July 1, 2008
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The Theory of Evolution
Stewie and I are putting together a xanga gathering. It will be on July 10th at 7:30. If you would like to attend, message me or Stewie.
Here we go:
Today is the 150th anniversary of the theory of Evolution. Here is the link: Link
When I see so many dumb people on a day to day basis, I wonder how we can be evolving. I wonder if we are really getting smarter.
Do you think there are signs that we are evolving?
Comments (139)
FIRST!
I don’t see us evolving. Men still behave like monkeys.
Unfortunately, dumb people breed earlier and more often. Smart people are putting off children until later in life due to their careers and lifestyle.
dumbass people have been around forever. We’re just noticing it more.
Ha! If evolving BACKWARDS counts. LOL…People are getting more barbaric as time passes.
There tends to be more dumb people then there are smart… It’s kind of sad. But there does seem to be a little less evolving right now.
Still no sign of developing super powers, so I don’t feel like I’m evolving yet. Ask me again in a couple of weeks.
Haven’t you seen the movie “X-Men”?
Well, I don’t for a second believe the theory of evolution, but from some of the things I’ve seen lately, I might consider the thought of the beginning of a de-evolution.
Nope. We are getting taller and fatter, but that’s not evolution. It’s adaptation within a species.
I think the fact that there are so many dumb people attributes to the fact that less people care about higher education in order to get ahead in life. >__> Maybe you should live in a more educated area, Dan.
Maybe it’s like poverty in America–the intelligent get more intelligent, while the dumber people keep approaching borderline retarded.
The beauty of the theory is that you can’t see macroevolution within a lifetime… thus making it as impossible to prove or disprove as theism.
no
I don’t believe in Macro Evolution
@WordFlyerJosh - If we only accepted what we can actually see within the brief span of human lifetimes…we would have almost nothing to believe. That’s certainly not a valid criterion for accepting or rejecting a theory.
Evolution is a fact. It has happened, and is happening. The theory of Natural Selection is the best explanation we have for the observable fact that living organisms evolve.
Oh, and let’s see how many idiots say that they don’t “believe” in evolution. *sigh*
I know a guy with a third nipple…does that count?
i do not.
@Lilpinkbunny - That’s funny. I think the person who stopped right in front of me when I was going 45 mph this morning would meet your “evolving backward” criteria!
Yes. If you doubt it, go to Europe and see the castles built centuries ago… and look how short the doorframes were!
We ARE getting smarter, but evolution happens very slowly, especially complex things like intelligence.
But it’s important to remember that evolution doesn’t always happen upwards. If less intelligent people are more likely to reproduce, and more intelligent people do not reproduce (or do not reproduce as much), then evolution can be swayed away from the intelligent people. Often, this is the case, since many intelligent people delay having families because of education and work, and many unintelligent people don’t understand why birth control is important. If anything, though, this is causing an impulsiveness more than a fall in general intelligence level.
The other thing to consider is cultural inputs. The US is “smarter” than it was a hundred years ago, because we have better schools and more emphasis on education for everyone. This could have arisen completely independently of any genetic changes in the general population.
Evolution doesn’t always work to better a species. This would be true if we were still in the wild, but through medicine and technology man has ‘elevated’ himself out of our natural barbaric ways. When our bodies themselves no longer have to fight for our survival, a lot more bad genes can get passed on.
Do you think there are signs that we are evolving?
Yes. The average height has been increasing over the last few thousand years. Tall people are getting laid more.
@WordFlyerJosh - the inability to see something within the span of one human lifetime does not make it impossible to prove. that’s false logic; shame on you!
@TeacherPerson - What is evolution besides adaptation within the species? Nothing, if you are familiar with the theory.
@shellybean99 - this is the tragedy of being able to choose for ourselves which directions our lives take. maybe we should have an IQ limit for breeding licenses? haha
@Kristenmomof3 - Dan is talking about microevolution here.
@H_loves_C - Evolution is not a fact. It is a factually occuring phenomenon. There’s somewhat of a difference there.
@WordFlyerJosh - We have proven things that we cannot see during the course of a single human life (or things that we were not around to see). Research records from those before us, as well as physical evidence from the past, can prove that something happened. For instance, geographically-based climate history records are rarely challenged, because they’re based on simple, observable patterns in rock. Most of science is making inference from things we cannot directly experience.
@TeacherPerson - Would you explain to me the difference in “adaptation” and “evolution,” please? I have always understood that evolution is the process during which a species undergoes one or more adaptations. So, aren’t these adaptations of changes in body size indicative of evolution happening?
