Is evolution "real" science?

Question

You cannot prove it using the scientific method. We can't travel back in time and witness it and make notes on our observations. We can't test our hypothesis. So why do we teach evolution as "science" in our schools?
I really want honest answers. I'm not trying to provoke anyone.
It does reverse the other way. We cannot test Creationism or observe it in action. I personally believe in 6-day literal Creationism, but I agree we cannot use the scientific method to prove it.
So why is either one being taught in school??

I guess "Eric" didn't read my entire question...

Oh, and some of you are just stating your position without telling me WHY you believe what you believe. I want to know why you consider evolution to be science!!

Jlacroix- um...thank you for answering, but just to let you know, I have tons of chess trophies so I wouldn't be afraid to take a shot at playing you in chess!!
(yes, yes, I'm sure you didn't mean it literally, but I just had to throw this comment in. Call it human egoism at work)

Answer 1

First and I can not say this loud enough, Creationism is not being taught in public schools and it hasn't been for quite a long time.

And since evolution is one of my favorite subjects here goes.
I do not believe evolution happened. First thing one must consider is why would it need to happen? There is on reason whatsoever. And as you have stated it can not be proven.

The theory of evolution is a product of men and women who think that they know more then you and I. And it is not science, it is a theory, with no explanation, no reason, no cause. They use carbon dating as their main tool. Carbon Dating is not an exact science and they know it is not but refuse to admit that. Carbon dating is based on a true science which is known to be able to date known things, that is, from a known time. There is no way to know that carbon dating works any further then that. Decay rates change as to the exposure or non-exposure.

There are any number of reasons that their time line could be wrong, off by millions of years, even hundreds of millions.
And carbon dating can not possibly include the variables. By variables I mean, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornado's, volcanic eruptions, ice ages, climate swings, meteor impacts, comet impacts, land slides, droughts, Avalanches, and finally earth temperature, (the temperature at the time of the animals death), (how long was it exposed and what changes took place before it was completely buried), ( after being buried was it exposed again by some natural event), ( after it was buried for good, if we could possibly know that, at what depth was it buried and how long at each depth), the temperature at each depth is different so at a shallow depth the animals remains would be cooked, at deeper depths it would be refrigerated to some degree. Scienists make many educated guesses in their experiments in trying to prove the unprovable. Carbon dating is based on a science that can not be proven, there is no way to prove it works completely or is even close to being accurate.

All of the above factors are simply ignored. And the main problem with these scienists is that they already believe in their theory. And, so they are not looking to find facts, as such, they are trying to prove something they already believe to be true.
It is like taking a poll and wanting a certain answer, you poll once, and get the wrong answer, so you change the question, and poll again, etc, and etc. Until you get the answer that you want.

And finally there is the why of it. To know that there are thousands and thousands of different insects, spiders, mammals, birds, plants, and reptiles only shows that evolution did not happen. Why would all these things form into all these different animals, when the basis of evolution is, natural selection? And that it all started from single cell animals. If it were natural selection, then surely there would be only a few different animals, insects, spiders, etc.

And, of course, there is the descended from apes theory that goes with it. Which they have now changed to common ancester
because of all the flak they got about the apes theory. Why are there still monkeys if humans descended from them. So that theory had to be changed because it didn't work.

The theory of evolution shows just how absurd the human race can be. To think that we can look back over time and explain the how but not the why of it is the most absurd idea man has ever had. But at each stumbling block , they come up with a new answer. And finally if I am wrong about all of the above info, who cares? Even if they are right, who cares? It will never be proven, that is just not possible.

Answer 2

I believe many have yet to discover the possibilities of what god really is or the knowledge thereof. To know God is to love God. If God=>universe or all of the knowledge past present and future than time is irrelevant and everything is One. Evolution is like a layman's concept for what is academic to others who truly know. So, in a way our present science itself is evolving. We have only begun to process at a faster speed other possibilities and are finally coming out of the box. If the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was evolution in knowledge than we are learning the hard way about less is more. Ever played with an electrical outlet? I am not convinced about a six day "literal" creation by our present time standards. But a time traveler could do it in six days most likely. There are natural laws to consider in the formation and cooling of this planet. Magnetic anomalies gaseous vapors and so on. The garden of Eden would have had to have been some sort of protective biosphere. I think most people are stuck reading and trying to comprehend the condensed Sunday school version. One day we will all have to go back to school. Maybe this is really hell or just not yet knowing the truth.

http://www.trvnews.com/tmn/091405/godreligionlife.html

Answer 3

Evolution is "real science" and it is seen in our DNA. Only about 30% of our DNA describes who we are. The other 70% tells where we came from. We did not evolve from something, but all have a common ancestry. This can be easily seen in many creatures with the same number of fingers, eyes, toes, but in our DNA it can be seen that we go back to trees and other vegetation. Of all the living things that have lived on this earth, 99% are now extinct. Many civilizations have come and gone. Some of these were more advanced than we are today. Xena the 10th planet that was just discovered was originally discovered 2000 years BC. Much of the science of long ago has been lost and some reinvented or discovered.

Creationism is faith based. There have been many Gods over time and ideas as to how we came to be. Most of the things in the bible really happened, but not exactly the way presented. The seven days of creation are symbolic thoughts as to how it could logically have come to pass. There are no atheist in fox holes. Man wants to live forever. In hopes of doing this, man created Gods to forgive him of his sins and to have life everlasting.

