Why do people believe in evolution?

[QvQ]

• You keep shooting yourself in the foot. Now we know that you are scientifically illiterate too. We never said that the theory of evolution was "proven". Gravity is not proven. At least not in the sciences. Prove is a term reserved for mathematics. Of course there are different definitions and usages of the word "prove". If you mean prove in the legal sense, which is "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" then you are clearly wrong. Using that definition the evidence proves evolution.
  
  And again with the breaking of the Ninth Commandment. Contrived or shoehorned evidence is not allowed in the sciences. There is a very clear definition of what is and what is not evidence. You continue to demonstrate that you do not even understand the legal concept of evidence by your poor examples.
  
  Why run away from a reasonable offer? Is it because you know that you are wrong?
  
  And you have not been able to name one so called flaw in evolution as of yet. Don't worry, I am very patient.

  
  
• NOW is very narrow time and distance. Nothing exists outside of NOW. Everything is moving NOW. What we see is the patterns of particles moving in that very narrow frame of NOW.
• Everything is changing but nothing is evolving
• Those patterns may or may not be random. This is the very basis of physics, discovering the laws of that motion.
• No one can deny change because anything and everything that moves changes the pattern but what laws govern that change and what patterns result are not yet fully known or understood in physics or any science. It is a process of discovery.
• Hawkings has declared that Newtons Determined Universe is the true model. I prefer the kaleidoscope model, random bits of colored glass falling into discernible patterns
• Darwin's model does not formulate the laws of evolutionary change nor does it predict anything. That is not just a flaw, it is a fatal error.

 

[pitabread]

Darwin's model does not formulate the laws of evolutionary change nor does it predict anything.

Natural selection can be predictive. This is directly described in evolutionary textbooks.

Have you ever read a textbook on biological evolution?

 

[Speedwell]

Hundreds if not Thousands of Denominations agree 100% with that statement.

And yet many of them are wrong about it.

 

[QvQ]

Natural selection can be predictive. This is directly described in evolutionary textbooks.

Have you ever read a textbook on biological evolution?

Is that the theory that Great Apes who were perfectly adapted to their environment, fur coats, jungle food and play ground, wonderful natural world decided to shed their hair, leave the jungles, live in hostile climates where they had to grub in the soil with sticks or beat other species over the head to get their food..and because of Why?
Why in the world did those old "ancestors" of humans become LESS ADAPTED? Natural Selection doesn't explain this.
If natural selection is true, then humans are the greatest failure. Great Apes are much better suited and what natural conditions would instigate human evolution? The history of "natural selection" is extinction, small pox and dinosaurs are examples
What survival advantage do I have over my cat who is much better suited to this world than I am...?

 

[Subduction Zone]

• 
  
  
• NOW is very narrow time and distance. Nothing exists outside of NOW. Everything is moving NOW. What we see is the patterns of particles moving in that very narrow frame of NOW.
• Everything is changing but nothing is evolving
• Those patterns may or may not be random. This is the very basis of physics, discovering the laws of that motion.
• No one can deny change because anything and everything that moves changes the pattern but what laws govern that change and what patterns result are not yet fully known or understood in physics or any science. It is a process of discovery.
• Hawkings has declared that Newtons Determined Universe is the true model. I prefer the kaleidoscope model, random bits of colored glass falling into discernible patterns
• Darwin's model does not formulate the laws of evolutionary change nor does it predict anything. That is not just a flaw, it is a fatal error.

Nice word salad.

Now can you try to post something substantiative.

And when did Hawkings make that claim about Newton?

And Darwin's model did set down the basics of evolution. Not understanding that does not make it so. He explained how evolution is the combination of variation and natural selection. Both are observed in nature. In fact there has only been more evidence of them found since then. So how is your misunderstanding a "fatal flaw"? It is very difficult if not impossible to refute science that one does not understand.

 

[Shemjaza]

Is that the theory that Great Apes who were perfectly adapted to their environment, fur coats, jungle food and play ground, wonderful natural world decided to shed their hair, leave the jungles, live in hostile climates where they had to grub in the soil with sticks or beat other species over the head to get their food..and because of Why?
Why in the world did those old "ancestors" of humans become LESS ADAPTED? Natural Selection doesn't explain this.
If natural selection is true, then humans are the greatest failure. Great Apes are much better suited and what natural conditions would instigate human evolution? The history of "natural selection" is extinction, small pox and dinosaurs are examples
What survival advantage do I have over my cat who is much better suited to this world than I am...?

