Question

Why evolution is true?

Answer 1

one reason is We have lots and lots and lots of fossils of species that don’t exist anymore. Lots and lots and lots of them in just the superorder Dinsosauria alone.

Answer 2

would you elaborate a more structured reason why evolution is true. simply stating there are fossils doesn't mean anything.

Answer 3

Exploitation of the global economy, the coming collapse

Answer 4

A biologist can argue that evolution is true because mammals for example share 99% of there DNA with each other. This means a mouse is 99% identical in DNA makeup as humans. The common fruit fly is commonly used in experiments due to its shockingly similar DNA to that of humans. Essentially we are all made of the same things which is why Evolution has to be true........
As a molecular biologist..... I don't buy it. But that is just my personal belief. I am one of those "weird" biologist that disagrees with the statement "Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution."

Answer 5

Um.. Evolution isn't true, sorry guys

Answer 6

I personally consider the evidence in favor of evolution to be well documented, compelling and overwhelming. I also find it to be inconsistent with any other explanation of how life came to exist and why it is the way it is.

Moreover, I find it compelling at every level of biology, from the molecular level where mutations accumulate and provide a mechanism by which evolution occurs, to the ecosystem levels where selective pressures favor some species but not others.

If you would like to tell us that "evolution isn't true," please provide some rational, provable and well supported reason for your opinion instead of simply stating it.

Answer 7

um i agree with vepotter7 evolution is not true

Answer 8

I haven't seen any other explanation for how we got here that fits the evidence nearly as well.

There was a time when the dominant scientific theory was that each species was created separately in the space of a week, and the fossil record doesn't disprove that (scientists knew about fossils LONG before Darwin came up with his theory), but there are a lot of other things that don't fit the creationist theory. Observations of speciation in modern times, for example: scientists have observed two parts of a population stop breeding with each other, which is the first step in creating a new species. That doesn't fit with the theory that God created all species at the beginning of time and that they never changed since then. Then there are genetic similarities between species, and mutations, and huge physical changes in individual species even without speciation (just look at pretty much all of our crops)... none of those things fit the creationist model. If you try and make them fit, you end up with really convoluted explanations that just make God look like a complete idiot. Personally, I have more respect for Him than that. Many religious scientists just view evolution as the process by which God created life, and for many, learning about that process really strengthens their faith.

Another theory that comes up from time to time is the idea that life on earth came from outer space. If this is true, however, I suppose it must have evolved after it got here, since it's unlikely that anything other than a bacteria could have survived an interplanetary journey.

Answer 9

evolution isnt true no one came from a monkey or a gorrilla if that was true if you go to the zoo and you see a gorrilla and they get old they dont turn into a gorrilla do they no so whoever told you that is wrong noone became a human from a gorrilla

Answer 10

@darkb0nebeauty I'm PRETTY sure those observations are entirely consistent with the theory of evolution. Maybe you're just joking, though. It can be hard to pick up sarcasm on the internet.

Answer 11

if you want to use the if evolution is true, then why are there monkey argument

evolution does not in no way state we evolved from monkeys, it just says that we share a common ancestor that was not a monkey.

if you're familar with pokemon, think of the common ancestor as eevee
then a vaporeon would be a human and a flareon would be the monkey, and an umbreon might be a gorilla
the only issue with this analogy is that the evolution was instant

evolution is not instantenous
it would be ridiculous for a monkey to suddenly turn into a human being. that the equivalent of a banana turning into an apple.
it would take a lot of time and breeding if you really wanted a human like monkey
you would slowly breed the monkeys that demonstrate any human like qualities until we get up to the point where they seem more and more human

Answer 12

I agree with @completeidiot and @Calliope. Evolution HAS to be true due to the similarities between species. Interbreeding causes evolution and as completeidiot says, we evolved over a long time, possibly millions of years.

Answer 13

I think this question is answered as since this is a science board no one should come around saying it isn't so can we close this question?

Answer 14

Let me put it this way... if you were to go on the math board and post "why is multiplication true?" would you expect anyone, let alone a math student, to take the question seriously?

Evolution underlies just about everything in biology, and nobody in the scientific community has seriously debated whether evolution is true or not for well over 100 years. What they debate (and study) is how it works.

Answer 15

@Kovack957

For the sake of educational inquiry, provide some cogent explanation why this post should be closed. Consider that the whole time so far it has only been a demonstration that even educated people, including students, do not accept evolution to be true, and that no one has been able to coherently string a good argument what makes it to be so - that is why it is or it isn't.

