I’ve heard many times evolutionists claim that the theory of evolution is a fact. This, despite the fact no one see’s a species turning into a different species.
What physical evidence makes the theory of evolution a fact? Forget the fossil record, it is so full of missing links it makes a zen garden look crowded.
Read this
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1041/1041_01.asp
And Consider this
The Origin of Man by Dr. Duane Gish
http://www.strimoo.com/video/14877425/The-Origin-of-Man-by-Dr-Duane-Gish-Veoh.html
Skull Fossils – As Empty as the Evolutionary Theory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yu5jN897kM
Neanderthals – Smarter Than We Thought
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxL636n3w2o
Creation In The 21st Century – Our Young Moon 1 of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i3jtYx7NMk
The "Dark Cloud" of the Big Bang
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8903287973124207940&ei=znTFScGOApzE-gHD6IHBCg&q=Dr+Robert+gentry&hl=en
Why do creationists feel sorry for delusionists?
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d4b_1214585502
Today’s World Population Debunks Evolution- Dr. Carl Baugh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWxqzNM76jE
Creation In The 21st Century — Noah’s Ark and Jesus 1 of 3 (Parallel)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQg67H4GK1o
Creation In The 21st Century – Caught in the Act 1 of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOdByKKvV6I
well… i can tell you’ve DEevolved by your IQ
"Forget the fossil record, it is so full of missing links it makes a zen garden look crowded."
What is 1+1. do say 2 it can not be 2!
How about the tree of life found in DNA? Here is a frew good videos made by a popular Christian youtube host http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=019F146277A3EDFD
Time for you to do some reading and take some biology courses.
Besides fossils, present day animals, logic, nothing, as compared to your GOD DUNNIT theory
evolution is NOT a fact…if it was, wouldn’t things be still evolving? and God created the earth…NOT the "big bang"
there is none, but it has logical reasoning behind it, which is better than "boom, god made the universe 6000 years ago. who made god? uhh…. let’s talk about something else now."
to the guy above me… evolution isn’t like in pokemon, you don’t just watch one animal turn into another. animals are evolving, it just takes millions of years to notice a difference.
There is none that I’m aware of.
The missing link.
Oh, wait…it’s still missing. Guess it remains theory until that darned link can be located.
"What physical evidence makes the THEORY of evolution a fact?"
It’s a theory. And while it’s not set in stone it’s a lot more plausible than some guy in the sky said "what the hell?", made everything, and is now quietly watching our every moment to make sure we’re good.
Furthermore, evolution is a process that occurs of thousands and thousands of years. That is why you have yet to see anything evolve.
Good grief! Here, for starters ….
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/
.
1. Genetics. We have sequenced several species. Careful analysis bolsters evolution significantly.
2. Fossils. Sure there are gaps. But there’s a mountain of non-gaps.
3. Comparative anatomy.
But… the king of evidence: observed evolution!
The fact that it is called the Theory of evolution means that it isn’t fact. It is widely accepted to be fact, but all the pieces are not there. It will be the theory and not the fact of evolution until the holes are filled. I see no reason why evolution and God has to be at odds with each other. The existence of one does not exclude the existence of the other. (I notice I have a lot of thumbs down. I guess because I didn’t insult or say mean things I didn’t win the approval ratings. I don’t see how you can help some one understand something by making them feel stupid. I think some people will never let go of religion and must find a way to accept both. )
Most people believed that humans came from primitive apes.
As you can see, life on earth (as they say) came from the seas. Evidence was the alligator or crocs. They came from water and step on land… The problem is, Why do whales need lungs instead of gills? If they want to go out of water.
There is no evidence for a unicellular change to a different specie. The most normal norm was ADAPTATION not evolution.
Α†Ω™
edit:
Those old fish? Coelacanths? how come they did not evolved? They are still living, though believed to be extinct.
Well, we can rather directly observe it happening, and recreate it ourselves if we have the right lab equipment. If direct observation isn’t proof enough, I don’t know what is. (and yes, micro AND macro are included in this)
It is a fact that evolution occurs (that’s not the debate). The theory addresses the "how" and "why".
And yes, we DO see organisms change over an adequate number of generations.
As for the fossil record, don’t talk nonsense. Fossils only form under very rare circumstances, so it’s only logical that there are species we will never find evidence of.
Well, the fact is that the physical evidence *still* does not prove that species evolution occurs (unless there has been a recent groundbreaking discovery that didn’t make the international news of which I am unaware?)