We believe in freedom of and from religion. Every person is free to believe what they like. In the past, the king and the government dictated what people would believe. The link below is really quite good. It describes evolution in great detail.

Answer 4

Although we cannot travel back in time, that does not mean that we are incapable of observing the effects of evolution. Although I have long since given up on trying to convince anyone about evolution; I'll just say that when someone asks for proof of evolution I respond with, comparative genetics. As the name suggests, this is the process by which the genomes of two species are compared. I then stop there, since it would take hours to properly explain the science behind the idea. It doesn't surprise me that most people can't understand evolution, but to bring a layman up to speed would take days. I reccomend taking a few classes at university, then picking up some journals (peer-review only).

Answer 5

Actually we can test it. We make hypothesis of how things will be (say there will be a transitional form of species between water animals and earth animals) and we go out and see if that fossil exists (the Tiktaalik is the evidence of that transitional water/earth species). Think of Evolution testing the same way we test theories of history. One theory in history could be: We believe people lived in the religion that is now Greece about 500 years ago; so historians go and find all these different paintings and writings that through carbon dating prove to be from that period. And of course that would be "just a theory" because we actually didn't witness it and maybe some super aliens planted all that evidence of greek people.

Evolution can't be fully observable, but certain parts of it can be observable such as with genetics, fossils, and even computer models.

Evolution is as much "theory" and "science" as is gravity. Surely you wouldn't want to gravity pulled out of classrooms right?

Answer 6

WEll, now, the biggest problem you have is believing the BS your church people have told you, but of course, they won't tell you anything they don't want you to know. Just to break it down for you, Evolution comes in two flavors:
there is a THEORY of evolution, and then there is the FACT of evolution.
THe FACT is that evolution is not something that happened a long time ago, it is continuously happening all around us.

The FACT of evolution shows us in real time, that creatures evolve. We can, do, and have, observed it countless times.

The THEORY of evolution describes one possible cause for this.
it can be tested, and is being tested all the time.
It has not yet been proven, though, so it is not a law, but a theory.
Also, just for your information, the six day thing is just an adaptation of an old sumerian joke that existed way, way, before your religion evolved. Unfortunately, it lost something in the translation. In Sumerian, NIN-Ti (the name of eve in summerian) meant both "she of the rib" and "SHe who makes live"
Unfortunately, this pun is lost when translated, although eve is still she who makes live.
Like most mythology, the bible needs a lot of background checking before you get the jokes.

Answer 7

Can anything that didn't happen in our presence be proven? Did Christopher Columbus discover America (even though plenty of others were there or visited before him - but who knows if that is true?). Can you believe anything? Just because someone wrote it down doesn't mean it happened, right? So, all of the past could really be fiction, written by con artists who were the MTV Jackass crew of their times.

Science doesn't always mean exact science, as things change over time and theories are altered or abandoned, but at least most scientific discovery is based on some premise of logic and proof. Did dinosaurs exist? I guess if you believe that Noah built an Ark to take two of every animal on some 40-day pleasure cruise, it doesn't matter to you. But to the rest of us, learning about the planet we live on, and about nature that provides for all life are import issues that can't be summed up in any embarrassingly simple and childish chapter of the bible...

Answer 8

Science is a process, not a thing. In science a theory is proposed, like the theory of evolution, and tests are developed to prove or disprove this theory. I'm afraid that the overall theory or evolution of species has withstood the tests given it so far. Some of the sub-theories about specific events or ideas have failed, but the over-arching structure has remained intact.

If Creationism was to be proposed as a theory its best shot may be in the realm of String Theory, not against evolution. String Theory seems to be both unprovable, like Creationism, and untestable. However, it is the only "game" in play for physicists.

Answer 9

Ideed, evolution is "real" science. The observational methods used for gathering data may be direct or indirect. Although direct observation is preferred, it is not always possible.

For instance, for many years, we believed that all matter was made of atoms, small particles made up of even smaller charged particles. We had no capacity to perceive or observe electrons (the negatively charged particle on the outside of the nucleus); they were simply too small to be seen. We did know that they existed, though, because we could observe the effects that they had on other atoms. These observations allowed us to build hypothetical models of atomic structures. When those models allowed us to make accurate predictions about atomic reactions, they were upgraded to theories. Simply put, electrons were discovered, described, and used in scientific theories decades before we developed a microscope powerful to actually see them.

Indeed, much of science takes place in the dark. We cannot actually observe the inner workings of stars, how the pyramids were built, or how volcanos are made. Fortunately, we can observe things related to those processes, and build hypotheses based on that data. If those hypothoses conform to scientific standards and allow us to make accurate predictions, they may be upgraded to theories.

In the case of evolution, we cannot observe prehistoric evolution, but we can (and have) observed modern evolution as it occurs. We can also make indirect observations, by looking at the fossil record, the genetic record, and the geological record. Modern theories of evolution conform to data from these pools of knowledge. Because they conform to the known data and scientific principles, as well as allowing us to make accurate, independently verifiable predictions about genetics and pre-history, these theories are every bit "real" science.

Answer 10

because evolution can be to some degree be proven. we can prove different types of evolution such as natural selection, genetic drift, and so on. and your right we cant prove how we came to be through the scientific method because we cant travel back in time. that is why its a theory and not absolute fact. and evolution is taught in school instead of creationism because religion and schools are sopposed to be sepparate.

and heres a way to thing about the idea that god created man. doesnt genisis follow the theory of evolution. i mean first there were animals in the water then the land then us.