@vwagenjetta and @Lilpinkbunny - Evolution doesn’t always happen for the better. Usually, it benefits the reproductive odds of a species, because that’s how natural selection works, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to get smarter to increase our reproductive odds. In industrialized countries, most people can have as many or as few children as they desire, so there is a whole new understanding of evolution that must come into play in the modern world of exquisite medicine and contraceptives.
@WordFlyerJosh - The beauty of the theory is that you can’t see macroevolution within a lifetime… thus making it as impossible to prove or disprove as theism.
We can’t see Ancient Greece or Colonial America in our lifetimes, yet, we know they exist. Just as history relies on historical evidence, natural history relies on scientific ones. In particular, the footprings for evolutionary events is in each droplets of our blood– encoded in DNA.
Computer technology and computer science has developed to such a point where large databanks of genomes (of various species) can be studied and compared.
@RaVnR - You said it all, while I was reading and replying! Thanks for beating me to the punch – I’m glad to see that for once, I’m not alone in my comments.
And yeah, the idea of an IQ test for a breeding license wouldn’t be such a bad idea… perhaps also a parenting test. Well, obviously, it is a bad idea because the government would be running it, and IQ tests are often inaccurate, but hey, if we’re going to have government doing things like compulsory education, why not strive to make people genetically smarter, too? Intelligent men could be mandated to donate sperm once a month… intelligent women could be mandated to donate eggs every year. Let’s just hope we don’t get too much inbreeding in a couple of generations.
When I am paying for something at the cash register, and the girl behind it cannot make change for a 20…or a child cannot tell time on a clock that is not digital, or tie their shoes because they have always had velcro… Or when I read an article about the use of Ebonics in the public school system’s curriculum- I find it extremely hard to belive that we are evolving. Maybe what it really all boils down to is that modern tecnology has created an overabundance of lazy people…Laziness breeds stupidity.
@RaVnR - OMG and while we’re at it, can there be an entrance exam for wearing thong swimsuits in public too?
@vwagenjetta - Well, I don’t for a second believe the theory of evolution, but from some of the things I’ve seen lately, I might consider the thought of the beginning of a de-evolution.
There is no directionality in evolution. To have a “direction” implies a goal. Evolution is not some sentient being “pushing” organsims towards becomine a particular way.
The sole criterion for Evolution is the dissemination of genetic material. If survival or sexual reproduction are enhanced through loss of a trait, then that’s evolution. There is no such thing as “de-evolution.”
@aj_mudd - Idiocracy. (Movie about human evolution gone wrong)
That’s just it, the dumb people are the ones who believe life just started all on it’s on. There has to BE something there for something to even start. Only a creator can make something of nothing.Man marvels at all the things he can do with all the resources on this earth.Where did those resources come from? Evolutionists believe it was just SHAZZAM!!!! and life started and then little by little different life forms sprouted up. It was much more simple than that, God spoke and it was….from nothing He made it all, and separated it all as He pleased.If you call evolving coming up with new gadgets and new technology, then yes we are evolving everday. I don’t call that evolving, I call it learning. We can’t possible understand creation, even TIME was created by God. So it doesn’t matter all the carbon testing and what have you. It’s useless because before time started, as we know it, there was know distinct time table. I could go on and on with my own THEORY, even of how God did it all, but it would be just like what evolutionists do, they come up with theorys they THINK sound good and make them fact.God created science the way He did for a purpose. I think a lot of it was to humor Himself to see how smart man thought he was by figuring out things God created that shouldn’t be possible and coming up with their own theory of how it happened. But then this is a theory of mine, not a fact. All I know is God is righteous and just and everything He does has a purpose, it doesn’t just happen.
We can see evolution occur within our lifetime, btw, just not in the human populace. In populations with very short lifespans (like bacteria) we can watch evolution occur over many generations. This is why we have so many antibiotic resistant bacteria. Bacteria have evolved to become resistant to antibiotics b/c humans have used them so much. This is why one should not needlessly take antibiotics, its just helping bacteria evolve to become even more resistant to them.
@H_loves_C - Perhaps there is in fact nothing to believe. Your statements have heavey epistemological consequences. Science doesn’t prove things. It disproves. “That living organisms” evolve may be an observable fact, but only at the micro-level. It’s not an observable “fact” in regards to species begetting other species, even over extensive units of time. With our knowledge and evidence, we simply cannot conclusively prove one way or another. Perhaps another breakthrough at some point will allow a truer “knowledge.” For now, all we have are hypotheses and a hypothesis of intelligent design is as definsible as one of atheistic evolution. Unfortunately, some proponents of ID have put forth unscientific and damaging proposals that gives those with a proper scientific approach a bad name.
