How does the Theory of Evolution work?

Question

Do you believe in the theory? If so, how does it work? What mechanism causes causes animals to evolve? And what is the next step in human evolution?

Bonus points if you're religious.

Answer 1

Firstly, the evidence says that humans share common ancestors with other species all the way back to simple creatures. The theory of evolution is just there to explain *why* the evidence says that. Notice that- FIRST come the phenomena to explain, THEN the theory to explain it.

Simply put, Evolution is accumulated genetic change. Mutations cause genetic variation, useful variations are selected by the environment, and accumulated from generation to generation. It is also "blind" it has no target form, and no pre-conceived "notion" of where it's headed.

***It has nothing to do with Big Bang and the origin of the universe***

***It has nothing to do with the origin of life (yes, really)***

Don't believe in variation? Then why doesn't everyone in the world look the same?. Why do some get alzheimers or parkinsons or ALS and some not? Why do some live to 115 and others only 60? Some smarter than others? (The same applies to animals, so they're not gifts from God)

If you reject evolution, your new hypothesis MUST explain the same evidence!!:

- why fossilized forms for the same species of closer age difference look similar, yet fossils of larger age difference look markedly different.

- why the fossils form a clear sequence of many, many transitional forms

- why the fossils of different species converge at ancestral forms of different species, back in time

-why the dating of fossils using multiple methods converges on dates much older than 6000 years, and which are also consistent with the transitional sequences.

- why the same retroviral DNA is found at the same location in chimps and humans, and other primates. For the same virus to insert its DNA into two different animals at the same location, the chances are 1 in 9x10^18. That's just for one virus.

We have *dozens* of matching DNA insertions for *several* different primates.

- why the human chromosome 2 is the same as two chimp chromosomes fused together (complete with two centromeres, and telomeres fused in the middle)

-why the DNA evidence of when species split agrees with the fossils, the radiometric dating, the ERV inclusions, and the taxonomy.

Answer 2

<<What mechanism causes causes animals to evolve?>>

More individuals are born than can possibly survive, and none are absolute carbon copies of their parent(s).  All appear with what are now termed genetic mutations.  Should one of those chance mutations happen to give an individual some advantage, no matter how slight, than their chances of giving rise to progeny are greater than those of its less well endowed siblings.  Therefore, due to natural selection, there will be a tendency for such mutations to spread through future generations by descent.

<<And what is the next step in human evolution?>>

As none of the 'stages' are planned, I've got no idea.

Update

<<I'm supposed to believe that billions of years ago, there was this mass of neutrons the size of a pea, but having all the mass of the universe.>>

None of that is anything to do with evolutionary theory, which accounts for the diversity of lifeforms on the planet and says nothing whatsoever about the orign (if any) of the universe.  You're attempting to refer to big bang theory...

<<Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, and without provocation, this mass of neutrons EXPLODES...>>

,,, which doesn't involve an explosion of any kind.

<<'m sorry--I just don't have anywhere near enough faith to believe that!>>

At no stage does that reply mention anything at all to do with evolutionary theory.

Answer 3

I do not believe that evolution will send a human back to its  origin as a single cell or something like that. But I believe that within the same species, there are some changes that happen with time such as skin color change, hair on body, tail size, mental capabilities and learning..etc.

I mean to say that the best evolution can do is to  help adaptation to surrounding environment over time.

Answer 4

> "Do you believe in the theory?"

No scientists "believes" any scientific theory. Belief requires *faith*, and scientific theories are supported by *evidence*; so the correct work is "accept".

So yes - I accept the Theory of Evolution (by Natural Selection)

> "If so, how does it work? What mechanism causes causes animals to evolve?"

It isn't just animals which evolve - ALL organisms from bacteria, fungi, plants and animal evolve.

But to answer the first part:

Evolution depends on three things - Variation, Heredity, and Selection.

Variation means that across a population of organisms, not all of them will be the same. Some will be faster, some smarter, some bigger, some better at jumping, etc. etc.

Heredity means that the offspring of the organisms with those traits will inherit them from their parents. So the offspring of a bigger-than-normal tree will inherit the genes for that unusually large size, and will also be bigger-than-normal.

Selection means that some of the differences across the population will be advantages, and some will be disadvantages. Perhaps being big and slow is a disadvantage, but being small and fast is an advantage; this means the small-and-fast organisms will be (slightly) better off than the bigger, slower ones, and will therefore have (slightly) more offspring. So the next generation will have (slightly) more of the smaller, faster organisms than the bigger, slower ones: the population will have EVOLVED.

> "And what is the next step in human evolution?"

This is not possible to know. We can guess, but we don't really know ALL of the selective pressures that we are under - so we cannot predict who will have more children.

Answer 5

Fact, not theory.  Otherwise, where are all those antibiotic-resistant bacteria coming from?  (Or do the creationists think that God has made them specially to punish hospital patients?)

Evidence, not belief.

How it works: lots of answers on that already, but look up "thepandasthumb" web site.

What comes next? no one knows.  It depends on what the selection pressures on humans are going to be in the future, which in turn depends a great deal on how we treat the planet.

