Do you believe evolution?

[Ancient Dragon]

Finally, a complete and accurate explaination of evolution. :

[MosaicFuneral]

SP clips, on YouTube, always get deleted. A more official link:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155351

[cwarn23]

I strongly believe in evolution and I even suspected of a simular thing happening (common ancestry) before I even heard the first thing about evolution. And the southpark clip is very funny in the way it explains it. But unfortunately only 40% of Americans believe in evolution because it contradicts with the legends of the pesence of a god.

[sneekula]

If you watched the response given by the Governor of Louisiana a few days ago, you wonder if there is evolution.

[venomocity]

I believe in creation. Simply put, you don't come across a cabin in the woods and think, "wow, it must have built itself!" (Same fits a well designed PC...like mine! hehe) When you look at the fact of how the world works in the design itself, it didn't just happen, it had to be constructed. The exact distance from the sun to survive, not freeze to death or burn up, the oxygen levels not too much not too low, water. These things didn't just POP and now we have a perfect home, it was created.

[GrimJack]

I believe in creation. Simply put, you don't come across a cabin in the woods and think, "wow, it must have built itself!" (Same fits a well designed PC...like mine! hehe) When you look at the fact of how the world works in the design itself, it didn't just happen, it had to be constructed. The exact distance from the sun to survive, not freeze to death or burn up, the oxygen levels not too much not too low, water. These things didn't just POP and now we have a perfect home, it was created.

You are just trolling, right!? You aren't really dragging out those tired old 'watchmaker' cliches as some sort of disproof of evolution.

The planet did not always have an oxygen atmosphere, it was changed by what we now call extremophiles that 'ate' the old atmosphere and 'shat' Oxygen. wrt "the perfect distance from the sun' - er, we evolved for the environment we have not the environment we wanted (to bastardize an infamous political leader).

Well, just in case you believe what you stated - would you please explain MRSA, fossils, -- well, if you can explain just those 2, I will donate my points to you.

[GrimJack]

If you watched the response given by the Governor of Louisiana a few days ago, you wonder if there is evolution.

Can you believe how lame that was!! And he was the 'new, improved' Republican and their next presidential candidate. He dropped such a brick, he will probably disappear (unless he joins the Palin ticket).

[cwarn23]

I believe in creation. Simply put, you don't come across a cabin in the woods and think, "wow, it must have built itself!" (Same fits a well designed PC...like mine! hehe)

Well from my understanding of evolution it is about the development of living organisms and I wouldn't call a PC or a cabin a living organism. There for evolution wins again.

You will probably find that the origin of species is largley impaction on what happened during the time we know as the big bang. The beginning of the universe when planets suddenly came into existance probably from something in the parallel universe going terribly wrong.

[Ancient Dragon]

Speaking of the Big Bang -- where did that huge gas ball come from anyway? What was there before the BB ? Don't you think we humans are just too ignorant to understand all that yet? Even if God did explain it exactly to us it would have the same affect as us trying to explain TV to Julius Ceasar or even worse to Moses.

[Gerryx1]

Hi, Interesting ideas and all have a point. My own thoughts on the subject: The word 'evolution' is an evolution of the word 'evolve'.
If you take Ford's early Model T automobile and compare it with their present day models -,there is little or no comparison. Yet, that is just the result of - over the years - following up on the original plan or idea, removing weak links; making adjustments and improvments until they reached the present day level. You can call that the evolution of the auto, how it evolved. Humanity and society also, has evolved from a lower or primative state to a rellative higher one. Each one of us, by the very fact of our life's experiences, evolve, from our early attempts at walking to the development of our personality, and the handling of the many difficult, and otherwise, situations that confronts us. Nature and wildlife also, adapt and modify as the neee arises. So, I think evolution is a basic fact of existence, and, if it is presented properly as such, it does not conflict with a belief in a Creator, whether you call that creator God, Yahweh, Allah, or by anyother name. I think that it really hammers home the awesome wisdom of this Creator or First Cause.

[Ancient Dragon]

So, I think evolution is a basic fact of existence, and, if it is presented properly as such, it does not conflict with a belief in a Creator, whether you call that creator God, Yahweh, Allah, or by anyother name. I think that it really hammers home the awesome wisdom of this Creator or First Cause.

I tend to agree with that, but creationists do not. A true creationist believes God created everything as they appear today -- no evolution involed in the process. They believe in the literal interpretation of the first few verses in Genesis, that the earth and everything on it were created in just 6 earth days. Well, I suppose since God can do anything He could have done things like that, but I doubt that He did. And the scientific studies over the past couple centuries or so have shown that too. Also logic dictates that the earth could not have possibly cooled enough in just 1 day to support life as we know it. In the beginning the earth was just molten lava, very hostil to life. It would have taken several million years to support life.

[jbennet]

yep.

take antibiotic resistant bacteria for one example.

[Gerryx1]

Yea, a good example and, when you start using your hands for some hard graft such as shoveling coal or rock climbing; at first the skin will be torn and blisters will appear but, if you continue, nature, or your inbuilt evolutionary clock will kick in and you will develop thicker skin and welts on the parts of the hand where needed.

[GrimJack]

Yea, a good example and, when you start using your hands for some hard graft such as shoveling coal or rock climbing; at first the skin will be torn and blisters will appear but, if you continue, nature, or your inbuilt evolutionary clock will kick in and you will develop thicker skin and welts on the parts of the hand where needed.

That is not evolution but adaptation; let us not drag Lamarck into this or we won't get anywhere (not that we will anyway). There is no inbuilt evolutionary clock (whatever that is), the body adapts to how it is used. Muscles change according to usage, skin toughens when rubbed.

