Do you believe in evolution?

Question

A. (Yes.) Since you believe in evolution, do you believe we are here for a reason or by chance/accident? If we're here by accident, how do you determine what the meaning/purpose of life is? Do you believe the world to be ordered and organized?

B. (No.) What do you believe?

Answer 1

b. No. We are the creation of the Most High God. The Almighty One.

Answer 2

Evolution is fact. That we are here is all that matters. Why we are here is irrelevant. The purpose of life is to ensure the survival of your genes and to get rid of bad genes through natural selection.

The world is anything but ordered and organised. We are programmed to look for patterns and organisation and we see a relative pattern or organisation because we are programmed to do so. That falls apart when we look at natural processes. An earthquake happens, a storm happens, a flod, a volcano erupts and thousands die - because the world is not ordered. These things happen and we can't predict them to any degree of certainity. If the world was ordered we could predict them.

A tiger kills a man in India, a snake kills a man in Australia, a alligator kills a man in Florida and great white kills a surfer in South Africa. Again nature simply functions the way it has always done with no purpose other than to ensure gene survival of each individual unit of life. There is no order. None of these things are predictable.

Even human behaviour is unpredictable. A man walks into the street and shoots several people dead, while somehwere else a man helps an old lady with her shopping, while elsewhere somebody rapes somebody else, and so on. Again there is nothing but chaos. Just because we perceive a society does not necessarily mean that such a thing really exists. Such things can be created by the most basic bottom up programming (in computers and through genes). The Resultant human behaviour looks like group orientated behaviour when really it is collective individual behaviour that we see.

Take a group of 200 robotic flies with a memory chip and a feedback loop and give them each the following instructions.

1) Always stay between 20 and 40 centimeters of another fly.
2) Fly 10 meters in any direction then change direction

Take this oversimplified example and let these little robots loose and what do think will happen? The flies will end up looking like they are flying in a swarm - each fly must remain 20-40 cms from another. It looks like a group behaviour but essentially each individual fly is operating on a simple set of instructions at an individual level The perceived group behaviour is a result if behaviour on an individual level.

Answer 3

Yes I do believei n evolution. I do not think that God/Allah/Mohammed or whatever created people in his own image etc etc etc. I think that we are here by chance and that there are other beings/creatures/entities on other planets that are there by chance. The meaning/purpose of life is different for every person living it and it is up to you to find that which brings you the most joy in your own life. Obviously there is no order or organization to the world or the sort of things that happen in our world would not be needed. If the world was orderly then people would sit down, discuss the different options available, let the majority decide on the best course of action for everyone, and move on to the next topic. The fact that each person has their own free will and independent mind means that there will never be order because someone will always want the things that another person pessesses and that will not agree with the majority and will stake off on thier own to make the life that they want to live for themselves.

Answer 4

I don't believe in evolution because I'm aware of it; I see it happening almost on a daily basis, and anyone who denies it is either blind or ignorant.

As far as my beliefs on reason or accident, I think there was a reason for our accidental creation. Even chaos has a reason. Cause and effect, my friend. And it is indeed organized chaos mixed with unorganized chaos.

Why must people believe there is a purpose to life? Fine, you want a purpose? Here it is: The purpose of life is to live it. The end!

Answer 5

I accept the fact of evolution and consider the Theory of Evolution to be a useful, well-tested and reliable explanation for that fact.

A) Purpose and meaning are human concepts. Your life has the purpose and meaning you give it, and the purpose and meaning others give it because of how they feel about you and your actions.

What do you mean by "world"? This planet? This planet has many ordered and organized aspects. Some of the ordered aspects are the result of natural processes; while "organized" requires deliberate action, so those are all caused by the actions of people and some other organisms.

Answer 6

I believe that the general idea of the theory of evolution appears to be a useful way to understanding the world although nothing is certain and scientific work continues. Ponder on how long it was from Newton to Einstein.
The likelihood that a viable universe has arisen by chance seems to me very small but so is the idea that there is a mind or will behind it. On balance, at the moment, I prefer the mind theory. But perhaps that is because I have spiritual moments when I feel in touch with the transcendental.

Answer 7

A. Yes, because there's more proof for evolution than for a Creator. As for the second part of the question, I'm not sure actually and it still isn't inconsistent with atheism. I'm simply going for that which has more proof. I have never excluded the possibility of some type of creator, but if you're asking me to associate that with Biblical/Qur'anic God - no way. I believe in a natural cycle.

The purpose of our life, in my opinion, is to be productive to our society, since humans are just that - social beings. I don't need believe in ''eternity'' but I believe in doing our very best to make this world a better place for the generations to come. That, in my humble opinion, is true eternity.

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Answer 8

Yes, I do believe in evolution, maybe not to the extreme of evolutionists, but I believe organisms do evolve, there's just too much evidence to say it doesn't exist. As far as whether we're here for a purpose or not I really don't know and haven't figured out how I feel about the topic.

Answer 9

A. Neither blind chance nor reason. We are here because the laws of physics (and probability) made life inevitable.

Meaning or purpose is up to the individual. (Other than biological imperatives, of course. Those are the basic "purpose.")

I believe the world is complex and is controled by the laws of physics. Not that it was organized or ordered by someone.

Answer 10

Yes, I believe in evolution, and that it's pure chance that Earth became inhabitable. I also believe that, mathematically, there must be other inhabitable planets out there.

I believe in a form of divine, as well, and that the point of life is to learn and grow.

Answer 11

I do believe in evolution.

I don't know if it is by accident or if there is a purpose behind it. I don't really care. I am here -- and I am making meaning for my life. It would be the same if there is a god behind this or not.