How do people believe evolution?

Question

One of my "fans" asked this question. I was very surprised to hear all the comments.

I hope you're reading this because "How do people believe evolution" isn't my question. Many people were making fun of her because she didn't spell right, or she used the word "retarded." Ha! Nobody's perfect! Those same people didn't capitalize everything they were supposed to; they didn't talk into complete sentences.

Anyway... My question is why do people believe in evolution. Sure, ya know, whatever... There's evidence to support it and all, but how do you think the first life form appeared? What did it do? Evolve from DIRT?

And about the evidence. . . Have you seen it with your own eyes? Can you believe everything you're told? I believe there was a time when people were wrong... Like when they thought the sun and planets revolved around the earth. Or when the earth was flat. Or when they thought organisms spontaneously generated from nonliving substances.

Answer 1

then why do species change over time? do you think that a new species is introduced (by god) evr so millions of year often? cuz u can believe in god and in evolution too... people are way too cavemen to understand tho

Answer 2

Ah, yet more folks who are willfully *ignorant* about science...

Evolution is about the *development of life*. The origin of life is abiogenesis, which is a wholly different area of science. You might as well complain that aerodynamics doesn't prove anything about car repair.

Further, arguments from ignorance only show that the person with the ignorance has a problem.

Even further, the old "have you seen it with your own eyes" fallacy would make it impossible for anyone to do pretty much anything: How do you that there IS an Internet ? "Have you seen it with your own eyes" ? Uh huh. The appeals to this fallacy are clearly hypocritical, since the appealers REFUSE to be consistent about applying it to what THEY believe.

"The evidence at trial demonstrates that ID is nothing less than the progeny of creationism" (page 31)

"The overwhelming evidence at trial established that ID is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory." (page 43)

"After a searching review of the record and applicable caselaw, we find that while ID arguments may be true, a proposition on which the Court takes no position, ID is not science. We find that ID fails on three different levels, any one of which is sufficient to preclude a determination that ID is science. They are: (1) ID violates the centuries-old ground rules of science by invoking and permitting supernatural causation; (2) the argument of irreducible complexity, central to ID, employs the same flawed and illogical contrived dualism that doomed creation science in the 1980's; and (3) ID's negative attacks on evolution have been refuted by the scientific community." (page 64)

Judge Jones III of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Kitzmiller V Dover decision.

That about wraps it up for the IDiocy known as "intelligent design/creationism"...

Answer 3

because its been proven its fact and it doesn't brake any laws of physics (matter canNOT be CREATED or destroyed...)

Answer 4

Well I believe it.  The Origins of life from nonlife is a hard question but I can probably say that it did not happen 'like that'.  But with the long history of the Earth, the seemingly enormous chances of life have many oppurtunities.  They are actually coming closer to creating life in a lab.  But there are many theories and I wont get into that.  Well I have heard priest say that the church is beginning to start to accept current scientific views, as long as they say God started the process.  Anyway, this may be good for me because I dont think I can just abandon my faith overnight.

Answer 5

I don't understand why intelligent design and evolution can't work together. If you go by the Christian version of creation when God said "let there be light" what if that was true and if we were there to see, we would have saw what we would describe as a giant explosion (big bang).

Don't use the "have you seen it with your own eyes" defense because fact is it doesn't matter which theory you go by, no human was there to see the creation of the universe or the developement of life.

My point is perhaps intelligent design and big bang/evolution are describing the same processes from different points of view. I don't understand why people have to believe that the bible is the word of God and that it is the only word of God. Or that someone's religion is the only right religion and no other one is. Its down right fundamentalist. Highly illogical. It narrows the mind and alienates humanity from their own primeval nature.

Answer 6

The first organisms on Earth were formed in a primordial soup. It has been shown through experiments that when electricity is passed through a few of the non-organic particles that were present in the early atmosphere of earth, organic molecules will form. I think it was the church that persuaded people into thinking that we were the center of the universe. That wasn't so much science as philosophy. Later, it was disproved by an astrologer, who was labeled a heretic. Spontaneous generation of organisms was just assumed. It wasn't a widely accepted scientific theory, as is the theory of evolution. Scientists may be mistaken about some things, and the theory of evolution may be slightly amended in the years to come but, on the whole, it has more than enough evidence to back it up. Also, I do not believe in the theory of evolution, I accept it. :P

Answer 7

I believe in the theory of evolution through natural selection because it is the most thorough and consistent explanation for the fossil record and for the diversity of modern forms of life. I have studied evolutionary theory and the actual evidence upon which it is based for many years. My specialty in anthropology was hominid evolution, and as such I examined over 400 skeletons of modern human beings and dozens of skeletons of fossil hominids, including most of the available fossils from South and East Africa. I was also able to study with the people who had excavated and analysed these fossils, and to visit many of the sites where the fossils were found. The evidence supporting evolution in general, and human evolution in particular, is massive, complete, and totally convincing to anyone with an open mind.

Answer 8

No one knows how life formed and thats just going to be the way it is.  However, if the question is ever answered, divinely created or slow evolution.  I think i would be equally amazed by either one.

Answer 9

Evolution has nothing to do with how the first life form appeared.  That is called the theory of abiogenesis. - http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/abioprob...

Evolution only comes into play after we already have life, so you really have no serious objection to evolution at this point.

And I don't 'believe' in evolution, it has nothing to do with belief.  It's built on empirical facts, no belief required.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/

I say you have no 'serious' objections because 'Have you seen it with your own eyes?' is not a serious objection.  Have you seen god with your own eyes?

First I'd like to point out that all your examples of people being 'wrong' in the past are things people thought because of religion.  Earth at center of the universe and flat earth are in the bible directly.  Spontaneous generation is a form of creationism.