Humans don't live in the same environment as other apes.

The ancestors of humanity adapted to live in the savanna, rather than the jungle. Upright for more efficient walking on the ground; tool using to deal with threats and new food sources; and hairless to more efficiently shed heat while pursuit hunting.

Our tool use and intelligence allow us to thrive anywhere, those are the real advantages.

As fore your cat? They have a bunch of advantages that their ancestors didn't, it's cuter, sillier and friendlier so humans will enjoy having them in their homes. All traits found in wild cats, but changed in presentation and proportion to better fit in to their new environment.

Humans are the same, apes are smart cooperative and have some ability with tools... humans are just the best.

 

[pitabread]

<snip>

This isn't answering what I asked.

I asked if you've ever read a (modern) textbook on biological evolution. Have you? Yes or no?

Because from your collective posts, it sounds like you have not.

If you ever do want to get an understanding of biological evolution, I created a thread with a variety of free courses and other material: Educational resources for learning about biology and evolution

 

[Subduction Zone]

Is that the theory that Great Apes who were perfectly adapted to their environment, fur coats, jungle food and play ground, wonderful natural world decided to shed their hair, leave the jungles, live in hostile climates where they had to grub in the soil with sticks or beat other species over the head to get their food..and because of Why?

Because climates change. They did not necessarily leave the jungle so much as the jungle left them.

Why in the world did those old "ancestors" of humans become LESS ADAPTED? Natural Selection doesn't explain this.

We don't need to since that is not what happened.

If natural selection is true, then humans are the greatest failure. Great Apes are much better suited and what natural conditions would instigate human evolution? The history of "natural selection" is extinction, small pox and dinosaurs are examples
What survival advantage do I have over my cat who is much better suited to this world than I am...?

Wow! I mean just wow! You do not see intelligence as a major positive survival trait? And again, evolution largely occurs when the environment changes. Climates change, over millions of years mountains form and are eroded. Continents move. The world is ever changing at different rates. Evolution is not an event that occurs overnight. It is the slow accumulation of changes over millennia and more.

 

[Astrophile]

Also, actual drawings made by a person on the Beagle shows the natives clothed in animal skins.
I spent two years hiking around the Southwest, camping out with nothing more than I could carry on my back. I was going to town for supplies. I crossed the Gila River at dawn, wading across, dressed in shorts and t shirt. A rancher stopped, rolled down his truck window. His heater was full blast and he was bundled up in a coat.
He said, "It is 17 degrees. Can't you feel the cold?"
I was adapted ...not evolved.

Since you didn't answer my question, I should explain that the name Tierra del Fuego means 'Land of Fire'. Ferdinand Magellan gave the island that name because from his ship he could see the fires lighted by the local people (the Yaghan) - Tierra del Fuego - Wikipedia .

 

[Subduction Zone]

Also, actual drawings made by a person on the Beagle shows the natives clothed in animal skins.
I spent two years hiking around the Southwest, camping out with nothing more than I could carry on my back. I was going to town for supplies. I crossed the Gila River at dawn, wading across, dressed in shorts and t shirt. A rancher stopped, rolled down his truck window. His heater was full blast and he was bundled up in a coat.
He said, "It is 17 degrees. Can't you feel the cold?"
I was adapted ...not evolved.

You were not even adapted. You were acclimated at best.

 

[BobRyan]

Oh, but it doesn't take billions of years. It just takes a rabbit's life time to produce a rabbit with "water, dust, gas rocks and sunlight".

Clearly your dust,rocks and gas are far more talented than what I have laying around in my yard

 

[Subduction Zone]

Clearly your dust,rocks and gas are far more talented than what I have laying around in my yard

Not more talented. There were simply orders of magnitude more of both time and amounts.

 

[QvQ]

Humans don't live in the same environment as other apes.

The ancestors of humanity adapted to live in the savanna, rather than the jungle. Upright for more efficient walking on the ground; tool using to deal with threats and new food sources; and hairless to more efficiently shed heat while pursuit hunting.

Our tool use and intelligence allow us to thrive anywhere, those are the real advantages.

As fore your cat? They have a bunch of advantages that their ancestors didn't, it's cuter, sillier and friendlier so humans will enjoy having them in their homes. All traits found in wild cats, but changed in presentation and proportion to better fit in to their new environment.

