Describe your understanding of evolution.

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

My understanding is that an hypothesis becomes a theory when it is testable.

Can we not go down this route with the meta debate, because I will get a mod involved to clear it up if it continues.

 

[Direct Driver]

I think that you're really making a mountain out of a molehill here. It's just a simple question: what is your personal definition of evolution? That's all there is to it.

Well, in that case, I would say it means something changes over time. Done.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

Well, in that case, I would say it means something changes over time. Done.

That works perfectly fine.

 

[Speedwell]

Yet animal to man can ?

Insofar as our physical bodies are concerned, humans are animals.

 

[SelfSim]

My understanding is that an hypothesis becomes a theory when it is testable.

An hypothesis is usually expressed in a way where it is objectively testable in principle. A theory has already been objectively tested.

Its worthwhile understanding the distinction of: testable vs tested.

 

[durangodawood]

Evolution is like how the blues became rocknroll which became metal.

 

[pitabread]

I lol’d.

I typed that up before my morning coffee. There are going to be typos.

 

[SelfSim]

Well, in that case, I would say it means something changes over time. Done.

Evolution is like how the blues became rocknroll which became metal.

Thinking evolves and there ain't nuffin' ya go do to stop that .. Progression is a force of nature y'know.

 

[durangodawood]

Thinking evolves and there ain't nuffin' ya go do to stop that .. Progression is a force of nature y'know.

...and then the "Cambrian" explosion of metal sub-genres.

 

[SigurdReginson]

...and then the "Cambrian" explosion of metal sub-genres.

Yup! Now you got everything from this...

To this...

 

[pitabread]

Yup! Now you got everything from this...

To this...

Yeah, but where are the transitional forms?

 

[SelfSim]

Yeah, but where are the transitional forms?

 

[SigurdReginson]

Yeah, but where are the transitional forms?

Uncanny, no?

 

[Halbhh]

please can you explain what you think of when someone says evolution?

Aside from the theory and the reality of fossils, I think of this:

That God created the heavens and the Earth and it was "very good" (Genesis chapter 1) -- so that nature wonderfully supports life, and...

So that everything -- the entire Universe! -- unfolded perfectly, as we see it, like a flower from a seed.

Naturally and perfectly.

So, to me creation and evolution are seeming two descriptions of the same thing, though we cannot say just how many times God intervened to guide and specifically alter the natural flow that was itself His own design.

And God is the master over Nature, not subject to it. So that time has no effect on Him. He can move through a million or a hundred million years I suppose like you or I could walk from one room into another room.

For instance, I speculate that God chose the asteroid that hit the Earth 66 million years ago and made most of the dinosaurs into compost, clearing the way for the mammals and for us. It was just right.

Bigger and it would have destroyed the mammals also.

Smaller and it would have not cleared out the dinosaurs.

It was Just Right.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

It was Just Right.

Just-so stories always are; hindsight is a wonderful thing

 

[Halbhh]

Just-so stories always are; hindsight is a wonderful thing

Yes. Of course, Christians do not (or should not) have any trouble with the Anthropic principle - Wikipedia

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Yes. Of course, Christians do not (or should not) have any trouble with the Anthropic principle - Wikipedia

Of course, it's trivially (even tautologically) true. "We're here because we're here because we're here because we're here..."

E.T.A. It always brings to mind the very wonderful 'Last Goon Show Of All', where Ned Seagoon finds Eccles in a coal cellar:

SEAGOON: "What are you doing down here?"

ECCLES: "Everybody's got to be somewhere."

 

[Halbhh]

Of course, it's trivially (even tautologically) true. "We're here because we're here because we're here because we're here..."

It's a lot of fun now-a-days in cosmology. I already enjoyed the field even before this Universe began to look so unnatural. It's a life long interest, that began about age 12.

 

[stevil]

I think that anyone who wants to believe the they have relatives that were apes is entitled to their opinion, my family tree does not include a monkey.

Humans ARE apes and apes are not descendants of monkeys although we do have common ancestry.
All living things have common ancestry if you go back far enough. We even have common ancestry with the mushroom.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

Humans ARE apes and apes are not descendants of monkeys although we do have common ancestry.
All living things have common ancestry if you go back far enough. We even have common ancestry with the mushroom.

Can we not, please? This thread isn't about the argument about evolution, it's just asking people to describe what their personal definition of evolution is.