Lots of religious people speak out in favour of evolution.  In America, they even have something called "Evolution Sunday"; look it up online.

Added detail: I just came across a review of a book in the journal NATURE about possible future evolution; very speculative of course.

Year Million: Science at the Far Edge of Knowledge

Edited by Damien Broderick Atlas: 2008. 330 pp. $40.00, £20.35

Answer 6

The theory is nothing...and you got the point, whats the next step?No one knows, only God knows.....I mean its so evident that we are Gods creation....I think no scientist can explain why we love and why we feel and we think something beautiful and we feel attracted...

The answer is in the Bible and so easy to comprehend!

Answer 7

There is no need to explain evolution as everyone else has already done this. In fact if you didn't learn how it works in school then a short answer on yahoo won't fix your ignorance. The person above (Gee) is wrong however, scientists don't as much about what happened before the beginning as space-time would have been so heavily bent as it would have been a non-issue. Time as we explain and understand it would not have existed. Also, no one is expected to accept science at face value, that is the beauty of it you always get to question. That is precisely the problem with with religion... there are no real answers but if you bother to question you inspire nothing but hate and intolerance.

      As for where we are going let's just look around at our surroundings. We are, as a species, overrunning the planet and destroying it as we do. Not only are we doing this, but as the more intelligent have provided medicines and other technologies which save the less intelligent... those same ones are now breeding more and dragging down the average IQ. As can be plainly seen, people with lower intelligence are typically less open to ideas or tolerance of others (typically making them perfect candidates for one of the mainstream religions). They are also more prone to violence, and now they have to tools to make that violence quite destructive towards human life (just look at our leadership in the US).

      So now we have hordes of stupid primates running around with highly advanced engines of death and destruction, caring little for the future because of some perceived utopia that awaits them as soon as they die. There are no sources of predation to remove them, no threats to their existance save through a shared bloodbath that will also remove the innocent people as well. Resources begin to run out because of this, and as people are less inclined to share with their fellow man, we start to fight over dwindling supplies. The only thing that will slow this down is a global plague... which thanks to doctors and biologists will never be destructive enough to rebalance the population. So in light of all this, the future of man... is a tomb. One day maybe we will be discovered by another sentient species that takes up residence here. then maybe they can ponder how we came to an end. There will likely not be any humans left though as we seem to have reached the zenith of our development, all that is left now is the slow painful descent into twilight.

For clarification I do not believe that everyone who has faith is toward the shallow end of intellectual capacity. Those who feel they must give themselves over to an organized and dogmatic religion in order to feel normal however... are another story.

Answer 8

I believe in the theory. I think it works by a general survival of the fittest ranking. Say one chimp could stand on two legs better than another, and it could run faster. The other chimp dies, the upright one lives and the gene pool is somewhat changed. It's like how some people are shorter or taller. I think humans will keep getting taller, but I don't know what after that.

Also I'm not religious, but you can give me bonus points if you feel like it.

Answer 9

Evolution supposedly works by mutations but mutations cause only a loss of genetic information not a gain I will state that i agree with all the data evolutionist come up with  

Answer 10

The short answer is:  It doesn't work!

I'm supposed to believe that billions of years ago, there was this mass of neutrons the size of a pea, but having all the mass of the universe.  Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, and without provocation, this mass of neutrons EXPLODES and begins to expand, becoming the universe we now know.  I have at least 2 questions: 1) Where did the mass of neutrons come from?  Scientists tell us that from nothing, nothing can come.  Did the mass of neutrons just suddenly spring into existence from nothing all by themselves?  Or did they simply always exist?  2) What was the ignition source for the Big Bang?  Scientists tell us that all explosions must have an ignition source.  But no suggestion of an ignition source for what obviously must have been the biggest explosion of all time has been offered.  What was the ignition source?  Scientists also tell us that an object will remain motionless until an outside force sets it in motion.  What was the outside force that first set the universe in motion?

Then we are expected to believe that, over the next several billion years random collisions of atoms produced the stars and planets, then, somehow magically, the planets found their way into orbit around the stars.  Somehow magically, the Sun was formed, and somehow magically, the Earth--with conditions that just happen to be ideal for life--was formed and began to orbit the Sun.  Then as eons passed more random collisions of atoms produced the first amino acid.  More eons passed, and random collisions of amino acids produced the first, very primative forms of life.  Millions of years more passed, and we were the result.

This is a bit oversimplified for the sake of time and space, but you get the idea.  This is what we are expected to believe.  And all this hogwash--which has not a shred of solid proof, by the way!--has been passed off on the unsuspecting public as "scientific fact."  I'm sorry--I just don't have anywhere near enough faith to believe that!

Answer 11

"Random" genetic mutations occur.

Some of these mutations result in advantages which increase survivability.

Modern day example: sneezing in direct sunlight to decrease retina exposure to damaging rays from the sun.

ATTN: 3003.30.03. 2663476

Answer 12

hi evry one....whatever your belief....i happen to read a small funny story about human evolution which made a lot of sense!!

you can chk it out in...

http://treatortrick.blogspot.com/2008/08...