oppose the research. Take your post, replace all references to people with birds, and most folks would consider you to be talking about 4-5 different species. For political purposes, we treat all human beings as a single species where for any other animal, we would not.

For the record: There's a good reason we do that.

My personal view on the topic is that evolutionary mechanism itself is highly biblical. Evolution helps the Noah's Ark story make sense, as it no longer requires Noah to have saved 2 to 7 of every animal currently on Earth. A healthy sample of the ecology of his day could have produced what we have now. On top of that, Jesus himself teaches us God cares about even the Sparrows. Wouldn't he have given them the ability to adapt to a changing world?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

If we evolved from the oceans how come we can only drink fresh water?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Second, I want someone to explain to me how evolution works, how is it propagated, what is the mechanism driving it forward? I'm especially interested in a coherent explanation of "Random mutation"

"Random mutation"?

Are you familiar with natural selection and adaptation?

I'm familiar with the fairy tale I learned about how a species magically obtains a useful genetic deformity. I was hoping someone would walk me through an example of how this happened

 

[zzzz]

Sorry, I have a lot of question, none of which are answered by the simple word "evolution".

For political purposes, we treat all human beings as a single species where for any other animal, we would not.

For the record: There's a good reason we do that.

For factual purposes a species is generally defined as a group of living organisms that are capable of interbreeding and producing a fertile offspring. Homo sapiens (the human race) fit both of these criteria therefore we are all the same species.

 

[zzzz]

Second, I want someone to explain to me how evolution works, how is it propagated, what is the mechanism driving it forward? I'm especially interested in a coherent explanation of "Random mutation"

"Random mutation"?

Are you familiar with natural selection and adaptation?

I'm familiar with the fairy tale I learned about how a species magically obtains a useful genetic deformity. I was hoping someone would walk me through an example of how this happened

Do you know anything about cancer and how cancer cells are created?

 

[Kalam]

Second, I want someone to explain to me how evolution works, how is it propagated, what is the mechanism driving it forward? I'm especially interested in a coherent explanation of "Random mutation"

"Random mutation"?

Are you familiar with natural selection and adaptation?

I'm familiar with the fairy tale I learned about how a species magically obtains a useful genetic deformity. I was hoping someone would walk me through an example of how this happened

Organisms A and B both belong to the same species but have slight differences (as all individual organisms do.) Organism A's structure gives it slightly better access to food than Organism B. Organism A is more likely to live, reproduce, and pass on its useful genetic traits. The same scenario plays out with the next generation of organisms, and the next, and the next ad infinitum. No magic involved. Nature favors those organisms whose "mutations" allow them to adapt to their habitats more successfully than their peers.

 

[Pappadave]

Is there anything in our universe that is immutable, irrevocable, and eternal? I know only one. Change will happen. That is the only hard fact, the only Permanent "Law". Everything else is theory, hypothesis. Some are better than others, some are foolish, none are proven fact. All require "faith" to be accepted. Pappadave.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

"Random mutation"?

Are you familiar with natural selection and adaptation?

I'm familiar with the fairy tale I learned about how a species magically obtains a useful genetic deformity. I was hoping someone would walk me through an example of how this happened

Do you know anything about cancer and how cancer cells are created?

They're mostly caused by viruses.

So a gamma ray shoot out from a supernova and when it lands here it's either cancer or it changes a penguin from wings to fins?

 

[HUGGY]

It is mind numbing to read some of the posts on this thread.

Access to food is only one important factor to the survival of a certain strain of species. There is also the ability to avoid being food as well as the ability to breath. The earths atmosphere composition has changed several times over the last several billion years. Access to oxygen has driven life in and out of the ocean as the level of breathable air has changed. Much of the pressure to survive has been purely geological as massive volcanoes, plate tectonics, floods, ice ages and impacts from extraterrestrial visitors such as asteroids and comets.

 

[Liberty]

evolution is real, and God created evolution. problem solved.

 

[The Rabbi]

So who doesn't believe in evolution? Not abiogenesis, but evolution.

I find it really hard to grasp that some people don't believe in evolution, which is proven, and I think many of those who question "evolution" are actually questioning abiogenesis:

Abiogenesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Evolution has only been proven to exist INSIDE a species. There is no evidence that humans or animals have evolved from a totally different species.

This.
There is no evidence for one species becoming another. Biologists do not buy classic Darwinian theory.