Answer 16

I do believe in adaptation and evolution does make sense because depending on the change in environment an organism has to also change in order to survive, so I can see it. But I'm not too solid on the concept that humans evolved from apes....

Answer 17

@Calliope both you and I are a biology student. We are both convinced that the evolutionary theory is just about factual as it can get. The "math" poke you tried is funny, but realistically, mathematical theorems and laws or physical laws such as Boyle's Law, the Laws of thermodynamics, Einstein's Theory of Relativity do not suffer the same fate as evolution. It is constantly being heckled and denied even by college students, graduate students, post-graduate students, physicians, but specially by those who do not have the slightest clue of its mechanisms. This is despite that it withstood test time and time again, despite that its predictive power has unlocked many practical use in medicine and other scientific research.

Yes, I simply ask: why evolution is true? What does it mean when Theodosius Dobzhanky argues that "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" and why it is to be considered as the overarching theme? What is this theory about? What makes a biochemist such as Michael Behe - who is involved in the Dover Trial - or like one of Open Study user who claims to be a "molecular biologist" reject it? I call upon those who can argue why it is to be so, and the skeptics to provide their contentions.

Is it even considered to be at an educational inquiry at this point? You bet.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/114544/darwin-birthday-believe-evolution.aspx
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/08/11/put-the-blame-where-it-belongs/

Answer 18

The thing about only 4 in 10 believing in evolution is indeed surprising. I'd like to ask all those who DON'T believe in evolution, how are there so many species, let alone the subspecies and everything? Do you mean to say that the species were just created by god(I don't believe in god, but lets just assume he exists for ease of understanding) and then nothing has happened over time to change anything about them? So many changes have happened since the beginning of life on earth and all the living things on it HAVE to change themselves and adapt themselves. I'd be less surprised if someone told me 5 in 10 people don't believe in god.

Answer 19

in true life, evolution is not true because we're from the creation of God ..

Answer 20

Doesn't really surprise or bother me that a lot of people in the general population don't believe in evolution -- as someone who's just studying biology, I probably have a lot of strange ideas about e.g. car mechanics, basket weaving, and a wide range of other things that I do not study and know little about. It's possible that people are more willing to accept the existence of basic math because it's something that can be demonstrated in elementary school. You can't demonstrate evolution to children in a classroom setting. The time scales are (generally) huge, and the initial steps of speciation (namely, some sort of genetic isolation between parts of a population, which has been observed in the field) aren't necessarily visible to the naked eye. When two parts of a population stop breeding without any real difference in appearance, that's something that really excites scientists because they know what's going on, but the average person who has not been educated in science may not understand the significance.

Note, however, that it's pretty hard to find actual biologists who have a problem with the basic tenets of the theory, though plenty dispute precisely how it works (if we knew all the details, evolutionary biologists would be out of a job).

The thing is... there really isn't any alternative theory that has even a shred of evidence to support it. If anyone can come up with one, that person will win the Nobel Prize. Guaranteed. Because it would shake up EVERYTHING, and that's the dream of many, many scientists. Just imagine... your name in all the textbooks, infinite grant money for everything you want to do, honorary degrees from every university ever... who wouldn't leap at the chance? Unfortunately, evolution is a really solid theory. It does a great job of explaining what we see, we can use it to make predictions, we've seen it in action, and based on our current knowledge, there really don't seem to be any major gaps in it that might lead to the development of a new theory.

Answer 21

ang haba ng sinabi .. grabe!! hahahha

Answer 22

I agree with you @Calliope.

Answer 23

darkonebeauty d theory that we evolved from d pongidae family doesnt mean all gorillas will turn to homo sapiens before their death......it is a gradual process that spans years during which gradual mutation takes place till organisms very different from d original ones emerge....i dont buy it anyway...may have done so if an intermediary organism linking gorillas and humans existed

Answer 24

@loveth2093 (and others): We didn't evolve from gorillas... they're basically our cousins. Think about it: you probably look a lot like your cousins, and you certainly have a lot in common genetically, but did they give birth to you? Is your cousin spontaneously going to turn into you? Not likely. But it would be silly to claim that means you're not related.

And... if you're looking for a missing link, we've got a lot of fossils of primitive human-like animals with ape-like features, but the odds of finding every single link from something that looks more like a monkey/ape to modern humans are incredibly slim. What would be the odds of finding all of YOUR ancestors from the past 1000 years? Could you find every single one of their graves, let alone find enough IN their graves to prove they're your ancestors? You probably couldn't, even with grave stones and records to help you. Now consider how hard it is to find skeletons from millions of years ago. There's no way we can find them all, so there are always going to be gaps... and every time we find a new "missing link", that just opens up two more gaps, before and after it.

