Who decides what is fact...?

Question

The big bang, evolution (which is a theory, cannot be proven), or any other thing that starts as theory. Scientific fact means to be tested and retested. how can you test the theory of evolution???

Answer 1

You can't it's a dumb idea anyway. My grandmother was not a monkey LOL! God bless!

Answer 2

In science, there is very little 'fact' and laws are a thing of the past. We cannot prove a theory to be correct. We can only observe and if the theory correctly predicts those observations we can become more confident in that theory but it only takes one failed prediction for the theory to be disproved. When someone talks about the 'law' of gravity, I assume they mean Newton's. That has actually not held up in all circumstances. It is still a good guide in normal situations but does not always hold true. For instance, planets are now believed not to circle the sun because of gravity per se, but they are actually trying to travel by the shortest possible route and so take a geodesic path past the sun, similar to the great circle planes take when flying long distance around the earth. It is now believed that 'gravity' is in fact a warping of the time space continuum by a large body and not a force as such. In effect, it usually functions as Newton laid out but not always. Is evolution proved? It may be tomorrow that someone finds a new relic that throws it all up in the air again. Remember, Einstein's general theory of relativity is now considered to be only an approximation and Newton's gravity is, in effect, wrong so it would be a brave man or woman who said evolution as we understand it is proved, as no scientific theory can be proved correct.

Answer 3

Scientific fact is very difficult to achieve. There are few facts, which are called laws. Even gravity is still in theory form. We can observe it, so we know that in certain situations (like our planet), gravity acts in a certain way. So, this observation is a fact. However, to explain gravity in all instances and how it works and why must be a theory because we cannot observe every aspect of it in every situation, which would be almost necessary.

The same is true for evolution. We observe the fact that species incorporate beneficial genetic mutations into their DNA (aka evolve). We observe fossils. We observe aspects of the earth that tell us life has not always been here. So, we take what we have observed and use it to make the most plausible explanation of how life got to the point it is currently at that we possibly can with the current information.

THAT is science.

Answer 4

Stephen Jay Gould:
Well evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered.

Moreover, "fact" doesn't mean "absolute certainty"; there ain't no such animal in an exciting and complex world. The final proofs of logic and mathematics flow deductively from stated premises and achieve certainty only because they are not about the empirical world. Evolutionists make no claim for perpetual truth, though creationists often do (and then attack us falsely for a style of argument that they themselves favor). In science "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional consent." I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.

As for testing it, check out these links:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/section1.html#morphological_intermediates

Answer 5

Nothing in the universe can be proven. (Mathematics is about concepts that only reflect the universe.)

Tests for evolution that have been demonstrated.
Prediction of transitional fossils that have been uncovered later.
Prediction of relatedness by taxonomy that was confirmed by molecular genetics.
Some of the molecular mechanisms of evolution in laboratory models have been demonstrated.
There are more that are less direct demonstrations.

Answer 6

Evolution can't be proven?

Evolution is the biological process in which inherited traits become more or less common in a population over successive generations.

It is simply selective breeding on a large scale. Or maybe you do not believe in selective breeding, therefore you do not understand how children can look like their parents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_of_evolution

Answer 7

Nobody "decides" what is fact, testable evidence and proof from scientific method decide what is fact.. we are just the vehicles through which evidence can be discovered and revealed. You need to understand what the word "Theory" means in a scientific context rather than in everyday usage.

Excerpt from Wikipedia... In scientific usage, a theory does not mean an unsubstantiated guess or hunch, as it can in everyday speech. A theory is a logically self-consistent model or framework for describing the behavior of a related set of natural or social phenomena. It originates from and/or is supported by experimental evidence (see scientific method). In this sense, a theory is a systematic and formalized expression of all previous observations that is predictive, logical and testable. In principle, scientific theories are always tentative, and subject to corrections or inclusion in a yet wider theory. Commonly, a large number of more specific hypotheses may be logically bound together by just one or two theories. As a general rule for use of the term, theories tend to deal with much broader sets of universals than do hypotheses, which ordinarily deal with much more specific sets of phenomena or specific applications of a theory.

Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on gathering observable, empirical, measurable evidence, subject to the principles of reasoning[1].

Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, there are identifiable features that distinguish scientific inquiry from other methods of developing knowledge. Scientific researchers propose specific hypotheses as explanations of natural phenomena, and design experimental studies that test these predictions for accuracy. These steps are repeated in order to make increasingly dependable predictions of future results. Theories that encompass wider domains of inquiry serve to bind more specific hypotheses together in a coherent structure. This in turn aids in the formation of new hypotheses, as well as in placing groups of specific hypotheses into a broader context of understanding.

Answer 8

You can test the theory of evolution by putting 2 and 2 together and watching species adapt and change.

Answer 9

With evolution, there is tangible evidence that at least points to it being correct. All Christianity has is the bible, written by men and skewed by ignorance. I would not call anything within its pages "fact."

Answer 10

Look up the definition of "scientific theory".

Answer 11

You idiot.

I suppose Newton's theory of gravitation is 'just a theory' too? You dont suddenly fall in to the sky though, do you?

Evolution has been proven to occur in numerous experiments, dna, fossil evidence... You're probably too ignorant to understand it. Don't feel bad. Science isnt for everyone - you have to THINK. Stick with your magical fairytale. Its a perfect place for ignorant people like you to hide from reality.