Humans are the same, apes are smart cooperative and have some ability with tools... humans are just the best.

Cats are not domestic animals. Cute is not a necessary survival trait. In this environment, much like their native Egypt, they survive very well and multiply rapidly. If they are not caught when very young, they are wild animals, cannot be tamed and are dangerous to handle..
Everything a cat needs to know, a cat knows the minute it is born. Top of the food chain carnivore, perfectly adapted and able to survive.
This world is not our home and we are not adapted to it. We do have the large brain but it causes us as much trouble as it solves. Our cleverness may be the death of us all with nuclear weapons, genetic engineering gone amuck and God knows what other mischief we can devise to poison or blow up ourselves and the planet.

 

[Shemjaza]

Cats are not domestic animals. Cute is not a necessary survival trait. In this environment, much like their native Egypt, they survive very well and multiply rapidly. If they are not caught when very young, they are wild animals, cannot be tamed and are dangerous to handle..
Everything a cat needs to know, a cat knows the minute it is born. Top of the food chain carnivore, perfectly adapted and able to survive.

...what? Domestic cats are not domestic animals? That's odd.

Domestic cats have undergone considerable change since the original animals were kept for ratting in ancient Egypt.

This world is not our home and we are not adapted to it. We do have the large brain but it causes us as much trouble as it solves. Our cleverness may be the death of us all with nuclear weapons, genetic engineering gone amuck and God knows what other mischief we can devise to poison or blow up ourselves and the planet.

Sure, but there are billions of us and we are thriving compared to any primate in history.

It may yet get us killed (and take a lot else down with us), but for now our intelligence has made us immensely successful.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Cats are not domestic animals. Cute is not a necessary survival trait. In this environment, much like their native Egypt, they survive very well and multiply rapidly. If they are not caught when very young, they are wild animals, cannot be tamed and are dangerous to handle..
Everything a cat needs to know, a cat knows the minute it is born. Top of the food chain carnivore, perfectly adapted and able to survive.
This world is not our home and we are not adapted to it. We do have the large brain but it causes us as much trouble as it solves. Our cleverness may be the death of us all with nuclear weapons, genetic engineering gone amuck and God knows what other mischief we can devise to poison or blow up ourselves and the planet.

Are you sure that being cute is not a survival trait? All that is required for a species to continue is for it to be able to pass on its genes and for its progeny to do the same. Cuteness is clearly a "survival trait" when it comes to cats. Cats are bred for their cuteness. In the wild cuteness was not a survival trait, but domestic cats are no longer living in the wild. There is a bit of "cuteness" to human eyes in almost all mammals, especially baby ones.

By the way, no organism is "perfectly adapted". They can be well adapted. But there is always room for improvement.

 

[dlamberth]

More people believe in evolution as time goes by. Is it because they have studied it and understand it, or is it because so many others believe it so they might as well too?

Science has opened the door into how creation operates by way of the evolutionary process. There's a LOT of information to draw from.

 

[dlamberth]

Cats are not domestic animals. Cute is not a necessary survival trait. In this environment, much like their native Egypt, they survive very well and multiply rapidly. If they are not caught when very young, they are wild animals, cannot be tamed and are dangerous to handle..
Everything a cat needs to know, a cat knows the minute it is born. Top of the food chain carnivore, perfectly adapted and able to survive.
This world is not our home and we are not adapted to it. We do have the large brain but it causes us as much trouble as it solves. Our cleverness may be the death of us all with nuclear weapons, genetic engineering gone amuck and God knows what other mischief we can devise to poison or blow up ourselves and the planet.

Sorry, just to add a side note, domestic cats are considered their own bread (Felis catus) with in the species. Though feral cats shy away from direct human contact, they still need to live around humans for survival. They don't do too well out in the wild. The domesticated exotic cats are actually a cross between a regular domesticated cat and a wild cat like a Bengal in order to bread a more human friendly animal.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Science has opened the door into how creation operates by way of the evolutionary process. There's a LOT of information to draw from.

What evidence is there for any sort of creation?

 

[dlamberth]

What evidence is there for any sort of creation?

I look around and see stuff.

 

[Subduction Zone]

I look around and see stuff.

Ah, so no reliable evidence at all.

There are clear and reasonable standards for evidence in the sciences. The bar is not terribly high, yet creationists never seem to be able to get over it.