Another thing to consider is... if humans did NOT evolve from ape-like ancestors, where would you slot e.g. Neanderthals into the tree of life? What about other extinct species that share some human features, but also many ape-like features (e.g. Australopithecus)? And where did humans come from? If you say "God", that's not an explanation, because any decent religious scientist will still want to know how He did it. Then there would be the question of why God would create humans and apes separately but give them so much in common, even on the genetic level. It makes no sense: God's neither stupid nor lazy, and I would think that if He were going to go through the effort of creating species separately, He'd be a bit more creative and not copy an old design.

Really, the only explanation that DOES make sense is the one put forward by the theory of evolution, and it's an explanation that is entirely compatible with a belief in God.

Answer 25

thanks calliope....

Answer 26

is evoloution proven or a theory
because i am pretty shure that it is a theory. God has been proven so when you show me the facts about evolution that there was really a thing like that. (talking to everyone who belives in this no one in priticular) But when you or any one say we came from apes then where did the apes come from then so on and so forth and the ones who do not nessiserally belive in the ape theory then where did we come from

Answer 27

i want to ask how god has been proven but i know that will open up a pandora's box

Answer 28

i am not the type to be rude about it but everyone pretty much knows about noah's ark right well the bible has been out forever and then maby a few years ago they actually found noah's ark that is just one of the many things

Answer 29

@swami A few things: first of all, in biology, there are a lot of theories that have been, for all intents and purposes, proven. They're still called theories. It's just one of the weird things about biology that you have to get used to.

Second, the theory of evolution covers how species change and how they split to form new species, but it doesn't say much about how life began. Pretty much all you get from the theory of evolution is a lot of evidence that there was a single common ancestor, and some guesses as to what that species might have been like. How that single common ancestor came into being, though, is still being disputed and is covered by a bunch of different hypotheses.

Basically, the theory of evolution works just as well if the original common ancestor was placed there by God, aliens, or natural phenomena (which, again, could go back to God if you hold the belief that He defined the laws of physics set everything in motion at the beginning of time).

Answer 30

scientists try to determine why the way thing are the way they are and then try to explain it using evidence or observations like, why humans still have a tailbone or why whales have leg bones but no legs
this explanation is what we consider a theory, it's not entirely perfect, but with more observation and more evidence, they keep refining this theory in order for it to fit or make sense

if you want to go into the story of noah's ark, then the theory of evolution is trying to explain where the animals came from before they got to the ark
if you want to say that god just created them from nowhere, then evolution is basically explaining god's process in doing so

Answer 31

Darwin's Theory of Evolution is False. Even Darwin on his death bead said he didnt believe his theory and that all it was, was just a theory.

Now on the topic of Noah's Ark, It has been found, it is not just a bunch of wood shaped like a boat, it is a BOAT the same size and dimensions as described in the Bible. Would you like to see it? Here you go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y5ORpMTebI

Evolution the Theory, it only Theory, thats all, nothing more nothing less.

If there is a God (and clearly I do believe in Him) and He is smart enough to create all the universe, then clearly He is smart enough to get His book right. Written by men inspired by Holy Spirit.

First in order to prove that evolution is correct you have to prove that life came from nothing. That somehow there were some rocks and maybe some water and then somehow lightning stuck and life formed. CAN NOT HAPPEN.

LIFE MUST COME FROM LIFE!! That is the only way. Life can not come from NOTHING, it must come from LIFE!

God, who's name is YAHWEH by the way is Alive. He is life. He created all life. If you can prove the Bible wrong, (which no one has been able to do ever not once) then you can prove that God is either wrong or does not exist. However the Bible, from Noah forward to today is perfectly Historically Accurate, has scientific facts that no one would have known back in the days of Moses and has both medical facts and astrological facts that not one person on earth knew up until the last lets say 300 years.

The reason that evolution is completely wrong is that LIFE MUST COME FROM LIFE. Evolution teaches that life somehow came from nothing. IMPOSSIBLE!

Be blessed.

Answer 32

This question needs to be closed. I'm sick of getting notifications that someone answered this question. Can we close it please?

Answer 33

@swami You DO know that there are two separate creation stories in the Bible, right? Written by two different people, in different places, in different times. The second one is older, as I recall, but I might be wrong about that.

