Evolution Vs. Creationism & ID †<

"Intelligence is not to be measured by how much you know, but by your ability to learn."

One of the big debates going on in the USA is that of Creationism Vs Evolution. Due to the fundament nature of the christian bible belt in the U.S.A the Creationists are starting to take their literal belief in the Bible one step too far. They now insist that their version of creation is just as likely as the theory of evoultion and therefore it should be tuaght alongside evolution in schools. They want to disregard centuries of scientific discovery and evidence in favour of the discription of creation written by an unknown source in one book over 2000 years ago.

As if this were not enough they are now building a museum dedicated to this premise in kentucky. The museum is costing $25m (£13m) and all but $3m has already been raised from private donations. This museums motto is "Prepare to believe", The first "museum" ever to have entirely fake contents. Children ride dinosaurs, and wear Hiawatha-like clothes. They have ignored the fact that the bible does not mention dinosuars becuase there are too many dinosuar bones to deny it. Built by people whose knowlage of the past appears to have come more from the Flintstones than reality. Dinosaurs must be slipped in somehow, along with the Babylonians, Egyptians and the other ancient civilisations all in the 6,000 year they believe the Earth to have been around. The Grand Canyon - no problem: that was, of course, created in a few months by Noah's Flood. So what happens to the dinosuars? they turn into Dragons of course. Madness I hear you cry, but remember 50 million americans believe in the literal truth of gensis.

The main arguments form the creationists seem to be along the lines of there is no better proof that Darwin’s theory of evolution from his book “The Origin of the Species” than there is for the Bibles account of creation. Apart from the obvious issues of free thought and keeping the church and state separate, I feel I should give some of the evidence for the evolution of the human race. Although anyone who has looked at the scientific evidence on the age of earth and our own species will understand the reality.

Here are some disturbing statistics, partly from a 2004 CBS News Poll, a 2004 Gallup poll, and a Gallup poll of U.S. teenagers.

  81% of U.S. teenagers think that God controlled or influenced the origin of humans.  (Gallup)
  65% of Americans think that we should teach both creationism and evolution in schools.  (CBS)
  55% believe that “God created humans in present form.”  (CBS)
  45% believe that the world is less than 10,000 years old.  (Gallup)
  37% think that we should teach just creationism in schools, including 60% of evangelical Christians. 
  36% believe in telepathy.
  35% say that evolution is well supported by the evidence.  (Gallup)
  35% say that evolution is not well supported by the evidence.  (Gallup)
  25% believe in astrology.
  25% think the sun goes around the Earth.
  13% think that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.
  Only 13% of Americans accept the standard scientific account of evolution, without a god’s involvement. 

Evolution

“Evolution” simply means change over time.  It’s a fact that enormous changes to life on Earth have occurred.  The 3.5 billion year fossil record is clear and unambiguous on this.  The Theory of Evolution explains the processes that caused these changes.

There are at least nine areas of study and empirical data supporting the Theory of Evolution. Paleontology (fossils), Distribution of Animals and Plants, Comparative Anatomy, Embryology, Vestigial Organs, Natural Selection, Sexual Selection,  Genetics and Molecular Biology. Everything we know about these subjects indicates the existance of evolution. It is important to note that the term “theory” in science is not the same as it is in general usage.  A scientific theory is a unifying concept that explains a large body of data.  It is a hypothesis that has withstood the test of time and the challenge of opposing views.  The Theory of Evolution is the basic unifying concept of biology. In other words the theory of evolution is not "just a theory" it is a fact.

The design argument is popular because it appears to be true, just like it appears that the sun goes around the Earth and that the world is flat.  The only way we know that the reverse is true is through the process and of scientific reasearch and data. This is also how we know that evolution is true the data says so. If the data doesn't fit the theory the theory is modifyed or thrown out. In creationism and ID if the data doesn't fit the theory the data is thrown out and the theory remains the same. For Intelligent Design to be true, these areas of science would be largely false: evolutionary biology, paleobiology, cosmology, astronomy, physics, paleontology, archeology, historical geology, zoology, botany, and biogeography. 