Even if an instance of species evolution were to be documented, that would only prove that species evolution *can* occur – not that it has ever done so in the past.
So, if by "the theory of evolution" you mean "the theory that all modern species are the result of species evolution" – then, no, we do not have any technology that could make "proof" evidence for that theory available. We would literally need to have an incontestable record of the most recent instance of speciation for every modern species to prove such a theory. We have such records for none of those species, and no apparent means (at our current level of technology) to obtain such evidence.
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丈 Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com
There is proof of evolution everywhere you look. Most significantly, look to DNA. We share over 95% of our DNA with other primates. Why would that be if we were uniquely made from "dirt"?
Tigers, Lions, and house cats all obviously had a "common ancestor" – as did modern elephants, mastodons, and mammoths, but they are all different species. Proof of evolution.
There is proof everywhere, including the laboratory where viruses and bacteria mutate literally in front of our eyes.
Our souls are in the "image" of God, not our bodies. God does not have a body (except in the corporeal form of Jesus).
Evolution does not disprove God’s creation of the universe or our world.
Science and religion are not at odds with one another. This is a fallacy called a "false dilemma" created by Creationists.
All knowledge and wisdom comes from God, and that includes science.
Evolution is just part of His divine plan.
See: http://www.songofgenesis.org
There’s plenty. Literally, mountains of it. I’d go into specifics, but I know that you don’t really want to know, or you’d have asked this question in the science section, instead of religion. You’re just making a lame attempt to push your lame religious agenda. Stupid is as stupid does.
So sad to see such a lack of simple knowledge!!
The "Theory of Evolution" simply explains how the "FACTS" of evolution fit together!!!
In general evolution happens so slowly that it cannot be watched.
The four letter code that constitutes the DNA of all living things changes over time; for example individual or several letters can be copied incorrectly [substitution], lost [deletion] or gained [insertion]. Such changes can lead to functional and structural changes in genes and proteins and ultimately to the formation of new species.
Insertions are much more common whilst deletions appear to be rare.
As the christian churches point out anti evolutionists are BAD christians and screwed thinkers!!
The Pope, Catholic Church, Church of England and mainstream churches all accept evolution and the big bang!!
Lord Carey the former Archbishop of Canterbury put it rather well – “Creationism is the fruit of a fundamentalist approach to scripture, ignoring scholarship and critical learning, and confusing different understandings of truth”!!
Nice that christians and atheists can agree and laugh together even if it is at your expense!!
Careful as you go now – we do not want you falling off the edge of your flat Earth!!
> "What physical evidence makes the theory of evolution a fact?
I’ve heard many times evolutionists claim that the theory of evolution is a fact."
No.
*Evolution* is a fact – the *theory of evolution* is a theory.
To take another example:
Gravity is a fact. We know this because we can observe it: matter is attracted to other matter.
The Theory of Gravity states that this observed attraction is caused by a force called "gravity". This is a theory, and therefore can never be proved.
For evolution – it is a fact because we can observe it (antibiotic-resistant bacteria; new ‘flu strains every year-or-so; industrial melanism of the peppered moth; observed speciation of laboratory strains of Drosophila fruitflies; the Italian Wall Lizard, the Evening Primrose; etc., etc.)
The "Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection" explains how this observed evolution happens (by natural selection) – and this can never be proved. A related theory – the "Theory of Universal Common Descent" states that all organisms on earth share a single common ancestor; this also cannot ever be proved.
> "This, despite the fact no one see’s a species turning into a different species."
Actually, we have. Speciation events have been observed multiple times:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html
> "What physical evidence makes the theory of evolution a fact?"
None. It is a theory, and therefore cannot become fact.
But opbserving evolution in action makes *evolution* a fact!
Ryan P,
Before I answer your question, I will need to clear up some misunderstandings that you clearly have about science in general, and evolution in particular. Without clearing these up, the answer will not make any sense to you.
First of all, your question is meaningless because no one claims that the THEORY of evolution is a fact. When a scientist says that evolution is a fact, he means that the biological process of evolution, the process in which populations of organisms change over time, is a fact. The theory of evolution is different… it’s a set of ideas that EXPLAINS why this happens. In other words, the THEORY of evolution explains the biological FACT of evolution. So we need to distinguish whether we are talking about the biological fact of evolution, or the theory of evolution that explains it.