Much like the parables that Jesus used to teach his followers, neither story is historical fact. They are meant to teach truths about God and our relationship with Him and each other, and to let us know that God is behind everything... but NOT to teach us anything about biology. We can figure that out by ourselves, and I think God wants us to. Why else would He give us such big brains and so much curiosity? And why on earth would He want us to ignore the world around us, to blind ourselves to His creation (for it is His, whether He created everything individually, something that I find unlikely, or whether He set everything in motion at the beginning of time), in favour of a single, out-dated interpretation of a couple of Bible stories that were meant to teach something entirely different?

P.S. Darwin did get stuff wrong, and he probably did have doubts, but other people later amassed a lot of evidence to support some of the things that he had doubts about, and to correct things that needed correcting. That's how science works. The work of the monk Gregor Mendel was pretty important in filling in some of the gaps in Darwin's theory, and the later discovery of DNA was just huge.

Answer 34

Yes the discovery of DNA is huge, the best part of that discovery is that it points us all back to coming from one place on the planet and one family. Noah! You see we can not point back to Adam and Eve and their son Seth. That was all destroyed in the flood, (of which every civilization seems to have a story or an account of a great flood.)

Science is always changing its theory's. Science is still trying to figure everything out. However the Bible and especially the first 5 books of the Bible called the Torah have not changed for thousands of years. All the evidence is in those books. Everything that you are looking for is in those books.

Want to find Mt. Sinai? The Bible tells you exactly where it is. In Arabia! Go look for it, we find it in Saudi Arabia.

The Bible tells us where Noah's Ark is, go look for it, it is exactly where the Bible says it is. In the Mountians of Ararat. See that, dont miss it, it says MountainS plural!
Where did we find it, right where the Bible says it is.

It is the same with everything in the Bible, if it tells us where to find things, we go there and we find them.

Lets take a look at Medical Facts. The Torah tells us what to eat and what not to eat, it does not say why, it just says dont eat it. What do we find out? The things it says not to eat are UnClean and will cause us to get sick. Or the fact that you should circumcise your son on the 8th day after he is born. What do the doctors of today find out? That if the boy is circumcised on the 8th day after birth that he does not need any medicines to heal and that the testosterone levels in a boys body are the highest of his whole life before and after that day. The 8th day. NOW HOW WOULD MOSES HAVE KNOWN THAT?

Now, Science has set out to prove the Bible wrong. Yet not one has ever done it. The evidence is overwhelming that the Bible is accurate, "Scientifically Proven" as you may want to say.

OOH MathBlonde, maybe if you read the discussion you would not feel so blonde.

People need to do their research, not just repeat things that they heard other people say or their teacher say. We now have the Internet, you can find anything. The best thing is, now since we can google anything, it is so much easier to prove the Bible correct than ever before. As the book of Revelation says, in the end times God will reveal more and more to us. All we have to do is want to look.

Seek and you will find. Many of you need to stop listening to others words and start to SEEK to find the real Truth.

Let me point you in the right direction, Watch every video on a man named Ron Wyatt, He found Noah's Ark, and many other things that are in the Bible and shows it all to you on video. Unmistakable evidence any scientist could not even prove wrong.

Here is another on you can watch, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvsG3E7WAn0

Answer 35

One last thing, the two accounts of creation in the Bible. The first one says God created All things. The second one says God created All things. Yep two accounts that say the same thing!

Answer 36

Just a reminder to all:

Please keep in mind that scientific hypothesis, models, or theories must be testable and more importantly falsifiable. The best that scientist can do is prove the theory wrong - that makes ALL theories like a sitting duck awaiting to be whacked and killed.

Unlike Math, Science is not in the business of proving a model or theory to be correct.

Answer 37

@swami, you cannot prove that god doesn't exist. You can only prove that there is a scientific explanation behind every occurrence in the universe. I myself don't believe in god.

Answer 38

@swami Theistic evolution also says that God created all things, but in a way that can be inferred from God's own work. Many Christians (including two of the biggest denominations on the planet) believe that evolution is entirely compatible with faith in God, and that evolutionary biologists (among others) are just figuring out how He did it. And they do it not by looking at a book, but at His own work. Wouldn't you agree that if the clues left in God's own work seem to contradict what the Bible says (and they do, if we read Genesis literally), that's a pretty good indication that we've misunderstood the Bible? Or do you think God is lying to us in the very world He created? I would also like to note that the fellow who came up with the Big Bang theory (not biology, but still related to the history of the universe) was a Jesuit priest. I'm PRETTY sure he knew his Bible better than you do.