I believe in micro-evolution, but I don’t think all life on earth, even all animal life, came from one source.
@WordFlyerJosh - ID is as defensible as natural selection? Whatever helps you sleep at night, but you’re wrong. Bye.
nope
@WordFlyerJosh - Science doesn’t prove things. It disproves.
By eliminating various liklihoods down to a single explaination, science proves things.
It’s not an observable “fact” in regards to species begetting other species, even over extensive units of time.
Even if a rape or a murder is observed by no third person, in a criminal trial, the defendent can still be convicted. How? DNA evidence. Tape footage, Fingerprints.
Likewise, evolutionary events in speciation is “observable” by the evidence it leaves behind. In particular: genetic proof of common descent.
Thanks to advances in medicine and hygiene and safety precausions, people are less likely to die from stupid mistakes. If you consider stupidity genetic, then the “stupidity genes” are not being “bred out,” so to speak.
See, doesn’t it seem callous and cold-hearted to talk about humanity purely in terms of their “genetic value”? So sad.
@huginn -
First of all, disproving things doesn’t prove anything. There is always a possibilty that there is an explanation we didn’t think of during the process of testing. Disproving things allows us to narrow our focus and to function as though we know something. It is possible that we are right, but there’s always a chance that it could be disproven by another event, voiding the theory. Aristotle wasn’t challenged for thosands of years in his proposal of why things fall… and Newton couldn’t satisfy the dual nature of light. Theories get disproved all the time, even when we thought they were rock solid.
Secondly, you’re arguing against a point I wasn’t making. I’m not saying that genetic evidence isn’t still observation. Sure, it is. But genetic similarities don’t prove common descent. The field is so young and we haven’t even begun to understand how genetis really work. Similarities may indicate a common source… but that source could just as easily be design (one could argue that makes more sense, but I’m not the one to do that right now) as evolution.
@huginn - I think that’s only true for men.
@H_loves_C - Yet another example of militant ignorant arrogance.
@huginn - @la_faerie_joyeuse - My comment wasn’t in the least bit serious.
@vwagenjetta - It is both a common bad joke and a common misconception. Either way, I thought it was worth addressing.
1. I find it really funny when I see evolutionists get pissed off because someone won’t accept the theory when the thing is: If evolution is real, why care? We’re all going to die and cease to exist anyways. The only thing I can think of for a reason is their yearning to be correct. Pride, dignity, blah.
2. Have any of you taken health? A GOOD educated Health class? Or a history class? You might have noticed that we are more sanitary and are more healthier than in the past? In Africa the children are growing better. AKA The girls are actually getting boobs and filling out, and the boys aren’t just bony little things, they’re filling out. That’s a modern example. So, if you put two and two together, something should click. OH, and us Americans are freaking mutts, so obviously we’re going to differ in size.
3. Yah. C:
and again, i shall forever miss a xanga gathering. im beginning to hate being an asian in asia.
No..and monkeys and apes still exist.
we’re.. getting taller!
“They say it’s not the smartest or strongest who survive, but those most keen to change”. or something similar to this.
Just compare technology now to just 3 or 4 generations ago. Its advancing almost exponentially. Do you think a farmer at the beginning of the 19th century could have even comprehended the concept of genetic engineering in plants and animals?
The trouble with this question is that too many people only care to see the world from their perspective. They don’t try and see the bigger picture. A lifespan of 75 years is nothing in terms of trying to comprehend humanity’s progress over several millenia.
Evolution is a process through which organisms improve their reproductive odds by adaptation. The thing is the more conflict and pressures placed upon us as a species (war, famine, poverty, maintaining peace etc.) the more we are pushed to evolve into something stronger than what we were before. At least in terms of brainpower anyway. We are advancing significantly but only through our dependence on technology.
@WordFlyerJosh -
…but there’s always a chance that it could be disproven by another event, voiding the theory…
I don’t want to get into a philosophy of science debate with you (it’s not as relevant to this topic as your particular rebuttasl to my pro-evolutino arguments). I’d like to focus on the arguments made below. I can get back to this if you later if you insisit on it
Secondly, you’re arguing against a point I wasn’t making.
Yes I were. In the quoted segment, you were talking about “species begetting other species.” In my response, I talked about “evolutionary events in speciation.” They’re two phrasologies for the same thing.
…genetic similarities don’t prove common descent.
It can, and it does. Whether it does or not depends on the particular sort of genetic similarity pointed out and the particular argument made.
