RE: I need facts for evolution.
October 3, 2012 at 4:01 pm
(This post was last modified: October 3, 2012 at 4:02 pm by Cyberman.)
Welcome from me too. I just want to throw in a couple of cautions regarding discussions of evolution; well, more like point out common and easily-avoidable pitfalls. I realise you haven't mentioned these but if we can get them out of the way now, it should make for a smoother ride later on.
The first thing I want to point out is that evolution is purely a biological process. I know that the term can be applied to other fields, however in those cases it is more of a descriptive use than a scientifically accurate one. For instance, though stars are often said to evolve, it is more accurate to say they change structurally as they age. They don't pop out baby stars containing copies of their star-genes or anything.
That's number one. Number two is about the confusion, often deliberately applied, over the term 'theory' of evolution. In everyday usage, a theory is essentially a guess, educated or otherwise, which stands or falls in the face of the facts. In science, a theory is the highest achievement of a scientific idea; most hypotheses never attain the distinction, and those that do so tend to 'evolve' (see what I did there?) as finer tools yield better information that may not have been known originally.
I hope this will be of some value.
The first thing I want to point out is that evolution is purely a biological process. I know that the term can be applied to other fields, however in those cases it is more of a descriptive use than a scientifically accurate one. For instance, though stars are often said to evolve, it is more accurate to say they change structurally as they age. They don't pop out baby stars containing copies of their star-genes or anything.
That's number one. Number two is about the confusion, often deliberately applied, over the term 'theory' of evolution. In everyday usage, a theory is essentially a guess, educated or otherwise, which stands or falls in the face of the facts. In science, a theory is the highest achievement of a scientific idea; most hypotheses never attain the distinction, and those that do so tend to 'evolve' (see what I did there?) as finer tools yield better information that may not have been known originally.
I hope this will be of some value.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
