Evolution and Creation

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

Possibly the best modern example of evolution. Here it is, fast evolution for dummies:
1) You get sick, with a bacterial infection (call it an ingrown toenail).
2) You take medicine for said infection (antibiotics).
3) Almost all of the bacteria die, about 99 of every 100. Don't call me on my numbers here.
4) The ones that survive breed, in or out of you, giving rise to a generation that carries their genes that allowed them to survive the medication.
5) They go on to infect others with their superior genetics. We get a stronger drug to fight them off. Rinse and repeat. Leading us to staph infections. Wonderful thing, isn't it?

Also:
1) Scientists watched anaerobic amboebae and aerobic bacteria undergo endosymbiosis in a lab
2) Field researchers watched a fire ant species evolve into a new species that has up to 500 queens in a colony
3) There is a part of Africa where "swimming lions," while not possessing webbed feet (the way the Indian fishing cat does), spend a lot of time hunting in prey water, and have evolved much more tolerant attitudes toward neighboring prides. This is a step toward the fishing cat, though it may go no farther.
4) The "cabbish," a cross between a radish and a cabbage, can breed with other cabbishes, but not with radishes or cabbages.

[Typhon2222]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

I would say the same thing about the evolution "theory"; it's not really worthy of theoryhood (which I know isn't a word). The thing about theories is that they have to be demonstrated experimentally. Unfortunately, you can't perform experiments on the past (unless someone manages to invent time travel). Evolution has not been demonstrated in the present either (evolutionists would of course say it's just too slow for that). Creation and Evolution are not worthy of being theories because their very nature makes them extremely hard to prove.

This claim rests on a faulty understanding of what constitutes proof and testability in the scientific method.

One doesn't need to be able to isolate phenomena in a laboratory and generate new results in order to test a theory.

One only needs to see whether a theory is in harmony with past evidence, and whether it can predict what future evidence will look like.

So, for example, if the theory of evolution posits that dinosaurs (excluding those that became birds) died off in a mass extinction approximately 60 million years ago, then this means that, when a bunch of rocks containing fossils is uncovered, and those rocks are dated on independent methods to, say, 30 million years ago, then the theory of evolution would predict that those rocks will NOT contain fossils of dinosaurs. That's a testable proposition.

As similarly historical sciences, geology, and astrophysics, work the same way. Those disciplines deal with past phenomena, not ones that can be generated in a laboratory. And similarly, they proceed by testing hypotheses against evidence that exists and evidence that will be uncovered. That neither of those can be produced in a laboratory setting is completely irrelevant.

[Muffinman]

Not sure if this has been posted, but here is a simple way to help explain evolution:
http://i.imgur.com/vlGpV.png

[dok]

Originally Posted by Typhon2222

This claim rests on a faulty understanding of what constitutes proof and testability in the scientific method.

True; however, it also rests on a lack of appreciation of how evolution has been tested.

Evolution had been observed experimentally plenty. There's an entire field (experimental evolution) named after this, in fact.

Unsurprisingly, the two species that have been most observed in this context are possibly the two most popular laboratory species on the planet: the common fruit fly, and the bacterium e coli. The long-term e coli experiment is probably the single strongest body of experimental evidence supporting evolution ever produced. The population that evolved the ability to process citrate was a really astounding discovery that gave deep insight into how evolution works.

[BassistofDoom]

Originally Posted by Muffinman

Not sure if this has been posted, but here is a simple way to help explain evolution:
http://i.imgur.com/vlGpV.png

This IS a really great way to explain it. Bacteria is also a good way to show how evolution occurs in society today.

[Son of Osiris]

How.

[Son of Osiris]

Sorry about that, computer froze and couldn't finish my thought.

[jschild]

So. Your computer froze. So you had to put up another post. Instead of editing it. Then you never say anything other than explaining why your other post has "How." as a sentence.

Why did you post again?

[Aldin]

Originally Posted by jschild

So. Your computer froze. So you had to put up another post. Instead of editing it. Then you never say anything other than explaining why your other post has "How." as a sentence.

Why did you post again?

Apparently it was to demonstrate he could complete a thought... though apparently not the thought he originally intended to complete.

~Aldin, who has that problem some... hey look, shiny!

[jschild]

I prefer Homer Simpsons...

"'*gasp.. This man is my exact double! *bigger gasp! That dog has a puffy tail! Hehehee, here, Puff! Here, Puff!'

[Gulp]

Originally Posted by Aldin

Apparently it was to demonstrate he could complete a thought... though apparently not the thought he originally intended to complete.

~Aldin, who has that problem some... hey look, shiny!

Share the shiny! Where is it? No hoarding of the shiny. And hello, Aldin. Long time...

[ABOMINATION]

Originally Posted by Aldin

~Aldin, who has that problem some... hey look, shiny!

Yes, I've struggled with that as well and...SQUIRREL!!!