The theory of evolution will never, ever be elevated to the status of a fact, and the same goes for any other scientific theory. Even the theory of gravity is not a fact… it’s just a set of ideas that is consistent with everything we observe about the behavior of large masses towards other large masses. That objects fall to the earth is a FACT…. the theory of gravity is a set of ideas that is able to EXPLAIN this fact. Similarly, scientists know that populations of organisms change over time… this is a FACT. The theory of evolution explains this fact. That’s really what ALL of science is – it’s a set of ideas that explains why things are the way they are. No theory in science, whether it’s gravitational theory, the theory of relativity, atomic theory, or the theory of evolution, will EVER be a fact.
Now that we’ve cleared up how science works, let’s clear up a misunderstanding about evolution in particular. Evolution occurs when populations of organsisms slowly change over time in order to better adapt to their environment. If by "species turning into a different species", you mean something like a horse giving birth to a dog, then your conception of evolution is inaccurate. Evolution doesn’t work like that… the theory of evolution doesn’t predict that this type of change would ever happen that quickly. In fact, if we DID see something like that happen, it would FALSIFY evolution, not prove it!
If, however, you simply mean one biological species giving rise to another over time, you are quite mistaken that this has never happened… it has happened plenty of times! Scientists have even watched it happen in the lab. Check out the following website to look at examples:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html
Finally, you seem to be under the impression that there are no transitional fossils. It’s hard to understand how you could think that when there are literally hundreds of them. For example, check out the following website that gives about ten as examples… they are all transitional between reptiles and mammals and show how reptilian traits slowly became mammalian traits through the fossil record:
http://cambrian.tripod.com/Reptile-Mammal
Now that we’ve cleared up your misunderstandings, I’ll try to answer your original question. There are a great many lines of evidence that back up the theory of evolution. Here are a few of them:
1. Comparitive anatomy – groups of animals that have similar outward appearances also have very similar internal anatomy. In fact, we have been able to classify living things according to shared traits into a nested pattern of groups within groups. This is EXACTLY the pattern that the theory of evolution predicts we should find.
2. Genetics – Similar orgnisms have very similar genetic makeup, that is directly correlated with the "family tree" of life showing the branching pattern I just discussed. There is no reason for this correlation to exist, unless evolution is true. In fact, we have recently discovered that human chromosome #2 is a FUSION of two great ape chromosomes, showing beyond any shadow of a doubt that humans must have a evolved from a family of apes.
3. The fossil record – it shows only primitive organisms at the very bottom, which slowly change into modern organisms as you go to the top, and is filled to the brim with transitional forms. Take a look at the link above to read about some examples.
4. DNA – all living things that have been discovered so far use the exact same genetic code of four amino acids, which is exaclty what we would expect if we all descended from a common ancestor. If a living thing were discovered that had a different genetic code, this would be a problem for evolution.
5. We have observed species giving rise to other species both in the lab, and in nature, so the process of evolution has been directly observed. See the first link for details.
I hope this helps answer your question. There are, of course, many other lines of evidence as well…. I suggest doing a web search on evolution and you will be able to find plenty of information.
1. evolution is a change in gene frequencies in a population over generations. We see this every day, if not every minute with bacteria. Speciation for larger more complex species and populations takes a lot longer than a lifetime.
2. Missing link or transitional species is a poor classification of something to look for. Every species is a transitional species or missing link because there is no goal and every living population is always evolving.
3. Other physical evidence besides fossils is shared traits seen in animals today, and the most compelling evidence DNA and genetic evidence.
Now the theory of evolution isn’t fact, evolution is fact. The theory of evolution just takes the evidence of the evolution that occurs and has occured and explains how and why…. Since it is a scientific theory, that means it is pretty much agreed upon to be the most accurate based on the evidence that we have.
Yes we DO see species turning into other species. We have observed it before. (See source.)
Theories in science are explanations.
Facts are truths we’ve discovered.
The theory of evolution is an explanation for speciation.
One example fact about evolution is that we’ve observed instances of speciation.
They are related, but not the same thing. The fact let’s us know that evolution happens. The theory explains the “how” and “why” of that fact.
As for the fossil record, missing links do not imply that the fossils we do have don’t tell us anything. To claim the missing links somehow discredit evolution would be like:
Us landing on a alien world and seeing the ruins of a civilization. In our attempt to decipher their alphabet, we are missing most of the alphabet characters. Then we say "They didn’t have an alphabet."