Also, most of the stuff you mentioned can be proven false (especially the Noah's Ark thing, but the other things too). That being said, the Bible does indeed contain some historical information, just as it contains poetry and song and letters and dreams and parables. But... you can't say that just because book A contains historically verifiable information about e.g. one of the ancient Jewish kings, book B must also be 100% historical and meant to be taken literally.... even if it's just a collection of poems on the topic of man's relationship with God. Jesus wasn't the only one who used stories/parables/etc. to convey spiritual truths.

Answer 39

Oh god. If science had never stepped in and "changed its theories," the sun would still be revolving around Earth.

Answer 40

evolution is true because we have the evidence supporting the process, also we can prove it by scientific experiments. eg. origin of multi drug resistant bacteria. we can prove this in bacterial culture. studies in drosophila, origin of cultivating crops, selection of good yielding varieties etc all pointing the fact that evolution is happening

Answer 41

I think evolution is true.....

Answer 42

Evolution is NOT true...it is only a theory, a supposition intended to explain the begining of hummanity. How could millions of species result out of chance?

Professor Richard Dawkins, a prominent evolutionary scientist said, “Evolution is as much a fact as the heat of the sun”. Of course, experiments and direct observations prove that the sun is hot... we all agree on this, correct?

The question is, do experiments and direct observations provide the teaching of evolution with the same undisputed support?

Answer 43

Adaptation to change is agreeable however. An example would fruit flies. Despite the wide variety of fruit flies which adapt to their enviornment...they are STILL fruit flies. They don't change into a dog or cat over time.

Answer 44

@jazy, your words seems like you just want only to oppose what ever facts about evolution. I have only one answer just read the some basic principles on evolution.
or just read this copy-paste from wikipedia..
Evolution is the change in the inherited characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organization, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins
(one more, without much understanding in evolution you cannot study biology)

Answer 45

@starwardd, it was not my intent to attack evolution. I am only stating that evolution is a THEORY made by scientists on how they think the world/hummanity began. No matter how many facts and proofs there are...it's still a theory for a reason. I agree with adaptation of species over time, I've already stated that.

When you look at a house, you know it didn't build itself; someone had to construct it. Look around you at the simplest flower or through a microscope at the sky; the moon, sun, stars, asteriods, the hundreds of galaxies.

You can't look at the universe and stay oblivious, you can't say it came out of chance...something had to make it happen. If molecules form together ti create..who created the molecules?

You tell me; Is it wrong for me to beleive we're a product of God's creation, and not evolution?

Answer 46

I greatly respect the opnions and research, but I do not agree with evolution this is my beleif based on what I see/hear/smell/touch.

My opnion is that I don't beleive you have to be scientist or a genius to see the wonders around you. How could they just be there. Out of chance?

Answer 47

And please don't start attacking my post, I have a right to voice my opinions as well as anyone else.

Answer 48

am not blaming your beliefs... I cannot give to satisfactory answers from my little scientific knowledge. But when a biologist start thiking that all are creations of god.. there stop his studies (then how to progress ?).. Only science philosophers researching on god-created world-line of thought. It has been never a material for science,,, because of the absence of evidence ..science always built on evidence.
Am a nature lover.. i always enjoy the beauty, but in the mean time I can keep in mind what is the reason for a blue sky..reason for a flower color etc.. it has been never a contradictory in my thoughts.. we need some sort of super power help (that we believe) at some time when we are helpless in some situation, or we cannot under stand the complexity of life.. as human every one needs it (unless he is so strong in mind).
but one thing evolution at higher level is not happened suddenly.. it require so much time may be thousand of years and is going on..

Answer 49

attack your post is not my intention, am very sorry if you felt so. As of my understanding this is a biology study forum, i have seen so many students who are very eager to know more and progress in their thoughts. I just oppossed one unnecessary thread. Again am not here to attack any one personally, just want to share what i have learned from my studies, not my own thoughts.

Answer 50

I didn't mean you @starwardd I meant in general (: On these topics where religion vs science are involved, some people tend to attack the "religion". Although these ARE my personal beileifs, what I say has nothing to do with religion. Just like you I say what I've observed myself. I agree with you that there's a point where no matter how much knowledge we have found through science, some things are just out of reach to understand.

There are a plethora of questions scientists have no direct answer for...where "seeing is beilieving" doesn't help....then the only thing you CAN do is beleive. Of course there always is the person that doesn't want to do so.