Facebook Conversation Re: Evolution
 

Hardly worth educating someone with ideas like that.

LOL. Small minds think alike. Everyone knows that a giant spaghetti monster created everything.

http://media.nowpublic.net/images//5...d9d0214848.jpg

Its getting really strange around here.

Looks like that group is still in the "monkey" phase as far as reasoning goes...

Yep...

~Nate

Meh if they want to be 13th century peasants let them, less competition for jobs.

They will probably be running for office in a few years. :eek:

Foot soldiers for Sarah.

I aint no monkey! I is what I is!

Humans did not evolve from monkeys.

Or worse they could get voted in.:eek::eek::eek:

Is it really worth the time to correct these people?

Yes. It helps present a consistent message of scientific accuracy in the face of appalling ignorance. When we argue from inaccuracy, we undermine the concept.

More disturbing is that only 28% of public school science teachers teach evolution according to the standards recommended by the National Research Council, 60% apparently "compromise" on the teaching of evolution vs creationism (whatever that means), and 13% explicitly teach creationism in their classes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/science/08creationism.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=evolution%20biology&st=cse

That's what I call, "appalling ignorance".

Remember. Curious George is not a monkey.

How do they get away with this. These kids are going to walk out of school with a jacked up view of science.

-face palm-

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gWQaU40PH2...1242264259.jpg

Are they in fact educable?

- Peter.

My wife is a 7th/8th grade science teacher. Apparently the curriculum for these grades doesn't include evolution. Maybe thats in high school? Anyway, it's not possible to teach the formation of the solar system, plate tectonics etc without understanidng the timescales involved which inevitably sets off the tripwires in these morons brains. The intellectual gymnastics she has to go thru to not "offend' these vacuous idiots, the administration,and the imbecile parents are something that nobody in "education" should have to endure. My comments are that she should show them videos of Dawkins and Hitchens. Her concern of course is that would get her fired.

- Peter.

I'm not religious, not a scientist; I am an engineer. All I wonder about is if there is evolution that occurs, would someone please point out the species in which this is happening right now? How many are jumping over the wall into something new? Or, did this evolution only occur in one species? If so, why? Did God cause it to evolve? Why can't dogs talk now, after being domesticated for such a long time? Why don't more animals have opposing thumbs when it helps with survival? :confused:

The unfortunate answer to that question is yes. NYT had a story a couple of years ago about a guy getting his Ph.D in Earth Science for an eastern university (University of Rhode Island?) who believed the earth was 6000 yrs old. He was a professor at Liberty University.

I found it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/science/12geologist.html

Then his degree isnt' worth ****. And I would contend he is not, in fact, educated, irrespective of what a piece of paper on is wall might claim.

- Peter.

Seriously? You have to be kidding. :) One recent example is that elephants in Africa are being born without tusks. More so in area of heavy poaching. So it appears that a century of heavy poaching caused a species to drop what was causing the poaching. I have no clue how the heck that works, but it is what it is.

Then you have the very basic version of evolution. Antibiotic resistant bacteria. Bacteria once treated with an antibiotic would be neutralized, but when people don't take the proper prescription some survive and quickly build an immunity that is devised in the next generation. In fact, anything (bugs for example) that devise a resistance to what was once a treatment is an evolutionary trait.

Evolution on a macro scale doenst occur in short time periods, like centuries etc. For that you need to look at the microbial world, as was mentioned by Landyacht. Medicine is in a continuous battle with evolution. New drugs would not be necessary if evolution did not occur.

- Peter.

had not heard that about the elephants, but I can't imagine that tusklessness would be because of evolution b/c of poaching.

bacteria, ok that is an evolution, but I want evidence of evolution on a grand scale: talking dogs, flying monkeys, cats with thumbs, etc. I am not doubting but I want to see it.

What does that mean? Do humans and monkeys share a common ancestor, or something? I took a bunch of science and engineering classes back in the day, but, as the song says, don't know much biology.

The thing I find funny is how some creationists speak with such pride when they say that they didn't evolve from monkeys. What do they have against monkeys?

how long did it take monkeys to jump the fence into the bipedal maximus region, aka homo sapiens? centuries,millenia? or did it just occur relatively quickly? and why? we see bacteria evolving in order to survive the onslaught of drugs, but monkeys still exist, even after something caused some of them to change to homo sapiens. Why didnt all monkeys evolve? Why was man formed by this evolution, and are we the only species aware of our evolvement? Do other living organisms have concious thought? If not, why?

I don't mean to be flip about it, but I think you need a library, not a Mercedes website, if you want to see evidence of evolution. My understanding is that it takes years of study of fossils and other matters to understand the case for and against evolution. For those who don't have the time or inclination to do that, we have to rely on the experts, who overwhelmingly believe in evolution.

Seriously?