In “genetic evidence for common descent,” I had in mind particular segments of “junk DNA.” While our genes code for useful stuff (proteins, etc.), there are long segments of non-coding DNA. These stretches of nucleotides serve no practical function. They fall into several categories: pseudogenes (inactive, broken genes), transposon fragments (ancestral remnants of viruses), and introns.
Between commonly related species (say human and mice) we see the exact same pseudogenes and transposon fragments in the same relative position on the chromsomes. The only way for both humans and mice to share this similiarity if at one point, in a common ancestor’s genome, the pseudogene were mutated and the transposon fragment was left.
The field is so young and we haven’t even begun to understand how genetis really work.
The field is half a century year old. Particularily, with computer technollogy and the biotechnology innovations of the 1980′s (PCR in particular), we know exactly how genetic works. We know enough to clone human-compabile insulin in bacterium. We know enough to create artifical genetic constructs for research in strains of mice, fruit fly, and worm.
I’m calling you on this point. Point out exactly what we don’t know in genetics and explain how it’s relevant to our discussion here.
Similarities may indicate a common source… but that source could just as easily be design…
The beauty of my pseudo-gene/transposon-fragment argument is that it’s muturally exclusive with this cop-out answer. An intelligent designer would have purpose and intent in his designs. It would be unlikly for a designer of this scale and magnitude to make a mistake as inserting broken genes or viral excrement in our genomes.
For this designer to arbitrarily make the same mistakes at the exact same genetic locations of two “different” species (i.e. human/mice) is fucking well unlikely.
Unless you’re invoking particular designers (Judeo-Christian God, for instance), I’ll point out that you have no idea of the means and method of creation. That designer or designers may have very well employed Evolution or something similar to Evolution.
Darwin should’ve stuck with med school, if you ask me.
Technology has largely removed the need for us to evolve. We’re just coasting now.
@MarchingAnt - No..and monkeys and apes still exist.
Just because you exist, it doesn’t mean that your cousins can’t simutaenously exist.
The average IQ keeps raising. They have to change what 100 is about every 5-10 years because of this, to keep 100 at average. So as a species, we are indeed getting more intelligent.
I don’t think anyone in their lifetime would really witness evolution because it occurs so slowly.. so no not really I don’t see evolution.
I don’t think humans can really evolve anymore since we’ve pretty much knocked natural selection out of the picture. Today’s medical practices save a lot of people who would have been left for dead back in the day.
The Theory of Evolution relies heavily on the concept of “Survival of the Fittest” and we now have our world arranged in such a way that such a concept does not apply anymore what with all of our social programs and medical advances and laws to protect idiots from themselves. Besides, we now have a society that does not truly reward intelligence, in fact in many areas it is almost more advantageous to be of lesser intelligence.
I do believe that some evolutionary concepts are true such as micro-evolution but not anymore than that. There simply are too many extremely weak individuals in the world for it to be true.
That Darwin dude looked creepy! o_O Did he really manage to reproduce???
If so, I think that disproves natural selection right there. =:p
@huginn - What you said, in response to vwagenjetta.
And about “The only way for both humans and mice to
share this similiarity if at one point, in a common ancestor’s genome,
the pseudogene were mutated and the transposon fragment was left.”…
Or, if God put it there on PURPOSE to test our faith! Just like the fossils!
Not as much as it used to. Why? Because just about everyone has a child nowadays.
It seems that only the people who don’t want a child don’t have a child these days, a trait that would be destroyed from the gene pool anyway. That and unlucky people, which I suppose you could call a trait.
The other traits not getting passed on are just a motley assortment… It’s not exactly “normal” evolution
@UnworthyofHisgrace - I loved you answer to the question. Oh, wait…
You either believe in evolution or creation, but if you believe god created man in his image and all you see are idiots…..
I think evolution died.
I pray the Lord of Hosts gives you wisdom.
“The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.” – Psalm 14:1.
“At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. – Matthew 11:25 & 26.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
“ I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” – 1 Cor. 1:18-21.
-Selah.
@la_faerie_joyeuse - =)
(Though, seriously, I’ve heard that line of argumentaion. It’s scary.)
@ryoma136 - The way the question was put, it’s an OPINION, Gotta love your sarcasm though
@UnworthyofHisgrace - God did it all. Sure he did. How many gods? Just one? How do you know this? And what means did he use to do all this? Positing a god (or gods) hardly explains anyting. “Hey, the world was created because a mysterious creature that we cannot fully understand spoke some magic words and poof!” Really? Is that supposed to be an intellectually satisfying explanation? Is that supposed to quiet my curiousity about existence and the universe? In short, IS THAT IT? No. I want a real explanation. I am not saying we have it yet. I’m just saying that the one you’re proposing is miles away from being an explanation at all. Not even close.
