what is it about evolution that makes it so convincing to you?

Question

I don't belive in evolution, and don't see how anyone can. Things don't explode into other things how many times have you seen a hippo evolve when a bomb goes off how many times has your pet dog grown something cool or gotten better typically they get worse. And die. Have you seen any changes in animals in the past like couple thousands of years? I mean come on!

Answer 1

I'm going to guess that the 'explosion' you talking about is the Big Bang. If so, you have been misinformed about this event. It was not a typical explosion. Instead of things moving through space, it is space itself that is expanding. We know this both via Einstein's theory of general relativity (which has been verified experimentally for many situations), and observationally in the red-shifts of distant galaxies and the details of the cosmic microwave background radiation. No other explanation has been offerred for these observations. No creationist has ever given a reason why the background radiation should have almost precisely a black-body spectrum. If you don't know what this means, please learn before you criticize.

But the Big Bang theory is different than the theory of biological evolution. Evolution is a theory about living things, not about the universe as a whole. The earth only formed 9 billion years *after* the Big Bang and it wasn't for another 7-800 million years before the simplest forms of life showed up. We know this from fossil records. We also know that the types of things alive has changed drastically over time. This, again, is via the fossil record. The only question is *why* these changes happened.

Darwinian evolution says that those changes have happened very gradually over time. They happen because every species has some variation, be it skin color, size of ears, size of stomoach, etc. This is clearly true as any brief observation of animal and plant life can attest. But some variants are more likely to survive in the environment they find themselves in than other variants. Because of this, the range of variants in a species changes over time. Eventually, the change is enough that we no longer cll the offspring the same species.

Why haven't we seen this? Well, actually, we do see this happneing in bacteria because they reproduce so quickly. But, for mammals, the *smallest* amount of time for a new species to develop from an ancestor is estimated to be 50,000 years! Since we have only had writing for 5000 years, it isn't surprising we don't see much change in recorded history.

Except, that we do when humans have intervened. Corn today is nothing like its ancestor only 1000 years ago. The same can be said for wheat, pigs, cows, etc. We have speeded up the rate of evolution for these species because *we* select for the variuants we want rather than having nature do the selecting (which is much slower).

So, the answer to your question is that I have looked at the evidence from cosmology and from biology and have found the Big Bang to agree with observations as does the theory of biological evolution.

The fact that it is difficult for you to believe when many intelligent people have done usually means that you need to look closer at why they believe. While they are not always right, they tend not to be wrong in trivial ways.

Answer 2

There are different foundations of evolution. As you may not be aware of.Some people still believe and follow that we came from an ape even tho are DNA is 98% the same. It is an animal and we are human. The only think now that scientis now are realizing the same thing. Darwins theri was blown out of the water with the finding of the dna testing. So now they are using the Ape,Chimp, to say it has a link into how HUMAN BEHAVIOR DEVELPED. I think its one for the books dont you.
The hippo thing comeone now your ranting.

Evolution is something you need to study and find the answers for your self. Yes we can see the changes in animals evolution.Take the horse

http://hometown.aol.com/darwinpage/equid2t.gif. The hippo too.

Come on now. You need to open your eyes. You are a fool to think that humans are diffrent then animals on the evolution chart. I am not saying that we evolved from a one cell creature, nor am I saying we are from apes that is just f**** funny. What I am saying that due to atmospheric change we have changed and devleoped to addapt to it..

Your simply another unifromed dope. Get with the times.. I can not belive that you are having such a hard time with it.

Even many religious churches all around the world say yes we have evolved in time with Gods guidance.In no way do they are many other christians belive we evolved from animals. We were placed here on earth along with the animals. That does not take away from the creation of God. He made us in his own image and likeness and gave us a soul. And gave us skin. God is the creature of the soul.

Someone just talked about the same question.As well as has answered this. I am a christian I belive but I am smart enought to know. A complete Jack *** when I see one and that is you. Wake the Hell up lady. Get a grip. Study as she would say. Learn as she would say. I wish she was on so I could tell her to talk to your sorry ***. It is the uninfromed Christians like your self that really fuc***** pi**me the Fu** off.

Answer 3

What makes it so convincing? The fact that its predictions have consistently been fulfilled. Paleontological finds, genetics, all of it has been consistent with the theory.

You seem not to actually understand evolution. On the one hand, you suggest that a hippo should explode if evolution were true - I've yet to meet a scientist who claims that! On the other hand, you ignore the fact that humans have been engaging in artificial selection which works like natural selection only more quickly and have turned wolves into St. Bernards and Chihuahuas. Is it really so hard for you to extrapolate from those sorts of changes to the ones that evolution claims have happened over longer periods of time? The specific transitional fossils are few, but they are important, and show at least some of the links between fish and amphibians, between reptiles and birds, and so on.