There are many examples of simple organisms that evolve constantly. The easiest is the "flu" which evolves on a yearly basis. The fossil record includes evidence of evolution for most (probably all) current species; you can look up the evolution of horse, pigs, species of fish, etc.

One common misconception of evolution is that it always involves species becoming more "advanced." In the case of humanoids, there was a survival advantage to developing bigger brains, opposable thumbs, speech, etc. Those traits all involve biological trade-offs that my not be an advantage to other species.

Regarding "god," Pierre-Simon Laplace said it best when he told Napoleon, Je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là. ("I had no need of that hypothesis.").

You are misunderstanding, humans did not evolve from modern monkeys; both humans and modern apes evolved from common ancestors who no longer exist. There is an extensive fossil record that demonstrates the evolution of all these species. You really need to find a good book on evolution, you appear to be asking the wrong questions.

I never said that I did not believe in it. I just want emperical data that shows major evolution in life forms larger than one celled organisms

Go and buy some books and read up on it, its a massive subject and this is a Mercedes forum!:D

I saw that.Head to the library, my man, I'm sure the evidence you seek is there.

then why did modern apes evolve as such? why dont they speak and have a higher social order like their cousins? I am aware of the fossil records, I am also aware that there are gaps in said record.

not mocking anybody, just want to know why. maybe I need an evolution forum, but I dont want to blindly accept the homo sapiens theory as "religion" without some answers. Maybe the answers are not there yet.

I still want to know why dogs cant talk to their humans in a mutually understandable dialect. we have been together for millennia....

I'd recommend Fran DeWaal's Our Inner Ape, before making the claim that humans have a higher social order than other primates.

Evolution is sloooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww

http://lesswrong.com/lw/kt/evolutions_are_stupid_but_work_anyway/

The apes that speak do exist, they are us. But I understand your confusion. Apes have evolved. No ape exists like it did before. Think of a genome as a light switch. Imagine ancient man and ape side by side, then someone flips that switch to enhance communication (which itself too a long time). But for the ape, no such luck. Maybe it was a response to a predator. But the point is that over time more and more switches get flipped on and off and eventually there is more and more of a difference.

As for dog speaking, maybe one day it will happen. You have to keep in mind that we do not sent out dogs to school If a child was born do you think it would speak without education/training from parents/school? That child would not. There are examples of dogs understanding communication very well. They just dont have the vocal cords for speech no more than fish do. I think a dog understanding sign language is a pretty good sign though of evolution/skill/reasoning/etc.

The fact that you are asking "why" indicates that you don't understand the process. In short, we are talking about random mutations within individuals of a species; the vast majority of those mutations are meaningless. Very rarely there are mutations that provide an advantage for those individual to survive and reproduce more efficiently within there environment (i.e., giraffes with longer necks). If the "new" version of this animal is then isolated from the main group (and does not interbreed), it will eventually evolve enough differences to be considered a separate species. In other words, the ability of humans to be self-aware is almost certainly a byproduct of other changes that had an evolutionary advantage at the time, in a specific environment (it was an accident).

Everyone knows that dogs talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ERSFuSm4rY

Looks like at least one NM Republican is on the side of the Facebookers:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Bill-promotes-teaching-of--intelligent-design-

Wow, some of you folks got a lot of faith, really a lot more then I suspected. I think a lot of it is misdirected, but still it is a faith, your faith. For me, I am sticking with intelligent design that is creation - just seems to be a more sensible way. Neither theory is easy to prove in or out of court.

At least one has the benefit of empirical verification instead of metaphysical speculation.

Looks like NM schools aren't doing such a good job on educating journalists in English. From the story:

"Anderson said Tuesday if someone used his bill to teach religious tenants in school, "I'd go after them. I'd bring them down."

I know very bright scientists in a variety of life science subdisciplines who are religious: Muslim, Hindu, Christian. I know two biologists who are fundamentalists, which I used to find entertaining. They are good people and I know longer torment them.

I believe evolution is determined by a need required to survive, not one that makes it more convenient to survive. Dags have no need to talk, monkeys have no need to fly, cats do not need an opposable thumb. Certain humming birds developed a longer curved beak so that they could get the nectar in the flowers to survive. In humans the appendix has all but disappeared. We no longer have hair all over our bodies.... examples of evolution are all over. You just have to read about it and look.

You and I live in a timescale far shorter than evolution. We are nearly dx/dy of f(evolution). The inverse operation is hard to picture, but we know it exists.

Science does not have all the answers. They have more answers today than they did yesterday and will have more tomorrow than they do today. How ever just because the answer is not known, does not mean it did not happen. The fossil evidence indicates that it did. It is up to science vie scientific method to figure out why.

Actually its fairly easy to prove with carbon dating and such. The age of the earth etc, isn't really a theory at this point.

Most modern religions are less than 2k years old, which is nothing in geologic time.