RE: Theist ➤ Why ☠ Evolution is not Scientific ✔
November 22, 2016 at 9:46 am
(This post was last modified: November 22, 2016 at 9:47 am by Tonus.)
(November 22, 2016 at 9:33 am)robvalue Wrote: Even if the theory of evolution was proved completely wrong tomorrow, so what? What is the end game?
I think it's better to stop using this hypothetical, as it can give the mistaken idea that it's possible for the theory of evolution to be scrapped. It's not. First, let's keep in mind that the theory explains how the discoveries that prove that evolution happens (ie, the facts of evolution) indicate the path through which life diversified into the many forms we see today. If the theory was proven wrong, the facts of evolution --such as the fact that IT HAPPENS-- would not be wiped away with it. But at this point the only thing that can possibly happen with the theory is that it will be modified slightly here or there. There is no question* that it's as solid a theory as any other in science.
*Among people who know their biology and don't have a religious agenda, anyway.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
