Overall, I’ve found that most of FWZ users are fairly intelligent, so I figured that this is as good a place to gather opinions as anywhere else.

A friend and I have recently been discussing evolution, and specifically how the general public perceives it. I’d like to hear what some of you have to say on the issue, especially your reasonings for your opinion, whether for or against.

I know some people have strong opinions on the issue, so I’ll remind everyone that this is a Civil Discussion thread. I look forward to hear your thoughts and opinions.

I don’t see it as a matter of belief – populations change genetically over time, that’s the fact of evolution (it can be observed and measured, it’s undeniable fact).

The theory of evolution exists to explain how that change occurs, describe the mechanisms underlying the process, and to allow us to make predictions regarding what other observations we might make of evolving populations.

man-man Posted:

I don’t see it as a matter of belief – populations change genetically over time, that’s the fact of evolution (it can be observed and measured, it’s undeniable fact).

This. Maybe it’s an American thing, not too many people in Europe doubt about evolution at all. Nobody gave a **** about Richard Dawkins and his atheist mission and creationism actually being offered as an alternative in the states to evolution shows what’s wrong in the U.S. of A. imo. Nuke the bible belt or something.

sdgrbbum09 Posted:

On one side, you have rich, pretentious, over-educated white people who say that everything started when a blob of **** in the middle of the universe that contained everything in the universe blew up and scattered said **** all over the universe which over a few billion years magically formed the earth (which is around 4.5 billion years old or so) and over billions of years, we evolved from fish.

On the other side, you have most of America; middle to lower clbum, less formally educated people who believe that about 5,000-10,000 years ago, some all-powerful, all-knowing presence just went “POOF” and bam, everything.

Both options sound like bull**** to me.

itt sdgrbbum09 mixes evolutionism and the big bang theory for no good reason whatsoever

sdgrbbum09 Posted:

over billions of years, we evolved from fish.

and?

We’re really very similar to fish – basic body plan of a spine down the middle, a head at one end and some limbs branching off is shared. You need some modification to the way a fish breaths to allow it to leave the water, and there are some other difficulties with locomotion and reproduction, but nothing inconceivable.

If you wanted to cite something that really sounds unbelievable (because it occurred over a span of time that’s far beyond the scale a human mind is equipped to think about) then you’d have to go for all life on Earth evolving from a unicellular organism.

I’m the nth cousin of the banana I ate earlier, where n is an extremely large number. Also the nth cousin of the tree outside my window, and the chicken in the fridge. Different n in each case, but it’s all one family tree. Log in to see images!

You mean nonsense like the Earth being a globe revolving around the Sun?

I believe that I’m not going to let myself get dragged into this discussion again.

MC Banhammer Posted:

I believe that I’m not going to let myself get dragged into this discussion again.

But it’s such a great discussion, how can you not love hearing all the same things over and over again? Log in to see images!

Now, some further contribution to stoke the fire advance the discussion… for anyone on the fence about whether they “believe in” evolution. Do we agree that heritable traits exist? (that children, broadly speaking, tend to resemble their parents more than they resemble random other members of the species) Do we agree that variation exists? (that different members of a population differ from one another) Finally, do we agree that there exist differences in fitness? (that some traits better equip an individual to survive, thrive and eventually breed than do other alternative traits)

If you agree that those three things exist, then evolution by natural selection is the logical consequence – variation means that different individuals have different traits, those with the better traits will survive and breed in greater numbers, their offspring will to some degree inherit those traits. That produces a changed population generation by generation – evolution. No explanation of the origin of life or the origin of the universe required; the theory is only concerned with how living things change, not where they come from.

Add to that some knowledge of genetics and you get the mechanism by which traits are pbumed between generations (genes in the gametes) and the mechanism by which variation is continually generated in the gene pool (mutation), and the only other required element is vast spans of time for mutation to produce advantageous new genes and selection to act to increase the prevalence of those genes.

If you don’t agree with any of the above, please make yourself known and form an orderly queue to be hit with the knowledge stick.

I agree with pretty much everything here. The theory of evolution is as much a theory as the theory that I(as all of us) die at some point. I mean there are almost 7 billion humans still alive, so clearly mortality hasn´t been proven 100 percent. Only thing that´s for sure is that 99.995%(random %) of humans have died, so it is just very probable that everyone dies, but not certain by any means.

Drakodan Posted:

Look at the Zebra. Black and white stripes. Why? It’s camoflauge. How exactly is black and white camoflauge? Because Lions are colourblind.

cool, didn’t know that