I Dare You - Read all Instructions - Evolution

[unbound]

I don't "believe" in evolution, but I do accept it since it has a tremendous amount of evidence backing the theory and no major component of the theory has been shown to be incorrect to date.

The opposite I would put out is Last Thursdayism. The universe as we know it was created last Thursday, and all the evidence of the past was created that way as was the memories you have of anything prior to last Thursday.

[Kurioxan]

Id take a 5th option, yes it has happened and its real, but probably not quite like the theory has it, there are many other factors other than "survival of the fittest and randomness". The roles viruses play for example seems to be quite understated.
We may never know the truth, but yeah, i do accept evolution even if i find the dominating theory...lacking.

[Mayhem]

The opposite I would put out is Last Thursdayism. The universe as we know it was created last Thursday, and all the evidence of the past was created that way as was the memories you have of anything prior to last Thursday.

sooooo physics and chemical reactions are made up?

[Lora]

I don't "believe" in evolution. Belief has nothing to do with something that is essentially a fact. My counter argument for it? The force because may it always be with you.

[cigawoot]

I would try to put together a coherent argument for creationism, however there is none.

[bestexe]

People will develop time travel, go to the first moments of the planet / galaxy / universe, and seed life that will eventually evolve into people that develop time travel.....

[Kurioxan]

What if the "higher power" is aliens? Like, some 'Prometheus' type shit (movie). I'm open to that idea.

That would be quite awesome tbh. We could be, for all we know, a terraforming agent considering how much impact on the world we have.
Soon our overlords will return, turn us into nutrient mash, devour us and settle on this wonderful planet with high concentrations of co2, methane, low oxigen, where their own flora thrives.

[s_bushido]

When someone says they believe in evolution, generally that means they believe Man came from sea snot.

I always love this [reductionist?] attitude some people take when talking about evolution. As if making its implications sound as unpleasant as possible is somehow evidence against its validity.

Hate to break it to you, but when you (and nearly every other human on the planet) were born, you were nothing but a helpless mewling sack of need, covered in various bodily fluids, who your mother squeezed out of her vagina nine months after your sweaty father finished having sex with her. Sounds pretty gross, right? Does this mean that we should propose the Stork Theory of Human Reproduction instead?

[Kurioxan]

It would be cool. Like, aliens just trying to keep intelligent life going in the universe. Going from habitable planet to habitable planet, making that "spark of life" from themselves.

Thats a hopeful glass-half full view of it, but yeah it would be quite fun.
We could also be a simulation, advanced aliens curious how life has evolved before they achieved a level of enlightenment and simply seeded us here to see how things may have worked on their planet.

[anon5123]

First of all, the complexity of life and the existence of many traits that would not in any way be significant enough to help survival, thus would not be selected for through natural selection, and because life exists in so many forms with so many traits that would not be selected for through natural selection, it is more likely that there is a guiding hand.

Complex life can come about without a "guiding hand". The Earth is a big place, so it's not like one species is going to completely die out all over the planet.

Secondly, if the theory of evolution and our knowledge of how life supposedly came into existence on it's own is correct, then we wouldn't be so alone in the universe (see the Fermi paradox). But we are so alone in our universe, which proves that the earth is special, and that life doesn't come into being by itself the way we think, it needs to be created. And if something is created, there is a creator.

The Earth is "special" in that it just happened to be the right distance from a star to have temperatures that sustain life. No "creation" required.

Those who claim there is no god and no guidance have consistently failed to prove that claim so at this point it would be, to use their own rhetoric, unscientific to say there is no god. Evolution is just a theory, but creation is a divine fact.

The problem is that you have also failed to prove your claim of "divine fact". Spouting off "creator! creator! creationism!" without a single grain of proof.

"You can't prove me wrong so it's still a possibility!!" is a dumb argument, rebutted by "There is a teapot orbiting the sun. Since you can't prove me wrong, it's still a possibility."

[Kurioxan]

I always love this [reductionist?] attitude some people take when talking about evolution. As if making its implications sound as unpleasant as possible is somehow evidence against its validity.

