To evolutionists?

Question

The more I study evolution, the more confused I am. What causes it? A Triceratops evolves from protoceratops, getting facial horns and the neck shield curls forward to allow better head movement so it can fight. Ok, why didn't the protoceratops grow wings to fly away? Because it was too heavy and wings large enough would have been awkward and the amount of energy needed to power its flight would have been enormous. So, that would have been a poor adaptation. Why don't creatures grow scales instead of fur when it gets colder? Another poor adaptation. But what knew that? Some instinct in the creature's mind that knew how to alter the DNA of the offspring? I cannot fathom how evolution works without some kind of governing intelligance that is capable of factoring data of the enviroment and causing changes best suited to deal with the new enviroment. I'm not bringing this up to disprove evolutionists, I'm just wondering what the answer is.

Answer 1

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/evolution-fact.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_evolution

Answer 2

here is a very comprehensive reliable website with many answers for you if you are curious! (also mentioned above)

http://talkorigins.org/faqs/evolution-definition.html

"In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve. Biological evolution ... is change in the properties of populations of organisms that transcend the lifetime of a single individual. The ontogeny of an individual is not considered evolution; individual organisms do not evolve. The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are inheritable via the genetic material from one generation to the next. Biological evolution may be slight or substantial; it embraces everything from slight changes in the proportion of different alleles within a population (such as those determining blood types) to the successive alterations that led from the earliest protoorganism to snails, bees, giraffes, and dandelions."

- Douglas J. Futuyma in Evolutionary Biology, Sinauer Associates 1986

When someone claims that they don't believe in evolution they cannot be referring to an acceptable scientific definition of evolution because that would be denying something which is easy to demonstrate. It would be like saying that they don't believe in gravity...

Sometimes creationists claim that scientists are being dishonest when they talk about evolution. They believethat evolution is being misrepresented to the public. The real problem is that the public, and creationists, do not understand what evolution is all about. The creationist's definition of evolution is very different from the common scientific definition and as a consequence they are unable to understand what evolutionary biology really means. They claim that one could not "believe" in evolution and still be religious! But once we realize that evolution is simply "a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations" it seems a little silly to pretend that this excludes religion!

LEARN ABOUT WHAT EVOLUTION IS AND SEE THAT YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR!!!

Answer 3

In every generation there is an amount of genetic mutation. Most mutations do not affect a creature's ability to reproduce, and thus get passed on to the next generation in some capacity (like red hair). Some mutations are detrimental to the animal, thus making it less likely to survive, and therefore less likely to breed. Then there are mutations which benefit the creature. These mutations increase survivability, and thus get passed on to the next generation, which will also have increased survivability. Over time, if the particular trait is a great boon, it becomes dominant. Creatures evolve in response to pressures which change their ability to reproduce. It's all in the genetic code.

Answer 4

Well, natural selection controls evolution. Say that long will allow a creature to reach more leaves, allowing it to feed more. This would mean that members of the species with long legs would be more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on the long leg gene. It would also mean that members with short legs would not get as much food and would be more likely to die, removing the short leg gene from the gene pool. Eventually, all of the members of that species would have long legs. Oh, and the reasoning behind the scale argument is that hair is much easier to make than scales. Hair is just secreted dead cells while scales are living skin cells...

Answer 5

Evolution is neither directed, nor does it involve sudden changes such as growing new limbs.

The triceratops walked on four legs, spreading its weight out. Birds evolved from the dinosaurs that walked on two legs -- the ones with stubby arms. Those dinosaurs had probably developed feathers (modified scales) for insulation. They probably developed a webbing which allowed them to extend their arms and reduce body heat. Flap assisted leaps, and gliding eventually improved with better muscle control and feather configurations until powered flight became possible.

New combinations that allow access to unoccupied environments are often quite successful. The offspring with more improvements tend to have more offspring that reproduce, allowing the improvements to predominate.

Answer 6

You have to focus on genetic mutation and natural selection. First comes reproduction, too many offspring for the environment to support. Those with favorable mutations (traits that are most conducive to suvival) will survive and reproduce, passing these favorable traits to their offspring. Over time, the species evolves as the environment changes. If the environment changes too rapidly for evolution to keep up, the species becomes extinct.

Answer 7

*Sigh*

Spontanious, wild changes do not happen in evolution. Change is slow and gradual, taking place over many generations. It is not directed by any intelligence by by a number of factors including: Environmental changes, sexual selection, adaptability, openings in ecological niches.

Answer 8

Ah, that's the shmuck of it. The evolutionary theory takes almost as much faith as any religion does.
As far as I know, no one knows exactly what it is that chooses what adaptations will be better. It's certainly got me stumped.

There's more evidence for it than there is for most religion, which mainly relies on word of mouth and witnesses. But not much more.
Personally, i believe in both deities and evolution, it seems to round out nicely for me.

Answer 9

There are no "evolutionists", there are scientists and then there are non-scientists. And of course there is some intelligence (information) undrelying the universe, but no evidence suggests that that intelligence has a personality.

Answer 10

Environment caused it to happen. You need to study more about evolution, you don't have to believe in it but it's really cool

Answer 11

You may try asking this in the Science -> Biology category, not the Religion and Spirituality category, if you want a biologists' answer.