I’d much rather say “we do not know yet” than accept whatever is thrown my way as an explanation. I am more discerning than that, and we all should be. It is better to have no explanation at all, than to accept a bad one.
Well, neither evoloution nor creationism are 100% correct by themselves, so judging by the evidence that most people seem to only think one or the other is possible, I’d say no. Neither theory explains how stones weiging more than one hundred tonnes can be stacked upon each other, for a not-entirely-coherent example.
@H_loves_C - The thing is, I used to say that all the time because laypeople don’t completely understand what evolution means. They have some vague idea of men-from-monkeys and the term meaning change–most people on the street don’t know the difference between Lamarck’s famous fallacious theory of inherited acquired charactaristics and Darwin’s natural selection.
Then once you get that sorted out, there’s macroevolution on a cosmic time scale, and then there’s the change in populations over a shorter anount of time. Whoever says “of course we aren’t evolving, because there’s dumb people all over the place” is just as dumb as those people! Of course you can’t tell you’re evolving–you’ve lived what, twenty, forty, sixty years? Evolution takes millennia. Now that’s if you believe that you’re the result of billions of years of accidental mixing of atmospheric gases. Makes you feel special, doesn’t it?
Of course we are still evolving, but like someone said already, stupid people breed faster and earlier.
@H_loves_C - I happen to believe the Bible, so thats all the proof I need. Sure, I want to know how things in nature work, but I’m not going to act like I know how it all happened by science. Science can only go SOOOO far. The Bible is good enough for me, if I’m wrong then I’m wrong, just like you, if you are wrong then you are wrong. Easy as that. We can agree to disagree! Thats ok by me. We can argue and debate ALL day and never get anywhere on this. Not EVERYTHING can be seen to be proven.
@Nikolais_apprentice - AMEN! There was an old guy in the PBS documentary on the Dover trial that actually said something like the following with a straight face: “If there were that great a commonality between chimps and humans, it ought to be relatively easy to breed chimps and come up with a human being, or by genetic engineering to change a chimp into a human. We ought to see humans occasionally being born to chimps or perhaps chimps born into human families.”
Can you believe that? They truly have no clue whatsoever about evolution or natural selection.
I think that we evolve to a point of where we change climate, but evolving from monkeys???? Uh…NO. Definitely not.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Believe all you want in that pile of primitive ramblings. I have evidence on my side. No, it is not absolutely certain, but nothing really is. And the “evidence” in favor of your book is horribly inadequate. In fact, there is tons of evidence of forgeries, alterations, and downright mistranslations to forcefully accomodate prophecies. Tsk, tsk. I leave you with a quote by a friend of mine.
“Science is not about proving anything with 100% of certainty, nor arriving at unchanging, absolute claims. It is about trying our best to at least be a little less and less wrong as time goes by. “
Beautiful. Your silly book has no way of accounting for our expanding knowledge. Christianity (like most religions) are merely engaged in the constant re-statement (repetition) of the same old dogma. Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.
@Oceans_Beautiful_View - In several million years anything can happen. And it did.
@H_loves_C - Got proof that it happened?
@Oceans_Beautiful_View - Do some reading on natural selection. It is a common fact. But, for a taste, check out this entry, and especially the video on it. The scientist is a Christian, but he accepts evolution, because the evidence is overwhelming.
http://www.xanga.com/H_loves_C/633048465/if-you-say-its-just-a-theory-guess-what.html
@H_loves_C - The evidence of Creation is overwhelming, as well.
@Oceans_Beautiful_View - BWAHAHAHAHA!! You didn’t even take a look at the link. How open-minded! Ok, I got no more time for you. Goodbye. Have a happy delusional life.
@zjiyre - Well, neither evoloution nor creationism are 100% correct by themselves…
What is the basis for this position?
…Neither theory explains how stones weiging more than one hundred tonnes can be stacked upon each other, for a not-entirely-coherent example.
Evolution is natural science. It isn’t anthropology or civil engineering.
@H_loves_C - It makes for better debate to actually take a position and elaborate on the warrents/arguments for your claims– especially when called for it.
@huginn - I provided a link that has some info, and a great video that offers some genetics-based evidence for the link between humans and primates, yet this person did not even bother to take a look, and simply stated that her myth has ample evidence. I got nothing further to argue with someone like that.
@H_loves_C - I don’t think it’s reasonable to argue by links or expect someone to study-up on a link. I’ve debated creationists that would link me the AIG website or TrueOrigin.org. It’s hard to answer an entire website link or article.
