Views of Evolution Depend on Knowledge

[OldWiseGuy]

That makes no sense whatsoever.

If one believes in creation why study evolution?

 

[pitabread]

If one believes in creation why study evolution?

Because apparently certain people who believe in creation have a big problem with evolution.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Because apparently certain people who believe in creation have a big problem with evolution.

I don't understand either creation or evolution, but creation makes more sense to me. I post on the subject to keep my hand in the game.

 

[pitabread]

I don't understand either creation or evolution, but creation makes more sense to me.

That also doesn't make any sense.

 

[essentialsaltes]

That makes no sense whatsoever.

It makes perfect sense. Denying evolution is not a matter of evidence, argument, or science; for most, it is just an affirmation of faith.

It's unjustified and unwise, but there's nothing unsensible about this mental defense mechanism.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

That also doesn't make any sense.

It's like the concept of design. Science says there is no purposeful design in nature. This doesn't make sense to me as I see design all over the place; like birds wings are designed not only to fly 'straight and level' but to do some pretty complicated aerial acrobatics as well.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

It's like the concept of design. Science says there is no purposeful design in nature. This doesn't make sense to me as I see design all over the place; like birds wings are designed not only to fly 'straight and level' but to do some pretty complicated aerial acrobatics as well.

That really just seems like a you problem.

 

[pitabread]

This doesn't make sense to me as I see design all over the place; like birds wings are designed not only to fly 'straight and level' but to do some pretty complicated aerial acrobatics as well.

I suppose there are two ways of looking at this:

One, evolutionary processes can produce 'designs'. Evolutionary algorithms are a great example of that.

The other is that the recognition of 'design' in naturally occurring phenomena could be a form of Apophenia - Wikipedia .

 

[juvenissun]

Bioscience published the results of a survey of 1100 Americans, asking them 25 content knowledge questions about evolution. Not surprisingly, people with more knowledge about evolution (answering questions accurately) were more likely to accept evolution.

The study also asked about religious intensity and political affiliation. The same positive correlation between knowledge and acceptance existed, but the curves follow different trajectories based on these other criteria.

Summary of results available from SciAm.

Also covered in Science Daily.

"We find the traditional relationship between your religious beliefs and evolution, and between your political beliefs and evolution, but we also find that those are not the only factors that matter," said Deena Weisberg, a senior fellow in Penn's psychology department in the School of Arts and Sciences. "They do matter, but if you know more about evolutionary theory, if you understand it better, you're more likely to accept it."

This has always been the case. And it is the way it should be.

I think you worship knowledge. That is very unfortunate.

 

[Brightmoon]

Huh? Errr why is that, juvenissum?

 

[essentialsaltes]

I think you worship knowledge.

No, I just prefer it to ignorance.

 

[juvenissun]

No, I just prefer it to ignorance.

You do not have choice. You have to worship knowledge.

 

[Ophiolite]

I think you worship knowledge. That is very unfortunate.

Not true, but if it were that would be a better alternative than celebrating ignorance.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

The other is that the recognition of 'design' in naturally occurring phenomena could be a form of Apophenia - Wikipedia .

The same could be said of evolution.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Science cannot 'educate' me.

I want our lakes to be cleaned up. Those in charge of the lakes, which include the city, county, university, DNR, and dozens of civic groups lending a hand, put out annual reports and plans for doing this. Still the lakes are a mess despite all the knowledge and science proffered by these agencies and groups. What they seem to be doing is educating the public as to why the lakes are a foul mess so that we come to accept this condition.

However, I remain uneducated. I still want clean lakes.

 

[durangodawood]

Too many anti-theory of evolution people dont even know what they are against.

We have seen this right here in this forum.

 

[essentialsaltes]

You do not have choice. You have to worship knowledge.

No, I don't. I'd also prefer it if you didn't make up stories about me just to make yourself feel better.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Too many anti-theory of evolution people dont even know what they are against.

We have seen this right here in this forum.

Maybe we don't know what we are up against, but we do know what we are against.

 

[pitabread]

The same could be said of evolution.

Except for the fact biological evolution is an observable process with known mechanisms and testable consequences. The same unfortunately can't be said for "design" .

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

Science cannot 'educate' me.

I want our lakes to be cleaned up. Those in charge of the lakes, which include the city, county, university, DNR, and dozens of civic groups lending a hand, put out annual reports and plans for doing this. Still the lakes are a mess despite all the knowledge and science proffered by these agencies and groups. What they seem to be doing is educating the public as to why the lakes are a foul mess so that we come to accept this condition.

However, I remain uneducated. I still want clean lakes.

Yeah, I imagine the reason they aren't being cleaned is because of politics and money, not science.