The history of life on this planet can be told by its fossils, we have fossils showing how various species have come and gone over the last several hundred million years.  A few examples are Trilobites which appeared over 500 million years ago and existed for 300 million years (with over 15,000 described species).  About 375 million years ago, land animals were evolving from fish. Dinosaurs (with an estimated 200,000 species) lived 251 to 65.5 million years ago, not less than 6,000 years ago as the Creationists would have you believe.  Horses are descended from the cat-sized Eohippus of 50 to 60 million years ago.  Humans are descended from a long line of hominids at least 4.4 million years ago.

 

Evolutionary Leftovers

"Remember, you are unique, just like everybody else"

One of the best ways to show the evidence is to give examples of current human physiology, that I feel cannot be explained by simply saying “god moves in mysterious ways”, that I feel could only be brought about through centuries of human evolution.

The Appendix - The great discomfort, and occasionally death brought on by appendicitis. From this organ that is of no understandable use in modern humans, most likely it is a throw back from human evolution or did God just slip up.

Eye Teeth - The size of the root of your upper canine teeth. In monkeys, the canine teeth are much larger than they are in humans, and as such, they require much larger roots to anchor them. In humans the canines are now much smaller but this oversized root remains (just run your finger over your gums to see).

Goosebumps – Goosebumps serve one purpose to erect the hair or fur on a hairy mammal ancestor, thereby improving its insulation value against the cold. But most of us nowadays have so little body hair that it is rendered useless for insulation purposes.

Human Embryos - especially very small ones actually have tails and gill slits. So do all mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, and fish embryos. One would almost think we are all related.

Sudden Jerks - those sudden jerks that you make when you're asleep. A reasonable evolutionary hypothesis is that it was a defensive response that developed when we slept in trees. Any slight sense of unbalance would promote an automatic jerk and instant awakening saving us from a very rude awakening.

The Hair on the Back of the neck - The hair on the backs of our necks that stand up in any terrifying situation, that creepy feeling we sometimes get down the nape of our neck or scalp. One explanation is that it is a reaction inherited from our mammal ancestors; other mammals' hair rises in response to such situations as a defence. As a warning sign of aggression, and to make the animal look bigger and fiercer, we have apparently given up that signal, perhaps in favour of words or other body language. But that invisible reaction remains.  

The Plantaris Muscle - In the monkey it is a useful muscle, which causes all the digits to flex at once, and thus, is useful in swinging from trees by the feet. In the human it is atrophied, and does not even reach the toes, but disappears into the Achilles tendon. There is no sensible reason for its existence in the human, except a common ancestry with monkeys.

Unusual Babies - anomalies such as being born with a tail, or covered with fur. Tails are more common than most people realize, since they are surgically removed immediately. Back in history’s “dark ages” these babies were considered by the church as “the Spawn of Satan” and killed. Along with their mothers who were of course designated as witches.

There are of course hundreds of such evolutionary ticks such as Pseudogenes (also known as junk DNA) that were discovered in 1994. They are remnants of genes that no longer function but continue to be carried along in DNA as excess baggage. Anyhow I feel that these ticks along with all the other evidence for evolution and the complete lack of evidence against it proves that at this time it is the most likely origin of our species.

Just about every cell in our bodies contains the evidence of our evolutionary origins.  The basic process of life on Earth is so common that we share about 50% of our genes with carrots, and more than 98% of our genes with chimpanzees.  If fact, humans are genetically closer to chimps than mice are to rats.  Here are some useful biological facts:

We get an exact copy of the mitochondria in each cell from our mother, almost every time.

Every male gets an exact copy of his Y chromosome from his father, almost every time.

Both mitochondria and Y chromosomes slowly mutate over time at known rates.

With this knowledge, geneticists can estimate how recently any two of us shared a common female ancestor, or any two males shared a common male ancestor.  Using this information and other data, the evidence strongly points to the claim that most or all of us are descended from a group of Africans that started migrating about 100,000 years ago.

We may share 98% of our genes with chimps, but we have 23 chromosomes in our sperm and eggs while chimps and other great apes have 24.  A close examination of the chromosomes shows that one of our chromosomes is made of two from the other primates.  Our combined chromosome even shows the evidence of where the two chromosomes joined, with the ends of the old chromosomes in the middle of the joined chromosome.

- Duncan Rossiter