What to tell those who think that the theory of evolution is impossible...

[The Night Owl]

In a matter of mere months, the human embryo goes from looking like this...



...to looking like a human being, and yet some can't bring themselves to believe that organisms, over the course of millions of years, may have evolved from other different organisms.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. The only thing I tell them,

and it's wholly in the interests of saving my beloved planet, is to go fuck themselves.

[tocqueville]

2. if they start doing it

they won't evolve. So everybody will be happy

[Carla in Ca]

26. So eloquent, Leftie

and so true. How about the story we saw a few weeks ago about the elephants in China and India born tuskless. Evolution, it is called evolution.

[ismnotwasm]

3. Most of them are ignorant.

They keep bringing up monkeys, for gods sake. They think that evolution is about evolving from monkeys. It's like this big hump they can't get over. I've met ones that have had basic biology, and still have that "monkey" crap in their heads. I can't talk to 'em, myself. Strange folk, some of them well meaning, just stupid-- facts don't seem to affect them in the least.

[tuvor]

4. As a Christian, I have no problem believing in evolution.

After all, God can put us here however he bloody well wants. (Frankly, I really don't CARE how we got here, but I digress.)

One thing I never understood is why don't we have abundant, teeming scads of fossilized examples of species that cross different classes (Phyla? Class? Order?)...Fish-birds and bird-reptiles and reptile-mammals, that sort of thing. And did they ever find the "missing link" or is that a red herring?

"What's the scoop?" asked the ignoramus.

[opiate69]

9. Oops..

Got ahead of myself.. nevermind..

[tuvor]

10. Damn, I missed it!

;)

[NorCalDem]

11. Good for you!

I, for one, am not religious but always thought that the debate between religion and evolution is a waste of breath. Why bother, believe what you believe, or mix the two, whatever your preference. The point of both is to be a good person, and care for future generations because they control our destiny.

Seriously, "why can't we all just get along?"

:D

[fujiyama]

29. I agree it's a pointless argument. There really isn't much of a debate.

Frankly I'm not interested in arguing with those that refuse to see or take the time to understand science. I have no problem with religious beliefs, even if I personally find them silly. The issue is when they want to push their beliefs as science. That's what pisses me off.

[HawkerHurricane]

13. They found lots of missing links

and it's also a red herring.

The original 'missing link' was supposed to be between human and ape... but it turns out that we aren't descended from apes, but rather both apes and man are descended from a common ancestor. We are cousins with, not descended from, apes.

[Crunchy Frog]

14. If they were to find

"abundant, teeming scads of fossilized examples of species that cross different classes (Phyla? Class? Order?)...Fish-birds and bird-reptiles and reptile-mammals, that sort of thing" it would pretty much disprove the theory of evolution.

My brain isn't working well enough to explain it right now, but maybe later.

[tuvor]

16. Thanks, I'll watch this space.

But don't knock yourself out. AFAIC, the main point is that we're here anyway.

[Crunchy Frog]

19. Okay, found some stuff. Probably far more than you ever wanted to see. :)

Basically, there is a certain structure to the pylogenetic tree which is consistent with Darwinian common descent. It looks something like this:



As you can see, it exists in something called a "nested hierarchy", or groups within groups. The lines in the tree only meet where they branched off from a common ancestor. Therefore there are, for example, many fossils of creatures that have a mix of mammalian and reptilian characteristics, and many of creatures with a mix of avian and reptilian characteristics. This is predicted by the theory of common descent. However, you will never find any fossils that have mixtures of avian and mammalian characteristics, as these classes evolved long after the existance of their last common ancestor.

This is a (rather large) page that somewhat explains the concept.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/section1.html#nested_hierarchy

I'm not an evolutionary biologist, not even close, so there are many people on this site who can do a far better job of explaining this than I can.

I would reccomend the Talk.Origins site if you are interested in learning more about evolutionary biology. It is very informative.

