What viable alternatives are there to the theory of Evolution?

Question

Remember for a theory to be viable it must have proof or make sense, i'm not pointing any fingers (*cough*Creationists*uncough*)

I know about the Infinate monkey problem and personally i cannot see how it is proof against evolution.

Wayne T: what is your understanding of Evolution? How do you think it works? I am just asking out of interest.

Answer 1

Ok, well we must begin by defining evolution. Biologically speaking, evolution is simply change in allele frequency. This is easily observable and does not conflict in anyway with the Biblical account of creation. Natural selection just sates that organisms that are the most fit for the environments will survive and reproduce. Thus, competitively advantageous traits accumulate while disadvantageous ones die off. This does not conflict with Biblical creation either. Speciation just refers to the point at which organisms within a species can no longer successfully reproduce with each other. For instance, if something were to kill every midsize dog leaving only a poodle and a great dane, the poodle and the great dane would be considered separate species since the gene flow that was once permitted by the midsize dogs was broken. That's evolution, and once again, that does not conflict with Bblcal creation.

Here's where the line is drawn. God created everything according to its kind. Genesis does not say species or genus, just kind. We don't know exactly what kind refers to, but we do know that it does not mean single celled organism to human evolution. God certainly did not create every specific organism we see today. Poodles were not on the ark. The point is that God created all the kinds of animals we see today, we just don't know exactly how specific "kind" is. Secondly, we know that God created humans as they are today. We do not have semi-human ancestors. We were created fully human.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The problem isn't that evolution has problems, the problem is that some people claim evolution has been proven. If true, this would be front page news and people wouldn't be asking for email addresses (like someone, I won't mention who ... probably a spammer trying to collect a few more I suspect)

I don't mind the theory, nor that it is just that, a theory. As far as alternatives, I think aliens (as the first responder wrote) is one, I can't think of any others, however even the answer of aliens begs the question of how did the aliens come to be?

You automatically dismiss creation, I see it as the most viable alternative to evolution. There really are only two choices. The real rub will be if both are correct, eh?

Answer 3

I've never heard of one. There is, of course, an infinity of alternative possible explanations for the diversity of life on earth: maybe we're all inside a video game, for example. I don't see any evidence, however.

What a lot of people fail to grasp is that evolution is inevitable. It's not just something that might have happened. Given inherited variation and a variable fitness, evolution just happens. It has to. It's just a name for what happens when you have heritable variation and variable fitness.

Answer 4

Naturalism has a powerful biasing influence in science, in steering scientific thinking and deciding, in many cases, what conclusions will be reached. I believe that science will benefit if it encourages active research by both scientists with a naturalistic orientation and those who accept the possibility of intervention (Creation). Both are searching for truth, and neither has anything to fear from the other if each is (1) actively engaged in quality research, (2) honest with the data, and (3) working not in isolation but as an active part of a scientific community in which there is active participation in professional meetings and peer-reviewed publication.

Answer 5

Under your premise, the Big Bang theory and much of quantum and other theoretical physics cannot be real. I do believe in chaos theory and don't believe in the Big Bang because IT is what doesn't make any sense. BTW I do believe in much of evolution (that the world is billions of years old, etc.).

Answer 6

If evolution and the idea of "Infinite time plus chance" is considered viable, then most explanations would be considered viable assuming they don't involve a flying spaghetti monster or something.

"Remember for a theory to be viable it must have proof or make sense."

Have a look at the infinite monkey theorem. It's the same idea's of "infinite time plus chance" applied to a different question. See if you can ever take evolution seriously again.

"A more common argument is represented by John MacArthur, who claims that the genetic mutations necessary to produce a tapeworm from an amoeba are as unlikely as a monkey typing Hamlet's soliloquy, and hence the odds against the evolution of all life are impossible to overcome"

Answer 7

Some postulate the Intelligent Design theory which states that God (assuming there is one) kicked off the process of Evolution than left it to play out on it's own. What a crock that "perfection personified--aka God" could create such imperfection...truly hypocrisy at it's best. PEACE!

Answer 8

None. Maybe another theory will emerge in the future which fits the evidence even better, but at present there are no viable alternatives.

Answer 9

flying space monkeys landed here and repeatedly shaved themselves for millions of years and took growth hormones until we came to be. thank u space monkey papi!

Answer 10

There is no legitimate evidence that points in ANY direction OTHER than evolution.