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In their recent diatribes against “Darwinism,” letter writers Terry Bridgman and Pete Ross committed such fundamental errors that it would appear that they are uninformed about even the basic principles of evolution.
Mr. Bridgman wrote “science cannot answer questions of meaning or purpose for existence.” Science does not address such questions. If Mr. Bridgman wishes a discussion on this point he should go to church or gather a group of philosophers.
He also wrote: “this supposed scientific thinking is believed to have produced something from nothing.” The principles of evolution have nothing to do with the creation of life but rather with its development and change once it appeared.
Mr. Ross wrote: “I believe that I could now accept at least a portion of this ideology and concede that some people actually evolved from monkeys.” Even my daughter, upon graduation from West Middle School, knew that no evolutionary scientist today has ever maintained that humans evolved from monkeys.
Far from being a “faith” or an “ideology,” the principles of evolution are based on massive and repeatable evidence that fills whole libraries, are accepted by nearly every biological scientist on the planet and are the foundation of all of biology and medicine. The only opposition comes from faith-based organizations and people for whom “evidence” is an unknown concept.
J. EUGENE FOX
Grand Junction
16 Responses to “Evolution is based on evidence”
Posted April 28th, 2009 at 8:13 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
If I remember correctly, evolution postulates that one species evolves into another species by adapting to its environment and actually changing what it is; i.e., from one kind of plant/animal to another. A proponent of evolution will tell you that this happens “over time.” For the sake of the argument, I’ll grant you “over time.” My question is: How did the plant/animal know that it needed to change into a completely different species? In other words, what cognitive reasoning was used for this to happen? This is an important question in the case of plants as plants have no brain nor cognitive center.
Posted April 28th, 2009 at 8:56 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
The signals actually come from Barrack Obama’s home planet, where the “Progressive Ones” have been controlling every facet of our planet’s evolution from day one. Soon the President will reveal his true appearance, and take any willing socialists to his home planet for a visit, and then to a new planet to start a multi-race utopia known as Obamaland. Too bad for all you dittoheads, though, it’s secret FEMA camps for you, especially after the creature incubating in Ted Kennedy’s head seizes control from Joe Biden!
Obama also created the swine flu so look out. Seriously, I saw somebody say that on a site located not for from this one, hint, hint…
Posted April 28th, 2009 at 8:57 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Last sentence above– not far…oops
Posted April 28th, 2009 at 10:33 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
August589,
Sounds like you don’t remember anything about evolution at all. Evolution is a process, not a decision. You might want to pick up a biology text book from the library.
Posted April 28th, 2009 at 2:34 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Ok August, I’ve got some homework for you. Look up “Natural Selection.” I think that is what you’re attempting to get at, but you kind missed your mark.
Posted April 28th, 2009 at 4:49 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
love it
but. . .
“How did the plant/animal know that it needed to change into a completely different species? In other words, what cognitive reasoning was used for this to happen?”
– seriously?
Posted April 28th, 2009 at 5:03 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
George Carlin: “There’s an invisible man in the sky…and he always needs money!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWjs3diATjQ
Posted April 28th, 2009 at 5:33 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
For some reason the process of natural selection, the exact opposite of random chance, never seems to get mentioned by anyone who does not accept evolution.
Perhaps because it neatly solves the difficulties that people have when asking “what cognitive reasoning was involved”. Some people don’t want those difficulties solved, because then they wouldn’t have anything to complain about.
Posted April 29th, 2009 at 7:56 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Environment drives evolution. Look at the masi and the pygmies, same genetics, evolved (changed) to meet the environment into which they live. However this is a pointless argument, because the argument goes from scientific theory to because the bible tells me so crowd. Remember, the bible was written by the flawed hand of men, to suit their bids for power and without science you would be living in a cave and dieing at 30 years old, but continue to say science is BS and the bible is the real text.
Posted April 29th, 2009 at 9:21 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Oh raydee, George Carlin is one of my favorites!