Edit: There are fossils of "bird-reptiles" and "reptile-mammals" since both mammals and birds are descended from reptiles. I spoke too soon in that earlier post. There are however, no "fish-birds". If they were to find one of those, it would throw a major monkey wrench into evolutionary theory.

[tuvor]

20. Hey, you said your brain wasn't working well tonight!

And now, neither is mine.

I WILL look closer at this tomorrow. Thank you!

[Crunchy Frog]

22. Brain not working.

Mr. search engine is though.

If you have any questions tomorrow I will see if I can answer them.

[BlueIris]

5. Evolution is not a theory. It's a fact. Natural selection is the theory.

Tell them that the fossil record is observable proof of evolution. Explain that Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection is one way to explaining how a part of that evolution occurred. Not that any of that is going to matter to brainwashed fools who never had the opportunity to receive an education substantive enough to elucidate these ideas to them.

Sorry for the vast over-simplication in this post. I'm sure YOU and other contributors "get" this. I was just thinking about how you can best explain this to the creationist idiots.

[zeemike]

12. Don’t you mean that Natural selection is a fact

and that Evolution is a theory?

Natural selection can be proven with simple experiments Evolution can not.

[BlueIris]

25. No. I meant what I posted. It's how my anthropology professor

told me to address "creationists" when they started spewing their vile shit at me.

[zeemike]

28. Well I have no vile shit to spew

But natural selection can be proved and has been well known in animal husbandry for centuries, Selective breeding is how we get such animals as the Taco Bell Chiwawa.

However no one has demonstrated evolution so it must be a theory until science can demonstrate it as a fact.

[Atman]

6. I simply ask them...

...why the bloody hell they think that a floating ghost snapping his fingers and creating everything in six days is any more possible than a fish growing legs over a two million year span.

Some people just need crutches. I think much of it is just seeking affirmation that their entire upbringing wasn't a lie -- church, bedtime prayers, Jesus, all that stuff mommy and daddy told me. Mommy and daddy wouldn't have lied to me, would they? Apparently it is safer for them to just keep believing a fairy tale no one can disprove. They got hosed pretty badly on the Santa Claus and Easter Bunny things.

[zeemike]

7. Why do you need to tell them anything?

Doesn’t mean that much to me, does it mean that much to you?
Love lost at such a cost, give me things that won’t get lost
Like a stone that won’t get tossed rolling home to you.

(My apologies to Neil Young)

[Jersey Ginny]

8. Evolution is elegant and beautiful

To me, it is a sign that there is a god.

[NEOBuckeye]

17. That's how I see it as well. n/t

[Rex]

15. Just tell them Intelligent Design and Evolution are one and the same.

If God truly exists beyond time and space then it was all planned to happen, every single mutation and adaptation.

[dweller]

18. Ontogeny

Phylogeny ...


they will never get beyond the E's in the dictionary/encyclopedia, i guess.
dp

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NAO]

23. Tell them, "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"

Haeckel's theory

Ontogeny is the development of the embryos of a given species; phylogeny is the evolutionary history of a species. The theory claims that the development of the embryo of every species repeats the evolutionary development of that species fully. Or otherwise put: each successive stage in the development of an individual represents one of the adult forms that appeared in its evolutionary history. Haeckel formulated his theory as such: "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny". This notion later became simply known as recapitulation.

Recapitulation theory at Wikepedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontogeny_recapitulates_phylogeny

[kweerwolf]

24. Tell 'em if they don't believe in evolution ...

... they should hand over their opposable thumbs now!

[the_spectator]

27. How about tell them about the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

And being touched by his Noodly Appendage?

Seems to me they're likely prospects for conversion to the religion. The more we can get to abandon Jebus and his Pa for the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the better: divide and conquer!

[fighttheevilempire]

30. I know I evolved...

the right wing fundamentalists, however definitely did NOT evolve. Their thought processing capability is clearly lacking. You can see this evolution take place in some SCOTUS judges over the course of their appointments as they become more liberal.