How much of evolution has been proven?

Question

...without any doubt, experimented and proven by scientists? And how much is still speculation?

And why are there still monkeys?

sheesh for people so against God you sure do bring it up a lot in conversation!

anybody say anything about God?

Answer 1

As far as theories go, evolution has quite a bit of evidence. I think without a religious component, it would be taken as fact in any other context. Oftentimes, we believe other things with a lot fewer facts, but only if they go with what we initially believe and not against it. If you believe that the sky is green, it is going to take a lot of facts to prove it is blue, and regardless of whether there is a little or a lot of data to back it up, some people won't agree that it *is* blue.

There is still in some in speculation because in science, there is ALWAYS something in speculation. No one knows all, but on the other hand, there is a lot of good evidence to back up the theory of evolution.

Monkeys still exist because we have common ancestors. I could explain in better with plants, but I'm sure you could find loads of sites explaining why they still exist (from an evolutionary standpoint). Good luck!

By the way, the only person mentioning God was you....

Answer 2

Proven beyond a reasonable doubt 150 years ago. micro, macro, intermediate, watever evolution they are talking about are all same... they work using exactly the same process; random mutations in DNA. only speculations are among biologists who debate over small working details on specific parts of the theory.

because humans and monkeys shared a common ancestor. we did not directly evolve from monkeys.

Answer 3

We've observed microevolution (e.g. point mutations in fruit flies). We've observed intermediate evolution (breeding of dogs, corn, other domestic plants and animals).

Macroevolution is sound scientific theory. It is the best explanation for what we've observed on islands and in the fossil record.

There are still monkeys because monkeys are well adapted for their environments, and there haven't been any catastrophic extinction events to wipe them out or dramatically change their environments. Of course, the recent introduction of the superpredator, Homo sapiens sapiens, may act as an extinction event.

Answer 4

Because they evolved from our common ancestor too. We humans got smarter. The great apes, including chimpanzees, got stronger. They are stronger than us humans. (A 180-pound chimp would wipe the floor with a 180-pound human, even a college wrestler.) I don't expect you to believe that, but if you try hard enough you can understand it.

When I buy roses for my mother's birthday, they come as buds. She and I know they will open, eventually, and she can enjoy them for 2 - 3 weeks (She keeps them until ALL the petals fall off, to gain points on her neighbors in the retired people's trailer park, whose ungrateful children don't send flowers, in spite of all their parents did for them.)

The Lord is more powerful than I. He could have set up the universe, then breathed life into the first one-celled creature, knowing - as sure as I know those buds from ProFlowers will open into roses - that in 3 billion years the descendants of those one-celled creatures would evolve into homo sapiens who would look up into the night sky and ponder the nature of the Infinite.

He might not; His powers may not have been that great. He may have had to create each species, one by one, roughly 6,000 years ago. If so, the God I believe in is far too powerful to ever have existed. The God you believe in, the weak one who could not, really, ordain natural laws, is the One True God. He can't see past 6,000 years and He can't ordain natural laws, but I'll bet He has a long white beard and sits on a Golden throne.


Here is a little something extra for you, what the Cajuns call "lagniappe", like the free cookie the baker gives the kids when Mom buys a big birthday cake:

Back in 1776, monarchists (Monarchists are people who want to be ruled by a king or queen, not butterfly fanciers.) argued against democracy as a form of government. They said it was absurd to believe that "All men are created equal" because anyone could see men came in different heights, weights and colors. Case closed.

My point is not about democracy. It is about debate. Before you argue about something, you should understand it. If you don't understand it, you'll look foolish. One night on the "Saturday Night Live" TV show, Gilda Radner argued vehemently against the "Deaf Penalty", instead of the "Death Penalty". She looked absurd and we all laughed until the beer came out our noses, which was what she wanted. You don't want people to laugh at you.

In a serious debate, you should understand the other side. Note that I didn't say "Believe". Understanding is not the same as believing. If you were to study 20th century European Political history, you would have to understand several forms of government: communism (the USSR), fascism (Germany, Italy), socialism (Lots of countries), socialist democracy, capitalistic democracy and constitutional monarchy. You would not believe in all of them; you COULD not believe in all of them at once. If you tried, your head would explode. You would, however, have to understand their basic concepts.

If you were to study comparative religion, you would have to understand what Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Taoists and Confucians believe. You would not have to convert to a new religion every week, but you would have to understand the other ones. You would not get very far in your studies if you dismissed all the other ones as "wrong". They believe their path is the right one just as strongly as you believe your path is the right one.

99% of the biologists alive today believe that species evolve, and that the theory of evolution is the best explanation we have for the diversity of life. Christian biologists, Jewish biologists, Muslim biologists, Hindu biologists, Buddhist biologists; Australian, Bolivian and Chinese biologists; 99% of them believe it is the best explanation. Yes, it is only a theory. Planetary motion - the theory that the earth went around the sun, not vice versa - was only a theory for a long time. Some people still don't believe it.

Your question has been answered, hundreds of times, by people more versed in biology than I. It gets answered ever week here at YA.

If you are truly curious, ask your minister to give you a short, reasoned explanation of evolution. Tell him you don't want to believe it, of course; you just want to understand it. If he says he can't because it is wrong, he is as ignorant as those monarchists I mentioned above.

By the way, this question gets asked so often that some answerers have made a drinking game of it - much like the TV show "Frasier", when Frasier, Niles and Martin all watched "Antiques Road Show" together. In the episode, every time someone said "veneer" they would all take a drink; niles and Frasier of a premier crux, Martin of Raineer Ale. You may get some answers that say "Swig" or "Gulp" or "Thanks for the excuse to drink". If you do a search on "still monkies" and "still monkeys" you'll get roughly 2 - 3 per day since YA started.

Answer 5

Evolution has been sound scientific theory for over 100 years.
That's right: One hundred years of people saying 'I don't believe it, it's all assumption and it's all a hoax' and nobody managed to prove it wrong.

Why are there still monkeys... isn't that like asking 'if children come from parents, why are there still parents'?
Read up on evolution at
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/
if you want to know more.

Or stick your fingers in your ears and humm loudly if you don't.
Up to you, really.

Personally, I favour people who encourage me to ask more, think for myself and prove their case, over people who don't like difficult questions but would like me to believe in their god.

Answer 6

Almost all of evolution is not proven. Occasionally, scientists pop up with "missing links" but they are hoaxes or 100% of one species. Evolutionists mock creationists for their faith, but evolution takes much more faith and stretches of the imagination than creationism.