For someone who claims to be open minded, you have not read much on this subject. What does 'open minded' mean to you? Try reading Kenneth Miller's book _Finding Darwin's God_. Your open mind will learn a lot from it.

Answer 4

You are mixing up big bang and evolution.

Since the Q you asked is about evolution, I would say I find it convincing because there is evidence. That doesn't mean, which I'm sure you think it does, that the theory hasn't changed over the years. This is the difference between religion and science, and why saying things like "science is the new religion" doesn't make any sense.

A theory starts with a hypothesis, an idea, something MIGHT be true. From there, you perform empirical tests, you observe the thing you're wondering about. No self-respecting scientist falls in love with any hypothesis, that's not how science works. If the evidence can't support it, the hypothesis either has to change or just die entirely.

Theories evolve based on what scientists find out about what they suspect. It isn't dogma, which is what makes it more compelling to me than any religion. It celebrates the truth, even when the truth is a surprise.

Answer 5

It doens't work like things "exploding into other things". I think you're thinking of Pokémon. And we can still observe the effects of evolution; the white bengal tiger is new. Humans, too, evolve; we're steadily getting taller - look at doors from old cottages, they're tiny!
Evolution takes millions of years, and a "species" is really just a name for all the animals that exist between two points on a path to improvement. For example, we've been "homo sapiens sapiens" for a long time now, but we're a little bit different to the old ones. Once we reach a point where we're easily distinguishable from what we are now, we'll be something different. It's not a matter of sitting back and watching the animals change.
Also, evolution is evident in fossils. There are no giant sloths today, but there are the very similar ones that we're used to.

Edit: *sigh* It's a sign that something's gone wrong when the Latin for "man" and, coincidentally, root of the Greek for "the same" gets censored.

Answer 6

It is very compelling when you understand it. All the more so for the reasons you stated. Something coming from 'nothing' is highly compelling to me. Lifetime iterations and gradual changes happening over millions of years, what could be more compelling! These are the mechanics of biology we are talking about, not some magic show. I don't know about you, but once I see how a trick is done, I am no longer impressed by it.

I quite frankly don't understand what YOU find so compelling about a (biblical?) explanation of this. The tricks have been discovered and you are talking about watching the magic show OVER and OVER and OVER again! I would rather watch Groundhog Day over and over and over again!

I also don't understand a creationist position who wishes to include this POV as a science. You reject the science of evolution, yet you admire science so much you wish to CRAM your POV through its principles, always aspiring to be LIKE science, but never able to get there. This is flawed from the start. Why can't people understand this?

'Artificial selection' happens all around you and its effects can easily be seen. Take a chihuahua or a zhit-zu. How far removed from a wild canine are these animals? How about a 'navel' orange with the seeds engineered right out of them. You replace mankind with environment, and it is not at all difficult to see these changes taking place.

Answer 7

Because it makes sense. You are thinking in the box.
Nothing just exploded and happened in the blink of an eye anywhere except in the bible. Evolution doesn't happen in a lifetime. Or even several life times. I'm not sure on all the theories of evolution but its not that cut and dry. And it makes a hell of alot more sense then man coming from dirt (which the Sumerian Gods did way before the Jewish one did). Yes there have been changes over the last few thousand years. RESEARCH! Geez.

Answer 8

I have researched the evidence and it is utterly 100% bulletproof.

You clearly do not understand evolution from the comments you make - it is a slow process of change through natural selection. It does not operate at the individual level but at the population level, and it does not generally operate on short time frames like 1000 years (the Permian Mass Extinction that led to the evolution of mammals took place over 250 million years ago).

Answer 9

Evolution is not a fact. It’s a hypothesis that has never been proved.

Evolution is not a science Evolution defies mathematical probability. Evolution defies laws of physics (second law of thermodynamics.)

Evolution claims, random change & natural selection make simple things spontaneously transform into more complex things without recourse to intelligent design. Chance and random changes simply do not produce higher levels of organization & complexity.

Answer 10

The big bang theory and evolution don't go hand in hand you know. It's two separate things.

Macro evolution isn't a fast process, it takes more time than a couple thousand years, unless it involves a mutation of some sort, and even then..

Micro evolution however has already repeated itself since Darwin found his finches on the Galapagos. Scientists have recently discovered that the birds had yet again evolved, there was a huge article on Yahoo about it