I have heard a few people say, that not all atheists believe that evolution happened by chance. I do not want a hostile response. This is a sincere inquiry.
Please, I am serious, if evolutionist do not believe it happened by chance, than how? Barring a higher power of any kind, that is the issue. If not by chance than how. Any evolutionary process if not governed by something is chance.
I'm am not trying a be a jerk about it, I am really curious of a statement I have heard, and I would really love to hear more of it. The statement was " not all evolutionist believe in chance." If you share this view please tell me more.
2007-03-20 05:33:06 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Well, I know what natural selection is as stated by Darwin. I just read it again, to refresh my memory. Yes, I agree it is a process of selecting, and it is a very complex process. Still, no matter how detailed you think the process is, it is hard to believe you can not call that chance. Everything is still fitting together and evolving just right. And there are a lot a stages to cover from start to finish just right. From ameba to man, don't you think.
2007-03-20 05:49:16 · update #1
Go to dictionary.com
Look up CHANCE. Then, look up NATURAL SELECTION. Learn how they differ.
If you still cannot understand, perhaps you can ask again. Otherwise, Im not going over this AGAIN.
2007-03-20 05:37:13 · answer #1 · answered by ? 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
youre confusing chance with randomness and no evolutionist is prepared to definitively say how life began, only that once it did, natural selection processes began acting on it. atheists can be just as uninformed about evolutionary processes as anyone else and just so you understand, evolution has not stopped happening, it is an ongoing process acting on every living thing in the universe and depends upon environmental pressures from which to select the changes in an organism necessary to that organisms ability to pass on its genetic information. also, there are evolutionists who are not atheists and perceive evolution as the creative force of a divine supernatural power in the same way that many of the religious now do.
2007-03-20 05:48:21 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
First, not all evolutionists are atheists. Many are christian.
As for "not all evolutionist believe in chance.". Perhaps it comes from the idea that not all evolutionists believe that life was created by chance. Of course, evolution doesn't cover how life started, so the idea is not contradictory to evolution.
Some evolutionists believe that there may have been a helping hand along the way. That helping hand may have been a god, or aliens, depending on who you ask.
2007-03-20 05:43:56 · answer #3 · answered by chaotic_n_cryptic 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you are assuming too much.
Not all evolutionists are atheists. There are some creationist evolutionists out there. They believe that life evolved via God's design, or a god's design or whatever.
Barring the intelligent design aspect of it, you could say that it is possible that on the onset of life on Earth, the pattern of the first living organism determined all successive evolutions. That would be kind of a predestiny way of looking at it. The thought that there is nothing random in the universe. This idea ignores modern advances in quantum physics however.
2007-03-20 05:40:37 · answer #4 · answered by DimensionalStryder 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Evolution does not happen by chance - it happens by natural selection.
Mutation occurs by chance. But mutation alone is not evolution. Mutation occurs every day - there is no doubt at all about that. But there is not suddenly a chance occurance that results in the turning of one species into another. That takes time and multiple occurances of mutations which are chosen according to their ability to prepetuate their inheritance.
EDIT: You say that things have to turn out "just right", as if it is too improbable. But the "just right" only applies if you assume that evolution HAS to end up with homo sapiens, just the way we are. It absolutely did not have to be this way. One little change a couple hundred million years ago and what ended up would be very different than what we have on Earth now. It IS just chance that we look the way we do. Chance could have made us very different. But evolution would have taken place, no matter what.
2007-03-20 05:40:19 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
The problem you're running into is that not all possible 'higher powers' have to be a deity. It is possible to believe in a spiritual energy, even a creative one, without personifying it into a deity. I do, I'm a Taoist. It's a more abstract idea.
It's possible to believe in the innate harmony of a universe in which nothing is random, and yet not controlled by a deity. It may be that the laws of the universe are so sublime that all things, even those that seem random, are purposeful and yet impersonal, as our bodies and cells live and function without our consciously commanding them.
2007-03-20 05:41:50 · answer #6 · answered by KC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The reason it is said that evolution does not happen by chance is because 'chance' implies randomness. Evolution is not random.
Imagine I'm standing by a machine that puts out marbles on a conveyor belt. It releases one at a time, either crystal clear or white, randomly choosing which. Every fifth marble I see, I'm going to take and put it in a bag.
Every so often, I'm not going to notice one of those crystal clear marbles, but I'll notice every single white one. So what would you expect will happen to the ratio of clear to white marbles in the bag? You'd expect a slightly greater number of white.
From a random condition, you will have a 'selection' effect which leans to non-randomness -- there is a noticably higher percent of white marbles in my bag.
This is what is meant by 'evolution is not random'. Yes, it's random chance if this specific organism dies or lives to procreate. But the total effect over the whole population is statistical, or stochasitic, which is not random.
2007-03-20 05:40:24 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Nothing happens by chance.
If, by chance, chance should occur, then the probability of coincidence coinciding in your current affairs is directly proportionate to your belief in fate.
Every cause has an affect, therefore the affect had cause to efficiently effect.
But, being an atheist means not believing in a supreme, all-knowing being playing SIMS with our lives. Atheists do not mention Karma, nor the connectedness of all, aka the butterfly or ripple effect, until there is more scientific proof to back it up.
Notice the wording, please!
2007-03-20 05:47:51 · answer #8 · answered by canguroargentino 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. Mutation (Random genetic changes)
2. ***** Natural (non-random) Selection *******
Lots of suggestions were given in your similar recent post to learn. Your previous claims around a "love of science" hold no water when the most basic concepts escape you and you keep parroting flawed arguments w/o learning a thing. Try:
1. http://evolution.berkeley.edu/ ... if you don't like it...
2. Google < "Theory of evolution" "natural selection" >.
[Edit:] Read it again. And read it again. And read it again. *Always from different sources*, since your source (or you) misses some very basic premises. By no means does everything fit - most mutations are negative, many neutral, and only some positive.
2007-03-20 05:38:40 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
...Ok, let's see how this settles with you... In a Universe, long, long ago where there was absolutely nothing at all...God, who always has been (by Faith) decides to liven the place up a bit by "creating" the fujnctioning universe... He can do that... He's God... amen..? amen ! ...Ok... In The Beginning (when ever that was...who cares...) God said.... and "BANG" it began... now picture this... take an old fashion typewriter, take it to the football field of your choice... place it on the 50 Yd line and put a few sticks of dynamite in the middle... now blow the sucker up... kA-BoOm !!! watch all the parts fly in every direction... have a seat, your going to be here a long time... now waite till all the parts begin to come together again and re-attach themselves to make the typewriter work again.... ummmm...? That's the foundation of evolution !!!!
choas only begts choas.... now, enter God...the Creator... and God said... let there be... and God said, let there be and He said. etc .etc... He took choas and made "stuff"... He can do that... He's God... Science will never understand the Supernatural Power of God... Enjoy the universe, it's working just fine and it's awesome !!!!
2007-03-20 05:46:53 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
anyone that says that evolution was helped by a supernatural power is not an Atheist.
They could say that aliens helped. And if you want to call those aliens "Gods" then that definition i guess would fit.
2007-03-20 05:37:57 · answer #11 · answered by KryptonOne 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