In lieu of a link, I prefer a short summary of arguments. If they challenge on the point, then I answer with more detail. I know it’s a pain to type stuff out– but in my personal view of things, it’s the fairest appraoch.
@huginn - Now you’re splitting hairs. Yes, a link to the entire AIG website would be ridiculous. But, I provided a specific link to a specific entry, with a real nice video. It’s her fault, she’s obviously closed-minded.
Yes I do believe we are evolving, but I can’t say we’re progressing, perhaps digressing.
there are signs we are evolving. some of us are getting smarter
.. some do not.
yayy evolution!
You don’t quite understand evolution Dan. Evolution isn’t goal oriented in the way that the end product of evolution is something like “intelligence”. Evolution’s only “goal” is to perpetuate the species. Think about it: there is a strong negative correlation between intelligence, income and reproduction in the human race. That is to say that the smarter or richer you are the less likely you are on average to have children. In this case “stupidity” is an attribute that encourages the perpetuation of the species. Hence stupidity is for the moment an evolutionary advantage. So we are evolving! In a few billion years we may have turned into jellyfish or something…
@loveandpolitics - I’m writing comments like this instead of getting laid. I’m studying instead of getting laid. I’m watching Star Trek instead of getting laid. Clearly being intelligent is not an evolutionary advantage since I’m not reproducing!
Evolution doesn’t work anymore, because we’ve gotten to the point where dumb people still get opportunities to reproduce.
you should see the movie Idiocracy
if were evolving, then were de-evolving.
in the traditional darwin sense? nahh, but we are working hard on new technology to become increasingly lazy
@H_loves_C - I would say YOU are the closed minded one. Look at it this way. Suppose you have a person that has been blind from birth. You can’t expect them to have any idea what ANYTHING looks like, knowing a color, forget it. It’s like that with those who believe God is isn’t real. You’ve never SEEN Him ,so to you He isn’t real. For a blind person from birth to know what something looks like, even what color is, he has to have his eyes opened to SEE it. The only fault you have here is not believing God is who He says He is and Christ being the only way TO Him, therefore your eyes haven’t been opened to His reality.Blindness not only affects the physical, but also the spiritual, so actually what you all call Christians having a BLIND FAITH, is actually what you are living.You are living in blindness because you are dead in your sin. It’s as easy as that.
No, I don’t think we’re improving….I was at a Meijer today, and I swear to God it was “Stupid People Day” at the store. Unbelieveable.
And I don’t see any monkeys turning into humans, do you?
@H_loves_C - I just watched the video link you put up there. Didn’t tell me a thing. And the guy is Roman Catholic, not a Christian, BIG difference!
HI I SAW THE ADD ABOUT SIX FLAGS AND I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THE DECAPITATED PERSON WAS MY COUSINS FRIEND AND WE WERE WONDERING IF YOU COULD TAKE AWAY THAT POST BECAUSE ITS PERSONEL SO PLEASE TAKE IT DOWN!
nATALIE
@UnworthyofHisgrace - You’re so funny. So, I’m blind. Sure, whatever. You forget I was raised Christian. But, why do I waste my time trying to explain anything? You watched the video and it told you nothing, when it shows a marvelous piece of genetic evidence. So, that being the case, I got nothing further to say to you.
P.S. How funny that apparently there is a big difference between being Catholic and being Christian. Catholics say the same thing about all others, and no one can be sure which one is the “true” religion. It’s all the more hilarious because all of them are supposedly derived from the same stupid book. It’s a riot.
Have a good delusional life.
I think we’ve eliminated evolution… we no longer have natural selection due to medicines and other such technology. In cave man days, only the intelligent and the strong would survive. Now, with the help of technology, the weak, the sick and the stupid all have the same chances at life.
Unfortunately, it seems that because of this the intelligent are waiting until they have decent careers until they have maybe one or two children and the stupid ones are breeding younger and more frequently. It’s rather sad to think about…
[Not that I'm ungrateful... I'm glad we have technology and all =D]
@UnworthyofHisgrace - You’re funny…you’re discrediting evolution because SHAZAM things can’t just start existing…?According to you, there has to be SOMETHING to create things right? Well then let me ask you an age old question…who created the creator? I’m betting your answer will be he just ‘is.’ So it’s that SHAZAM business all over again.
Sorry, but your comment was a big pile of contradictions.
Why are there so many dead squirrels, etc. on the road. If natural selection is working, all the ones who try to beat the car across the road and lose should not produce offspring. Only the cautious ones should survive and breed.
Yes, but it’s a slow process.
Modern law and medicine has eliminated “survival of the fittest”, ergo we have stopped evolving. Sad but true.