Posted April 29th, 2009 at 10:02 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Let me address the criticisms of my comment….
1) I’m aware that evolution is a process….but is evolution is a mindless process? If so, how does everything end up so orderly?
2) Is not “natural selection” the process by which some animals and plants are eliminated because they can not adapt to their environment and the strongest survived. I was not aware that “natural selection” actually results in the transition from one clearly defined species into another clearly defined species.
3) Masi and Pygmies are humans. They have human genes. What has happened to them is called adaptation within the species; this is not evolution in the truest sense.
Good discussion; let’s keep it civil and not resort to name-calling and insults.
Posted April 29th, 2009 at 10:42 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
august589,
1) Everything is not orderly. In fact it is very disorderly. Organ systems are jury rigged from bones the animal inherited from its ancestors. For instance the small splint bones in the feet of horses which are remnants of the time when horses had three toes. When these bones are broken the horse is crippled for life.
2) Evolution is “Fact” based on our current observations of evolution and the historical record. As to why it happened we are still working on that. One explanation is that microevolution accounts for the small changes that we observe, such as the number of veins in a fly’s wing vs macroevolution which is caused by changes in the regulatory genes. These macro changes may be precipitated by external traumas such as sharp prolonged change in environmental temperature. See the writings of Stephen Jay Gould.
Quoting Mr Gould:
” Facts are the worlds data. Theories are structures of ideas that explains and interprets facts. Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einsteins theory of gravitation replaced Newtons, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid air, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from apelike ancestors whether they did so by Darwin’s proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered…”
Posted April 29th, 2009 at 10:53 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
august589,
Yes, evolution is a mindless process. Everything ends up so orderly because the organisms that do not mesh well with the system, the ones that would cause it to be disorderly, die.
Try this website for a quick course in evolution through natural selection. http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=192602&direct=1
A quick overview from the site:
By biological evolution we mean that many of the organisms that inhabit the Earth today are different from those that inhabited it in the past.
Natural selection is one of several processes that can bring about evolution, although it can also promote stability rather than change.
The four propositions underlying Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection are: (1) more individuals are produced than can survive; (2) there is therefore a struggle for existence; (3) individuals within a species show variation; and (4) offspring tend to inherit their parents’ characters.
The three necessary and sufficient conditions for natural selection to occur are: (1) a struggle for existence; (2) variation; and (3) inheritance.
Endler’s experiment with guppies demonstrated that evolution through natural selection can occur in relatively few generations.
Mutation is the ultimate source of variation.
The frequency of a particular character in a particular population may be due to chance events.
Posted April 29th, 2009 at 2:09 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
august589,
Order comes about through mindless processes all the time. Look at snowflakes or salt crystals. The “order” is simply an effect of the chemical laws that govern how the molecules interact. The order present in living things today is nothing more than the same process built up after billions of years of trial and error.
And as rm said, there are many elements in living things that are not optimal, but are “good enough.” Bats can fly, but lack the flow-through lung system that birds have. Instead, they have a tidal lung like the rest of us mammals, but one that is oversized and more efficient than ours. This makes sense if bats are an evolutionary descendant from the same mammals we are descended form. It’s more difficult to imagine why a designer would design a better lung system and not give it to all flying creatures, or all creatures for that matter.
And for an excellent, if somewhat graphic, example look up the birth process of the spotted hyena.
Posted April 30th, 2009 at 10:20 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Evolution is a fascinating area of science. To throw it away and insist that all the answers are in Genesis would be a huge mistake. I think most people are too smart to do something like that anyway.
Posted April 30th, 2009 at 2:35 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Unfortunately, many people do just that. Faith in the bible is one of the foundations of their faith, and if Genesis is wrong, what else is? It’s easier for most people to believe that evolution is wrong rather than question their faith.
I realize that many Christians do not base their faith on a literal interpretation of the bible, but many others do.
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