It's not an important point though, because science has been wrong too.  The problem is you think of 'right' and 'wrong' as being black and white.  It's not like that.  In fact, science assumes that it is ALWAYS wrong about its explanations, however it uses them to learn and become less wrong all the time.

Let's use the shape of the earth as an example.  At one time, people thought the earth was flat.  They were wrong.  Later, they thought it was a perfect sphere.  They were wrong too.  It's actually a very slightly warped sphere due to the rotation.  However, if you think the the flat earth people were just as wrong as the sphere people, then you're more wrong than both of them.

Science is not about being right.  It's about always moving closer to right.

And to answer your question, yes, I have seen the evidence with my own eyes.  Go somewhere you can look at a good collection of skeletons on display.  Observe the hip bones of the snakes, or the finger bones of the whales, or the tail bones on humans, and then see what you think.

Answer 10

I am totally a creationist. I believe that there is a God. He made everything. The Big Bang is not even logical. I believe that someone, not something, created us. We are not a spontaneous generation, I totally agree with you. Good. no. great question.

Answer 11

Well once the Earth was formed elements started to combine and create soon hydrogen and oxygen created water which is a perfect source of life.Soon they created a cell and it multiplied  and more formed and some began to come together and make something more structured and soon evolution kept going and soon natural selection found new and better organisms and some died leaving different species.

Are evidence for evolution is countless through fossils,embros,etc.And yes I believe what scientist say because why would they lie their just trying to make society more intelligent and they have evidence to prove it anyway.And plus some people don't take things for granted like once your born people say your made from god created every thing we just don't have evidence and to tell the truth it makes no sense at all.Evolution just has thing to back it up more and religion dosen't.

Answer 12

God can do anything, including taking 4 1/2 billion years to make man.

Answer 13

Consider Newton's laws of thermodynamics while you are studying evolution. Think of this: Any closed system moves from a state of order to a state of disorder. All closed systems move to a state decay.

Evolution is a system moving from high disorder to high order.

Also consider how evolution explains the development of the eye.

Answer 14

the appendix, an unneeded organ is getting smaller and smaller until its not going to be there anymore

and when two elements combine they could spark life right??

ever notice how humanity doesnt know what happened??? so how can we rely on god for all these things? what makes god a better explanation than anything else?

we dont know everything, so just deal with it

Answer 15

Multiple lines of evidence point to it.

Hasn't been disproven in 150 years, I'd say it's a pretty solid theory.

Answer 16

The only three things necessary for evolution are heredity, variation, and selection.  Evolution is the logical result of those inputs.  If you don't believe in evolution, then you have to not believe in one or more of those three.  Which is it?

Answer 17

I hate to take a cheap shot at your ego, but...you obviously don't understand the concept of evolution.

You are confusing the ORIGIN of life with the EVOLUTION of life.  There is a great difference.  Evolution can be seen all around us.  Even the human species has changed dramatically over the last 2,000 years.  These changes are well-documented.  It's how new species are born.

Theories about the origin of life abound...however, evolutionary theory doesn't explain (nor try to explain) how the first life forms came into being.

Answer 18

There is much more evidence for evolution as the mechanism for the development of lifeforms than there is evidence of a god micromanaging life on Earth.

The evidence is in the fossil record, in the observation of related species in slightly different environments, in all kinds of scientific research and analysis.

But like many others, you are confusing the evolution of life - the gradual changing of species over time due to natural selection - with the origin of life.

How and where and why life originated on Earth is yet to be answered.  How it has changed from simple single-celled organisms to the complex lifeforms we see today is no longer debated by scientists.

You're right, people have been wrong in the past about many things.  And some of the accepted theories of today may be wrong.  However, evolution as the mechanism of the development of life on Earth is no longer a theory (even though it still carries that label).

Answer 19

Even if most of the theory of evolution is *wrong or incomplete* it's still more plausible than the contents of a book written some 2,000 years ago by several different authors who disagreed with each on any number of critical points, said book having been translated and re-translated over and over again and which has spawned thousands of different religions, each of which says that theirs is the only one that truly interprets that book correctly.

Answer 20

you raise some very good questions. especially when you ask when did life first appear on earth. in science theories, the part that is almost always missing is the begining. what started it? there are theories but this is mine-

during the formation of the earth, and other planets, all of these elements combine as a result of gravity, cool, and form a planet. now its a lot more complicated than that, but thats the idea in a nutshell. during earth's early years, it was extreamily volcanic. there was no water, and the atmosphere was very thick as a result of all the greenhouse gas emissions from these volcanoes. eventually the volcanic activity died down, and the earth began to cool. as a result of hydrogen and oxygen being plentiful at this time, and the earth's thick atmosphere, water was created. a lot of water. it literally rained on earth for hundreds of thousands of years. it cooled the earth the the temperature it is now, and brought the world to sustain life. but how did life first come? remember that volcanoes often emit these carbon rich fumes that are put in the atmosphere. also recal that life is organic, and organic is basically carbon. all of life is carbon based. because the earth had water now, sunlight, ] life could have evolved from elements combining. simple carbon elements combining could have formed the first life. eventually, cells would be created, making single celled organisms like bacteria. remember, not all bacteria need oxygen. as a result of all of this carbon based life, plants would start to form afert about 500 thousand years. these primitive plants would start creating oxygen. plants in the water added oxygen to the water, making it more plentiful. eventually, over the course of 3.5 billion years, all of this lead up to the creation and complete evolution of the humanoid, and lead to the homo sapien.

Answer 21

Not from dirt - from complex liquids containing proteins and probably in a high methane atmosphere.  Which means that if you went back in time to see "it with your own eyes" you would die from the unbreathable atmosphere.