We’re not evolving – we’re just repeating a pattern of failure.
@Dare2BDiferentt - that is an insult to monkeys.
We are evolving…into dumbness!
I think our physical bodies are evolving. Societies seem to be disintegrating.
End of discussion
Natural selection is not evolution, nor does it produce new species. It just changes one species into…*tada* the same species with a limited amount of adaptation.
Btw, your question is not only callous and inflamatory, it is also insulting to science and intelligent thought as well as to the respective theories of Creation and Evolution.
But since you believe you are an animal, that shouldn’t bother you. Nor should it when people treat you in the same way.
Have a nice day.
@wallyfu - That is an amazing article. Twenty friggin’ years. -_- Thanks for sharing!
One step backward, two steps forward.
Survival of the fittest, right?
@Koolou - Natural selection is not evolution, nor does it produce new species. It just changes one species into…*tada* the same species with a limited amount of adaptation.
Nice strawman.
But since you believe you are an animal, that shouldn’t bother you. Nor should it when people treat you in the same way.
We’re also mammals, warm-blooded, and bipedal. If you’re not an animal, what are you? A blogging bacterium?
@labohemmy - Modern law and medicine has eliminated “survival of the fittest”, ergo we have stopped evolving. Sad but true.
To an extent, there still can be seuxal selection. A smart, skinny blonde has a much better chance of getting laid than a dumb, stumpy brunette.
The industrial revolution flipped a bitch on evolution.
@huginn - How do you consider my comments a strawman?
Though simplified, what I said was not incorrect.
Fyi, I was responding to the original poster’s ridiculous post. So what I said wouldn’t be a strawman, since what he said was so much rhetoric.
And I was (obviously) referring to people acting ‘in an animal-like manner.’ Which is in effect what proponents of evolution believe human beings are: Just animals. Which consciously and sub-consciously leads to justifing violent and cruel behavior, attitudes and actions; or what is traditionally referred to as animal-like behavior. Ie: Selfish, viscious, crude, etc…
@Koolou - Fyi, I was responding to the original poster’s ridiculous post.
It wasn’t clear to me that you were responding to a particular earlier post. I know that xanga’s “reply” feature doesn’t always work propery. I thought you were commenting generally on Dan’s initial proposition.
How do you consider my comments a strawman?
I see now that you’re responding particularly to an article linked by another user. I retract my strawman charge.
Natural selection is an inseparable element of evolution. I agree with your implicit argument: Sole demonstration of natural selection adds no warrent towards speciation/ macroevolution.
I wish we were evolving… I actually think were un-evolving. (does that even make sense?)
Angelina
Absolutely.
Unfortunately those who “don’t believe in” evolution are also breeding and having babies and passing it on…so I don’t know what that is.
Keep on believing the earth is flat, 6000 years old and that we haven’t changed one iota since Adam and Eve. You know, that would make us all related. Sick.
@huginn - Indeed.
No
Some times when I’m talking to my boyfriend he says this about some people, ‘ blank is so stupid he/she don’t deserve to be in this world’. He’s a little more blunt then I am but to some extent I agree with him. Think back to a simpler time when life’s primary goal is survival. If you weren’t smart enough to hunt, gather and cook, you die! No one would take care of you because everyone’s goal is to survive. There’s no use keeping the dumb folks around, they’ll hold us back and put every else’s survival on the line. Now fast forward to the present. Instead of ditching the dumb folks and letting them die off like we used to, we now feel sorry for them, want to care for them, and want to help them. We now believe and say things like ‘every one deserves the right to live’ and ‘equality for all! (even for the dumb folks who do nothing and just tag along in life!)’. I think we have evolved, but from the moment we had all of our necessities covered, and started finding things to ‘care’ about, we slipped up! We started caring for dumb folks, and stopped the evolution process. If it hasn’t stopped, the dumb folks are definitely slowing it down.
There were plenty of dumb people in years past. Most just did not leave enough of a mark to be remembered individually.
@tooswt4you - is evolution more important to you than compassion for your fellow man?? Just what kind of changes do you think would occur if we got rid of the “dumb” people? And what do you mean by “dumb” anyway??
@desertraindrop86 - I admit I was so hot headed writing that post earlier. I don’t know what changes can occur but I know how frustrating it can be to deal with dumb people. And it’s not that I don’t have compassion for people, just that for some I can’t help but think that if there was no support from modern society, they would not be able to succeed and survive in today’s world. So to kind of answer Dan’s question, I don’t think there are signs that we are (still) evolving. If you factor in 230990834 other things we’re kind of ‘devolving’ in my opinion. I can’t say what I mean when I use the term ‘dumb people’ because I’m using it so generally. Just dumb people. It’s not even the case that I think they are slow or lazy. People who are just not that bright and people who refuse to educate themselves and be open to new ideas. You don’t need to believe everything you learn but it’s important to have some knowledge of it. I am literally using it as generally as I can.
