Why do people believe evolution?

Question

I know you all are going to say this belongs in the science section, but to me it takes more faith than anything to believe we evolved from apes. Here's my question though: Why do people even believe evolution? I mean it says that some animals lost parts of their hearts and evolved into other things. You mean to tell me that that animal SURVIVED while it lost part of it's heart? That's crazy. Why do people believe that?

Nothing would be able to survive if it lost something as important as a piece of it's heart---so how did anything ever evolve?

And even if it did survive--it takes millions of years for those things to happen. I don't know any animal that lives for millions of years so technically nothing would be able to evolve!

Answer 1

There is a fallacy in your reasoning. Scientists do not believe that "we evolved from apes." The current understanding of evolutionary science is that apes and humans evolved from a common ancestor. No one is saying that your great great great great great grandmother was a gorilla. Just that humans and gorillas evolved from a common ancestor.

And no single animal "lost part of its heart" and survived. Evolution works by selecting individuals with improved survival skills. If an animal is able to survive better in its environmental niche, it has more offspring and passes its genes for improved survivability to the next generation. This usually means attributes such as height, speed, vision, hearing, smell and intelligence. Thus, the faster rabbit survives to have bunnies. Those bunnies grow up to be faster rabbits.

Somewhere a long time ago, a creature was able to survive because it was smarter. Over many millennia, this trait for intelligence was further selected and modern humans were the result.

Answer 2

Because large parts of the model are blatantly obvious facts that anyone can see at a glance, kind of like gravity.

Let's start with the common ground. First, there's the fact (easily provable, not really subject to debate) that different species are related, and that common attributes of species change over time. Humans have gotten taller over the past couple thousand years. Moths change colors. Island variants of species are often smaller. All of these are readily observable from available records. Mendel proved the concept genetics 150 years ago, and science has been able to demonstrate both genetic similarities and genetic drift (changes) ever since. And it doesn't really matter which camp you are in, since only the most fanatic literalists would ever attempt to argue that the world is completely unchanging over millenia. So, let's just accept these premises as fact: species are related and species change over time.

The more complicated question is why do species change and how do related species emerge or die off. Darwin put forth the guess (barely a theory) of "survival of the fittest", called adaptive evolution. This works great to explain the slow gradual changes, but is more shaky on the sudden big changes. And this is the part where there is a lot of theory, and some speculation.

But the first part, the fact of relations and changes, that's not really subject to much debate. It's only the how and why, most relative to the big changes, that is still being worked out.

Answer 3

First of all, you misunderstand the theory of evolution. I don't know where you learned your information from, but it is wrong.

I will describe to you the theory, in simplified terms:

1. When DNA replicates itself within an organism, sometimes errors occur--mutations. Many times these errors don't do anything, but sometimes they lead to a small change in the individual.

2. When organisms reproduce, they pass their DNA (including any mutations) along to their offspring.

3. In an ideal environment, a population will expand infinitely. However, it's not a perfect world--there are diseases, food shortages, extreme weather, etc. Thus, populations are limited. For examples, individuals have to compete with one another for food, and those who do not get enough will starve to death. This leads to natural population control.

4. Every once in a while, a mutation will occur in an individual which will lend it some sort of advantage. For example, maybe the mutation makes the organism run faster, so it catches more food, which makes its young stronger--thus, more of this individual's young survive than those born to others, without the advantageous trait.

5. The advantageous trait, through DNA, will be passed to the young. Therefore *they* will be able to run faster, catch more food, and have stronger young, and then *their* young will be able to run faster, etc. etc.

6. Over time (many, many, many generations--or, the millions of years, as you state), the members of the population which possess the advantageous trait will start to outnumber those which do not possess it.

7. At some point, the population with the advantageous trait may completely supplant the population with the previous, slower-running, trait, making them extinct. Alternatively, the slower-running variety may still exist, but only in places where the newer variety doesn't exist, and so isn't in competition with them.

8. When it gets to the point where the two varieties are different enough from each other that they can no longer interbreed, they are considered to have evolved into different species.

So, as you can see:

-Individuals do not have to live millions of years for evolution to take place. Evolution does not take place on an individual level.

-I'm not sure where you are getting the "animal lost part of its heart, and evolved into something else." If an animal is born without a part of its heart that it needs to survive, then it will die and leave no offspring.

What you MIGHT be thinking about is something like this: if a species evolves, over time, a more efficient heart, then it may get to the point where all the parts are no longer necessary. Thus, if one of them is born without this part--whereas before that would have been a lethal defect--it now does not kill the animal. In fact, it may be advantageous to lose it, since now it saves energy and resources by not having to build the unnecessary part.

I hope this helps. I think, before you start criticizing evolution, you decide to learn more about it.