Just to put a fine point on it - MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body.) is the result of the misuse of common antibiotics. Currently more people in the US die from MRSA than from AIDS (2005 statistics).

[GrimJack]

Speaking of the Big Bang -- where did that huge gas ball come from anyway? What was there before the BB ? Don't you think we humans are just too ignorant to understand all that yet? Even if God did explain it exactly to us it would have the same affect as us trying to explain TV to Julius Ceasar or even worse to Moses.

Yeah, the question of first causes has always been an interesting question. That is one of the reasons that the lack of visible anti-matter is puzzling. It has long been accepted that particles can appear in a vacuum as long as there has been no overall change in the total 'energy' in the system - say a proton and an anti-proton or a quark and its anti. The BB theory posits that for all the matter in the universe should be balanced by and equivalent amount of anti-matter.

Some seem to think that 'dark' matter and/or 'dark' energy may be the answer to the missing anti-matter. The search for dark matter has lead to some interesting acronyms. The two main categories that scientists consider as possible candidates for dark matter have been dubbed MACHOs (Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects), and WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). Although these acronyms are amusing, they can help you remember which is which. MACHOs are the big, strong dark matter objects ranging in size from small stars to super massive black holes (1). MACHOs are made of 'ordinary' matter, which is called baryonic matter. WIMPs, on the other hand, are the little weak subatomic dark matter candidates, which are thought to be made of stuff other than ordinary matter, called non-baryonic matter. Astronomers search for MACHOs and particle physicists look for WIMPs. Some interesting reading

[ahihihi...]

no.. because I look like a rabbit.. (just kidding) ahihihih ...

[GrimJack]

no.. because I look like a rabbit.. (just kidding) ahihihih ...

You should probably start a new thread for this - unless you want to tie this in to Evolution.

Generally speaking dis/belief in evolution has no direct correlation to dis/belief in god - though I am willing to bet heavily on the proposition that 99% of the people who do not believe in evolution believe in god; the obverse is not true.

[Gerryx1]

Yea, I agree, my "inbuilt evolutionary clock" was a bad attempt at a quick metaphor. However, you agree that the scenario I was describing was adaptation and, that is exactly the modus [I]operandi] of evolution: adapt, overcome and develope. Let's be certain just exactly what we are discussing here. The meaning of the word 'evolution', which stems from the word 'evolute', is: To unroll, expand and, when applied to animal and vegetable organisms or their parts: The process of developing from a rudimentary to a complete or more complex state - that that takes place is a ' no-brainer'. But, you cannot develope the argument by sweeping statements like: "Muscles change according to usage" or, explaining away antibiotic resistant bacteria, or MRSA, as the result of bad medical practice. You have to know what is taking place in the processes. All animal and vegetable organisms, even the most primative, are composed of cells that grow, devide, die and renew themselves, and demonstrate an intelligence in the way they build repair the organism, and recact to changes in their environment.

Q: How can you tell when politicians are telling lies>

A: You can see their lips moving.

[GrimJack]

Yea, I agree, my "inbuilt evolutionary clock" was a bad attempt at a quick metaphor. However, you agree that the scenario I was describing was adaptation and, that is exactly the modus [I]operandi] of evolution: adapt, overcome and develope.

Nope! that is not how evolution works. What you are describing is Lamarckian - a disproven theory that says "if you cut the tales off of all the mice, eventually, the mice will breed only tailless mice" Let's be certain just exactly what we are discussing here. The meaning of the word 'evolution', which stems from the word 'evolute',evolute means the locus of the center of curvature or the envelope of the normals of a curve". Evolution is the noun form of the verb 'evolve' " to produce by natural evolutionary processes" is: To unroll, expand and, when applied to animal and vegetable organisms or their parts: The process of developing from a rudimentary to a complete or more complex state - that that takes place is a ' no-brainer'. But, you cannot develope the argument by sweeping statements like: "Muscles change according to usage" or, explaining away antibiotic resistant bacteria, or MRSA, as the result of bad medical practice. You have to know what is taking place in the processes.I know exactly what I am saying; I am not explaining anything away. I am beginning to think that you do not know what you are talking about. All animal and vegetable organisms, even the most primative, are composed of cells that grow, devide, die and renew themselves, and demonstrate an intelligence in the way they build repair the organism, and recact to changes in their environment.I am not sure what you are trying to say here - are you implying that individual cells are intelligent?Q: How can you tell when politicians are telling lies>

A: You can see their lips moving.WTF??? Where did this come from? how does it apply to the topic at hand? Are you implying that ventriloquist politicians do not lie?

[cwarn23]

All animal and vegetable organisms, even the most primative, are composed of cells that grow, devide, die and renew themselves, and demonstrate an intelligence in the way they build repair the organism, and recact to changes in their environment.

I am not sure what you are trying to say here - are you implying that individual cells are intelligent?

I think in science it is widely known that all cells are intelligent. From what I have learn't from a Biology course, each cell has programmed into it a set of instructions. For example, a human airborn virus is basically a bunch of cells programmed to infect other cells to enter the system. Example, if the virus first infects the blood cells like a lot of viruses do, it will get into your system quicker. That is when our immune system gets into place destroying nasty cells and some of its surrounding cells. While the immune system is at work, the virus attempts to effect parts of the body where it can then spread to other humans while doing whatever it was programmed. Some might say this is an effect of creationism where an agent created a virus but I believe it is more likely to be a effect of evolution where somebody sneases then the bacteria that sneasing creates then grows until it form new life or in the above example a virus.