That would be pretty silly.
I should also note that the facts related to the fossil record also match the facts we have about anatomy.
According to His Holiness Huzur Maharaj, the Second Most Revered Spiritual Head of Radhasoami Faith had stated : “Love or Force of attraction (i.e. the Force of Cohesion) is the Param Tattva or the chief ingredient of the creation, i.e. the entire creation has come into existence out of Love and is sustained by Love.” In scientific terminology this is known as Gravity.
Based on my recent comments posted in various blogs , I have postulated a hypothesis. propose. Theoretcal Physics describes four fundamental forces of nature viz., weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force, electromagnetic force and force of gravity. Here we can present an analogy. Weak and strong nuclear forces represent pancha-bhutas or the five elements. Electromagnetic force represents force of current of mind which mainly works through sensory organs and force of gravity represents supra-causal state of Consciousness. We know that during advanced stage of practice of meditation and yoga pancha-bhutas or five elements merge into mind and mind into supra-causal state of Consciousness and ultimately Individual Consciousness merges into Cosmic Consciousness. This is the state of Perfect Bliss or Self-Realization. Likewise during the reverse process of Cosmic Evolution i.e. Perfect Dissolution of the Universe, weak and strong nuclear forces merge into electromagnetic force and electromangnetic force merges into force of gravity.
In the beginning, the enetire Creation came into existence from this Single Force Current which later on manifested into many force currents during the process of Cosmic Evolution.
Gravitation Force is the Ultimate Creator, this paper I presented at the 1st Int. Conf. on Revival of Traditional Yoga, held at The Lonavla Yoga Institute (India), Lonavla, Pune in 2006. The Abstract of this paper is given below:
The Universe includes everything that exists. In the Universe there are billions and billions of stars. These stars are distributed in the space in huge clusters. They are held together by gravitation and are known as galaxies. Sun is also a star. Various members of the solar system are bound to it by gravitation force. Gravitation force is the ultimate cause of birth and death of galaxy, star and planets etc. Gravitation can be considered as the cause of various forms of animate and inanimate existence. Human form is superior to all other forms. Withdrawal of gravitational wave from some plane of action is called the death of that form. It can be assumed that gravitation force is ultimate creator. Source of it is ‘God’. Gravitational Field is the supreme soul (consciousness) and its innumerable points of action may be called as individual soul (consciousness). It acts through body and mind. Body is physical entity. Mind can be defined as the function of autonomic nervous system. Electromagnetic waves are its agents through which it works. This can be realized through the practice of meditation and yoga under qualified meditation instruction. This can remove misunderstanding between science and religion and amongst various religions. This is the gist of all religious teachings – past, present and future.
What physical evidence makes the theory of evolution a fact?
Good question. I just gave a good example of the physical evidence you asked for on my new blog. Please visit http://darwin-killed-god.blogspot.com/2009/11/endogenous-retroviruses-ervs-closest.html
“I’ve heard many times evolutionists claim that the theory of evolution is a fact. This, despite the fact no one see’s a species turning into a different species. What physical evidence makes the theory of evolution a fact? Forget the fossil record, it is so full of missing links it makes a zen garden look crowded.”
The massive evidence for evolution from molecular biology (ERVs is a good example, please see my blog) is more than enough to call evolution a fact. Those fossils are not necessary. The physical evidence you want can be found in the DNA of all living creatures.
Usually there is nobody around to witness a murder, but somehow we still manage to prove who did it beyond any doubt, with enough evidence to justify the imprisonment or execution of the murderer. So why can’t biologists use evidence to justify their claim that evolution is a fact? They have massive evidence that’s been accumulating for 150 years, and today they can see the evidence for evolution with their own eyes when they compare DNA sequences of different living creatures.
While fossils are unnecessary to prove the truth of evolution, you are being dishonest (or ignorant?) when you complain about what you call ‘missing links’. For example the fossil record that describes the transition from land animals to whales is complete. Look it up if you don’t believe me.
The established truth of evolution does not need defending. What does need defending are the religious alternatives to the science of evolution. Those beliefs in magical creation do not have one shred of evidence.
I think you need to clarify what is meant by the “theory of evolution”.
If you mean that species develop into other species over periods of time, then proof is above.
If by the “theory of evolution”, you mean that species develop into other species over long periods of time, as part of a natural, essential process, without any sort of supernatural (divine) direction, at any stage in the Earth’s history – then that’s a bit trickier.