OK if I understand evolution correctly it means that over time species adapt to the conditions around them, implicitly suggesting that species advance and improve over time.
How is it that everything around me deteriorates and decays? Screws always loosen, heat dissipates, metal rusts, everything deteriorates.
Are we more advanced than the Babylonians? or the Egyptians? good question. I wonder how many people today would be capable of designing and building the Tower of babel or the Great Pyramid?
Sometime I also wounder that myself. Maybe we are just evolving very slow so you don’t see much changes.
out of all the questions you ask at the end of your blogs, I think this is the best one. I just graduated high school and so I began to think back about my years spent there. and I noticed that every year the grades below aren’t as tall as they should be. I think during my 6th grade, the average height was 5’2″. As I went on to 7th, I noticed a kid at the majority height of 6th graders and asked for her height. She was 4’8″! Same thing happened when I moved on to HS. I was 5’6″ like many others in 9th. The year after, avg height was 5’2″.
Remember external factors, too!
Our progress in technology has delayed our evolution as compared to other animals that are not adept in this field. We don’t need to adapt, we’ve found our own way of adaptation that goes much more quickly than… mere evolution lol
Medicine and other progresses that prolong and benefit life allow the diseased to spread their faulty genetics on to other generations. (Thinking about it, there were probably far fewer people with very bad eyesight before the invention of glasses…)
wow dan. i bet you enjoy reading these comments! sheesh, people take the internet waay too seriously sometimes. of course i myself have erupted full out Xangan anger before, but that is beside the point
Yes. The frontal lobe of the human brain is increasing in size.
Take a look at the competitiveness of college admissions and scholarships and ask yourself that question
Evolution is a theory…not a fact-it’s not even a “factually occurring phenom.” You can’t “prove” evolution IS anymore than you can “prove” God IS…….it actually takes more faith to “believe” in evolution than to believe in God……..there is less evidence.
I feel that I’m proof of evolution. I have higher brain functions than just about ALL of my classmates, I can respect people even if they’re from a different country or religion, unlike those around me, and I despite what those around me have said, I comprehend everything thrown at me. Here in this dumb little town, I am the pinnacle of evolution. Must be why I’m hated so
i think we’re getting worse, not better on the whole. and the taller people thing is nothing more than Mendelian biology in action- you don’t need Darwin to explain that one. furthermore, our DNA remains the same as it’s been since the earliest human fossils so what exactly is evolving here?? our ancient ancestors seem to have equally as sophisticated minds as we do now- they managed to leave behind astounding architecture and literature and all sorts of ideas still in use today. sure we have our own share of inventions and innovations and technology but we would be no where near what we have now if it weren’t for what they discovered- and they didn’t have our technology to make their discoveries with which I find far more impressive…
so evolving? no.
Heh. I think that we as a species are either staying the same or getting just a little bit dumber.
two steps forward, five steps back… we have a long way to go before we evolve… wanna try a pokemon stone to speed up the transformation?
I don’t think macro-evolution really occurs. Each year we have fewer species on our planet instead of more. People getting taller is not advancement, the taller a person is the faster his body will wear out. Shorter people have longer lifespans. I tend to attribute the greater height to differences in nutrition and artificial hormone intake anyway. The examples given to me in science class demonstrated entropy rather than evolution of the biological systems. Even micro-evolution is a loss of diversity in the genetic code.
The common ancestors of our current human population had a full set of functioning genes. As time went by parts of the code became damaged and stopped functioning yielding the current racial differences. This loss of function on the part of our DNA just doesn’t sound like evolution to me.
Then there’s the absence of transitional species in the fossil record. Darwin himself said that the theory was bunk if these fossils were not found. Evolutionary scientists try to explain away this problem by saying things happened x-men style with changes happening suddenly. That just sounds like double talk to me.
I dunno. I guess I’m just not convinced.
@WordFlyerJosh - are you going to reply to huginn? best wishes
The old guy in your photo doesn’t look like he evolved much in his lifetime.
Does evolving mean we are getting smarter…that is the real question.
We don’t need to be evolving anymore in the sense that we were for thousands of years. There’s much evidence, imo, that we are devolving at this point. Think of eyesight, the cases of people starting to not be born with wisdom teeth (those lucky fuckers), iono there’s a million and one examples.