The theory of evolution has been proven?

Question

I see a lot of posts around here claiming the theory of evolution has not been proven.

That is simply not true. It has been proven. If there is no proof for a scientific theory, then it is a hypothesis.

That doesn't mean it can't be proven wrong through further observations of natural phenomena that contradict the theory. For example, if a vertebrate skeleton was found fossilized in rock from the pre-Cambrian eras, then we'd have to look long and hard about the theory.

The evidence, however, is staggeringly broad. Note that the proof for evolution extends through many branches of science - paleontology, geology, biology, genetics..... this is not just an idea cooked up by someone looking at penguins in the Galapagos and surmising things. There is a mountain of direct evidence.

It's a strong theory.

A Reflec.... no, evolution is not based upon it "just happening." And I was careful never to say that evolution was a fact. It's a theory. And like all scientific theories there IS proof for it.

Theories never get to become proven facts. Don't you get that? Of course it's not a fact! It's an EXPLANATION of facts (observations of natural phenomena).

ppmtngr -- you are dead wrong. If there is no proof for a proposed explanation of natural phenomena, then it is a HYPOTHESIS. If there is proof, then it's a theory. Do some research on the scientific method. All theories are, however, falsifiable.

DBZnut -- sure, it's just a theory and nothing more ---- but nothing less either. And the theory of gravity and the theory of plate techtonics and a host of other theories are also "just theories"........

DuckPhup -- we said the same thing in different ways, although I disagree with you -- science does prove theories. However, proving a theory doesn't mean it can never be disproved - that I agree with you on. It does remain falsifiable.

If our theory is that whenever we drop two objects from the leaning tower of Pisa, they will hit the ground at the same time regardless of which one is heavier, that is a hypothesis. We prove our hypothesis by going up there, dropping them and taking measurements to see if they fall at the same rate and land at the same time. If they do, the hypothesis becomes a theory because it has been proved. It can be disproved by someone else dropping two objects and showing that they fell at different rates. That theory has been proved so many times, however, that it is a really strong theory.

Cheryllynn ---- Humans share 60% of the same DNA as a banana, and over 98% of the same DNA as a chimpanzee.

Will J -- you are, quite simply, mistaken. It does not go: hypothesis, theory, fact. It goes hypothesis, theory, stronger theory.

Answer 1

very strong theory but nothing conclusive. Our research methods are flawed and carbon dating is inaccurate. until we have better more accurate technology it will remain a theory. i dont believe even a time machine could prove the theory to some people.

Answer 2

Actually, you are a little bit off the mark. Not far... just a little bit.

Scientific theories do not get 'proven'. Science does not 'prove' things. 'Proof' is for mathematicians, coin collectors and distillers of alcoholic beverages. Proof in science is applicable only in the 'negative' sense... i.e., hypotheses and theories must be 'falsifiable'. When scientists do experiments (to validate 'predicted' results), they are NOT trying to 'prove' they are RIGHT... they are trying to FIND OUT if they're WRONG. NOT being wrong simply builds confidence that one is on the right track... it 'proves' nothing.

Evolution is not a matter of 'belief. I keep reading in here that "... evolution is just a theory... not a fact." That, as it turns out, is true... although the word 'just' is inappropriate, and misleading... and it indicates that people just don't understand what a scientific theory is; they seem to think that a theory is just an 'idea'. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In science, a theory occupies a higher stratum of importance than mere 'facts'. Theories EXPLAIN facts. The theory of evolution provides an explanatory framework for the OBSERVED FACTS that the genetic makeup of populations of organisms changes, over time (in some cases, over distance)... and that over an extended period of time (hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of generations), the accumulation of those changes can result in speciation. It explains the OBSERVED FACT of transitional species found in the fossil record.

Theories live or die on the basis of their explanatory power, predictive power and falsifiability. Theories, as an explanatory framework, allow one to make predictions which can subsequently be validated by way of experiments or future observations. That means that in order to be valid, a theory must be falsifiable... and all that it takes for a theory to be falsified is ONE INSTANCE where an experiment or future observation achieves a result that is CONTRARY to what the theory predicts.