Answer 4

Evolution states that things evolve. There is nothing about animals losing parts of their hearts or anything else. All living things (including plants, bacteria, etc.) evolved from lower forms of life. Changes occur because one type of creature is more adept at surving in an environment than others and environments do change over time (for example, the Sahara used to be a grassland, it's now a desert). Apes are very similar in many respects to people, which is why biologists believe man evolved from apes. It's not a big leap of faith, it makes sense.

Answer 5

First answer got it wrong!

Hey, girl, shake up a test tube of Amino Acids and make me a single celled creature!

Document the evolution of ONE species genetically, showing the DNA changes.

Golly!

Evolutioin fits the motiff, but that don't make it right.

One day Darwin can be heaped with Freud as a witch doctor.

Look at poor Pluto. One day it's a planet, another day it's not!

Science attempts to explain things with impreical evidence.

To bad that Evolution has no such evidence!

Evolutioin FAILS to meet the test of pure science.

It is a theory.

A logical guess

Nothing more

Just like Big Bang or Steady State.

Evolution can't be proven anymore than Creationism can be proven.

Neither have proofs.

You can't make life in a test tube full of chemicals.

No ONE has yet to do it!

You can't document DNA shifts

No one has yet to do it.

Yeah, we see virusus change but science calls that MUTATION not EVOLUTION.

BIRD flu jumps to humans

Science hasn't the BALLS to call that evoltuion.

They call it MUTATION.

See, if Science called that evolution it would set a pattern for the future in which we must be able to extrapolate all viruses this way.

It can't be done.

For evolution to be scientific reality there must be rules or laws governing behaviour and they just don't currently exist.

We can't predict cell behaviour.

If we can't predict the behavior of a single celled species, how do we predict the behavior of a complex species

We can't.

Science side steps this issue

Everyone knows it

Evolution requries the same Leap of Faith as Religion does.

Let's put it simple

Science, Darwin and Evolution says

YOU ARE AN ACCIDENT

Serendipity

You are here because the rubber broke.

Religion says

Mommy and daddy (God) wanted you

The made you on purpose

You were created with willful intent

You were NOT an accident of nature

That is the bottom line

Evolutionists say some Amino Acids got together and eventually YOU appeared

They can't duplicate this in a lab

That is the bottom line

Answer 6

Evolution is a scientific theory which is based in evidence, logic and reason. It takes little faith to believe what can be proven. Faith is believing what cannot be proven. Therein exists the dichotomy.

Animals losing parts of their hearts in order to evolve into other animals are fables told be primitive cultures to explain those events which they did not have the capacity to understand.

You really need to avail yourself of some cultural anthropology textbooks. Every major civilization tells a slightly different story of the world's beginning, but there are a lot of similarities also. Most cultures pass down a myth of a great flood as well.

As far as crazy beliefs, there are some crazy ones out there. The craziest are propagated by people that not educated, and lack the critical thinking skills necessary to ask the hard questions of their beliefs.

Answer 7

Here's a simple example of evolution at work. Very simple.

Ever notice how people have to get flu shots every year? Do you know why that is? It is because the flu virus mutates (evolves) from year to year, and thus the shots given to counteract it must change (evolve) each year as well.

Also, if you've ever had problems with insect pests, you'll notice that the longer you use a particular pesticide on an insect, the more they will build up a tolerance to it, to where eventually they won't be affected by it. They are, in effect, evolving to become resistant to the pesticide. And that is Darwin at its essence. Survival of the fittest. Adapt or die.

Answer 8

Honey it's not as if some poor animal was walking around one day and part of its heart fell out! Gradually over time certain creatures in certain areas had to adapt to changing environments and food sources whether that meant thicker fur or bigger teeth or the ability to use tools. This was a GRADUAL process. No one ever said that humans are direct descendants of apes only that it is possible we share a common ancestor (DNA is evidence). Don't get your back all up now cuz I guarantee you aren't going to have to fear giving birth to a chimp (depending on the neanderthal you end up procreating with). But back to your point - I can't believe I am laffing so hard at your reasoning. Yup about as crazy as believing without a doubt that I am descended from a spare rib.

Answer 9

It's just a fact.
What do you mean 'lost part of their hearts'? All animals that made it throughout the various stages of this planet's existence lost or gained, in sum, adapted in some way to survive in their environment.
There is still plenty of animals that have lived for millions of years till today, i.e. sharks. I'm sorry to tell you this, but we have evolved from apes, which evolved form amphibious animals, which evolved from fish, which evolved from cells, etc.

Answer 10

There are things like roaches and other bugs and deep water creatures that have been around for millions of years.

The Bible, Koran or any other material is just stories handed down from generation to generation. Many stories have been translated into other languages and with translation, sometimes the true statement gets changed or misunderstood; but the story changes. Human beings (HOMO SAPIENS) have only been on the earth a short time, since its creation. How could any of us really know what happened, before we existed?