Hate to break it to you, but when you (and nearly every other human on the planet) were born, you were nothing but a helpless mewling sack of need, covered in various bodily fluids, who your mother squeezed out of her vagina nine months after your sweaty father finished having sex with her. Sounds pretty gross, right? Does this mean that we should propose the Stork Theory of Human Reproduction instead?

Dont forget another important thing, he is also a product of the culture he was born in, here he born in a deep jungle tribal environment chances are his IQ would be very fairly low.
Our current level of intelligence is mostly a result of the culture we are inserted on, the constant education, stimulation and effort to grow and know more. Without that, we really are nothing special.
Wild children experiments are fascinating in that regard, how a child grown outside of a form of civilization wont even be capable of learning a language, even standing upright is hard.

- - - Updated - - -

What if it's some shit like The Matrix? Not necessarily robots, though.

To be honest, maybe we're nothing more than Sims 43, by Activision-EA-Bethesda conglomerate.

[GrumpyJester]

I find it hard to argue the opposite of what I believe in this case. It's something that I usually enjoy doing, but evolution just makes too much darn sense to me.

[Dezerte]

Evolution is a very complicated theory, it would take quite a bit of effort to keep up with. I'm not denying evolution, I do deny view points taken from evolutionary theory. When someone says they believe in evolution, generally that means they believe Man came from sea snot. The reason I use Micro vs Macro is that it is the simplest way to state my stance on the matter. I could use variation but people will argue that in the same matter. I guess you could say I struggle with common descent which when someone says evolution that is what most think of.

For creationists, macro- and microevolution are two different kinds of evolution. For scientists, it's just two different time-scales describing the same thing.

[ellieg]

Ive always thought about it like this. Evolution is real. We can describe how every single organism came to be by understanding evolution. Except for the very first organism. How did that living thing come to be? Was it chemicals interacting with eachother that became more complex until it became a life? Or did God create it? You can believe in God and evolution at the same time.

[Aori]

I always love this [reductionist?] attitude some people take when talking about evolution. As if making its implications sound as unpleasant as possible is somehow evidence against its validity.

Hate to break it to you, but when you (and nearly every other human on the planet) were born, you were nothing but a helpless mewling sack of need, covered in various bodily fluids, who your mother squeezed out of her vagina nine months after your sweaty father finished having sex with her. Sounds pretty gross, right? Does this mean that we should propose the Stork Theory of Human Reproduction instead?

Not sure what you're getting at. Your hostility is noted however.

[Mayhem]

I hear people talk about seeing ghosts and spirits and I think, what if that ghost is actually the real person? Like, the "body" that "died" was actually their computer stimulation and the ghost is some far more advanced being of the actual person.

Maybe the real me decided to try a "sims" type computer life.

Or you just underestimate the power of your brain. I mean if it can make up shit you never did just because it happened to friends why not ghosts?

[Spectral]

While I'm glad that most people acknowledge that scientists are basically right, the cocky attitude people have about "knowing" something that they can't explain worth a shit is really offputting. As someone with a science background, I could easily argue the intelligent design perspective in a fashion that would technically beat the majority of people in a formal debate.

[Kurioxan]

I hear people talk about seeing ghosts and spirits and I think, what if that ghost is actually the real person? Like, the "body" that "died" was actually their computer stimulation and the ghost is some far more advanced being of the actual person.

Maybe the real me decided to try a "sims" type computer life.

its not like theres lack of hints for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYGZQnNkHh0
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...-hologram.html


- - - Updated - - -

Or you just underestimate the power of your brain. I mean if it can make up shit you never did just because it happened to friends why not ghosts?

yeah, and dreams so real you are convinced its reality.

[Deleted]

I want a similar thread for the germ theory of disease and the theory of gravity.

I refuse to believe that gravity isn't guided by god!

It's 2015 and this is still an "issue" with the general population.

[Mayhem]

yeah, and dreams so real you are convinced its reality.

I swear to glob i have been shot 3 times in the night from sunday to monday and my friends took me to disneyland instead of the hospital because we had tickets. I even had fun until i passed out because of pain and loss of blood.