Evolution, as it turns out, has NEVER been falsified... in nearly 150 years. Further, all findings and observations to date... in molecular biology... in genetics... in paleontology... have SOLIDIFIED the explanatory power of evolution... NEVER detracted from it.

For those that say that evolution does not account for new species... horseshit. Examples abound, both in the 'world' and in the laboratory. One of the most interesting examples, and the most enlightening, has to do with a kind of bird (plovers, if my memory is correct) that occupies adjacent habitats all the way from Siberia to Britain. Because of environmental differences in these adjacent habitats (topology, food availability, competitor species, predators, vegetation), natural selection has produced genetic differences between the populations in these adjacent habitats. Birds in adjacent habitats can still mate with each other... the genetic differences are small. However, the birds from the Eastern-most reaches of Siberia CAN NOT mate with those from Britain. Over the reach of MANY habitats, the accumulation of genetic differences makes them a DIFFERENT SPECIES.

Answer 3

Certainly there is proof for evolution. There is none, however, for universal common ancestry. You saying there is doesn't change that. You saying that a hundred thousand times doesn't change that. The "rapid appearance of phylum-level differences in... the Cambrian explosion" is strong evidence, in fact, that there wasn't one. Even "Darwin knew the fossil record failed to support his" theory back when he proposed it and, if anything, "fossil discoveries over the last hundred and fifty years have... show[n] the Cambrian explosion was even more abrupt and extensive than scientists once thought."

"Cheryllynn ---- Humans share 60% of the same DNA as a banana, and over 98% of the same DNA as a chimpanzee."
Which is no more evidence for evolution than it is for an Intelligent Designer designing similar creatures from the similar material using a similar blueprint.

Answer 4

to the creationists answering this:
Evolution = The observation that life changes over time.

no more, no less.

It does not address nor care about the origin of life.
It does not address nor care about the origin of Earth.
It does not address nor care about about the origin of the universe.
It does not address nor care about gods or creators.

It is simply the observation that life changes over time. It is observed, documented, and proven true time and time again. Any other argument you apply to it is merely you being deceived by your clergyman.

Do you want to know why they deceive you? It is because they, for whatever reason, want the earth to be 6,000 years old. Nowhere in the Bible does it say this. Even genesis says a minute to god is like a thousand years to us... giving a reasonable explanation for the 7 day creation to god being billions of years of Man's time.
yet, as the churches, and most vehemently the baptists, demand a 6,000 year old earth, the timeline shown in evolution, cosmology, and geology denies them their non-biblical age of the earth.
Instead of trying to prove their position (because they know it to be false) they enlist the uneducated masses of their church to wage war for them. A few snippets of false information and you are quite willing to strap that bomb on and sacrifice yourself to make noise among those more educated than you.

Please, go educate yourself and see just how far astray your 'moral' leaders have lead you.

Answer 5

Dear no theory, including the theory of gravity, has ever been proven.
If you knew what a theory was, you'd know that.
It's just the most accepted version of events...and I might add it's VERY accepted in the scientific community.

Answer 6

Yet no force in nature can explain the big bang? Can it be oh ....God? When Lucifer was cast out of heaven time as we know it began? Everything that had existed was compacted into a single point and recreated.

God is the only force that great. The Big Bang and evolution are completely within God's abilities.....there is no force in physics as strong as him.

Answer 7

of course it's proven (100% supported by every type of data you mention), unless you live in a cave. as a biologist, i get very offended when people don't "respect my authori-tee" on this issue.

"Nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution" - Theodosius Dobzhansky (1973)

Answer 8

Did you see by your self a human evolution...
How can you believe in something you never see, hear, touch, taste or smell.

The absence of good makes the bad appear.

contradictory faith leads to ----> atheism (e.g. evolutionism)

Answer 9

It sounds like you have a very strong faith in that religion. But you haven't done two things:

You haven't asked a question so you need to take this agrument to the chat rooms.

You haven't listed a single thing that has been proven.

You have, though, ignored some principles laws of physics by adhereing to this faith, particularly the second law of thermodynamics.

Answer 10

Yes, and yet people like Reflection, who answered about, continue to respond to the theory irrationally. It is troubling.