Creation vs. Evolution

[Thalassamania]

It's like evolution, folks out of the field can sound off all they want, the evidence is clearly in, there's no significant discussion of it in the journals or the halls, the science community, has moved on to questions of what can we do about it, long term and short term.

 

[abitton]

Ah, OK ... the question is did some supreme being make many millions of species of plant and animals and then turn them loose to evolve, or was a process set into motion that did not involve the "creation" of a single organism, by natural or supernatural means, that has resulted in many evolving organisms we see today.

Those are the two "extreme" (not used derogatorily) POVs. In total agreement with you. Pure creationism vs pure evolutionism.

One may also, for example, believe that a supreme being "created" (or provoked, or whatever) the Big Bang, and set in place the "rules" that led to what we see today. This individual would also believe that the organisms that exist today are the result of eons of evolutionary pressures.

You realize we are debating on the number of angels that can fit on the head of a pin, don't you?

This is fun!!!

 

[abitton]

It's like evolution, folks out of the field can sound off all they want, the evidence is clearly in, there's no significant discussion of it in the journals or the halls, the science community, has moved on to questions of what can we do about it, long term and short term.

Agreed.

 

[Hank49]

I just read a few of the last pages and I was surprised and happy to see that this never ending question and discussion has remained peaceful.
I think it's an indication though (the ongoing debate) that if you just be objective and don't choose any "theory" based on faith....just weigh facts...it's pretty evident that we have no idea and that we are pretty insignificant creatures on this mass of rock flying around the sun somewhere in this place we call the Universe, and have no idea where we came from and may not for a thousand or a million or more years. The concept of the universe and infinity is beyond our intellectual capacity. Big Bang? What was here before that? End of the Universe? What's there? A wall? ....nope, we're not smart enough yet....I think...

 

[abitton]

Will we ever be?

A part of me hopes not.

 

[H2Andy]

i think there are definite limits to human understanding and ability to learn about the universe...

i think we're pretty darn close at the moment ... n dimensions? string theory?

i sure as heck don't get most of that stuff

and i suspect, pretty soon our best and brighest minds won't be able to make sense of things ... it's jus beyond human understanding... that's just my view

before you say anything, try translating the following for me:

Juan Maldacena finds that string theory in a background of five-dimensional anti-de Sitter space times a five-sphere obeys a duality relationship with superconformal field theory in four spacetime dimensions. The result, called AdS-CFT duality, opens up a new era of exploration in string theory.

 

[Sasquatch]

Whatever it means it sounds like it's opening up a new era of exploration in string theory.

 

[H2Andy]

 

[Tobagoman]

Okay, I told myself I wasn't going to get roped into this because challenging someones beliefs is usually an act of futility. I am a marine biologist/chemist, so I do have a bit of knowledge on the subject.

The only thing that I want to point out is that Creationism is a hypothesis, while Evolution is a theory. Do you know what the difference is? Let me give you a tutorial:

Hypothesis:

A tentative explanation or idea about how things work
A hypothesis guides you in further work to get a better answer
Example of a hypothesis: "The moon is made of cheese". How could we test this hypothesis?

Construct a rocket to go to the moon and return with samples
Make a cheese pizza substituting the moon samples for the cheese
Ask people to eat the pizza and see if they can tell any difference from pizza made with real cheese.
Most likely conclusion: Hey, this pizza tastes like dirt
New hypothesis (altered to include additional information from above experiment): The moon is not made of cheese, but is made of dirt, sort of like the Earth

Theory:

A theory is an explanation of the general principles of certain phenomena with considerable facts to support it
A theory remains valid only if every new piece of information supports it
If a single piece of available information does not support a theory, then the theory (as proposed) is disproved


Fact:

An indisputable truth


Example:

It is a fact that on June 30, 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia, an explosion equivalent to about 15 million tons of TNT occurred.
It is a theory that this explosion was due to a natural, extra-terrestrial phenomenon and not to an activity associated with man.
One hypothesis is that a comet collided with the Earth (a competing hypothesis is that a small black hole collided with the Earth)

Now the rest is up to you. Test your hypothesis!!!!

 

[H2Andy]

Hey, this pizza tastes like dirt

i'm sorry, here's the fatal flaw in your argument

even pizza that tastes like dirt is darn good... you just need more beer.
i dont' know how many slices of pizza i've dropped on carpets with dog and cat hair, or out in the dirt of the backyard, sand, water, even paint ... and more
beer always makes it taste real good

so, who cares whether it's cheese or dirt?

that's what we call the "real-world" approach to a problem round these parts