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EVOLUTION....THEORY OR THEORY ? Today I saw a video of VP Pence making a speech about the "theory" of evolution.......How it is only a theory and then proceeded to use the wrong definition for the word......He is, according to that speech, a young earth creationist......He proceeded to elaborate on his theory that Evolution is just a theory. It's amazing to me that someone can rise to the position of VP in the US with absolutely no understanding of Scientific Theory......no wonder the EPA has been sacked.....Good Grief!! Is Evolution a Theory or a Fact? It is both. But that answer requires looking more deeply at the meanings of the words "theory" and "fact." In everyday usage, "theory" often refers to a hunch or a speculation. When people say, "I have a theory about why that happened," they are often drawing a conclusion based on fragmentary or inconclusive evidence. The formal scientific definition of theory is quite different from the everyday meaning of the word. It refers to a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence. Many scientific theories are so well-established that no new evidence is likely to alter them substantially. For example, no new evidence will demonstrate that the Earth does not orbit around the sun (heliocentric theory), or that living things are not made of cells (cell theory), that matter is not composed of atoms, or that the surface of the Earth is not divided into solid plates that have moved over geological timescales (the theory of plate tectonics). Like these other foundational scientific theories, the theory of evolution is supported by so many observations and confirming experiments that scientists are confident that the basic components of the theory will not be overturned by new evidence. However, like all scientific theories, the theory of evolution is subject to continuing refinement as new areas of science emerge or as new technologies enable observations and experiments that were not possible previously. One of the most useful properties of scientific theories is that they can be used to make predictions about natural events or phenomena that have not yet been observed. For example, the theory of gravitation predicted the behavior of objects on the moon and other planets long before the activities of spacecraft and astronauts confirmed them. The evolutionary biologists who discovered Tiktaalik predicted that they would find fossils intermediate between fish and limbed terrestrial animals in sediments that were about 375 million years old. Their discovery confirmed the prediction made on the basis of evolutionary theory. In turn, confirmation of a prediction increases confidence in that theory. In science, a "fact" typically refers to an observation, measurement, or other form of evidence that can be expected to occur the same way under similar circumstances. However, scientists also use the term "fact" to refer to a scientific explanation that has been tested and confirmed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing it or looking for additional examples. In that respect, the past and continuing occurrence of evolution is a scientific fact. Because the evidence supporting it is so strong, scientists no longer question whether biological evolution has occurred and is continuing to occur. Instead, they investigate the mechanisms of evolution, how rapidly evolution can take place, and related questions. From Science, Evolution, and Creationism, National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. © 2008 National Academy of Sciences |
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Who knows what?
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Cute......
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Nobody has met Adam, Eva or the Dinosaurs so who knows?
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Around the age of six, at school one morning we had a lesson about Adam and Eve and how they were the first human beings on Earth. That same day, in the afternoon we had a lesson about "cave dwelling hunter- gatherers". This confused me...did that mean that Adam and Eve were cave-men? I asked the teacher and was held up to the whole classroom of kids for my "stupidity". That is when I started questioning what I was being taught...I won't ever forget that occurrence. What did they expect kids to think? It taught me that the teacher didn't want us to think at all and that has been proved to me time and time again over the years since. There is absolutely no evidence of Adam and Eve...but there is a world of evidence of so-called "cave-men." I know what I believe
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By the way, I found out later, from my Dad that we were only taught about the theory of evolution etc. because the Government had made it compulsory for schools in the UK to teach it! In a Catholic school that meant we were allowed to ask about Adam and Eve...but questions about truth were strictly discouraged. That's also how I learned that "Germans" were not evil...only Nazi-ism was. In other words, discrimination without qualification is evil. And it still, despite all that's happened in history, goes on today in much of the world. But those who do discriminate can do so because they also fear the questions.
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We know that primitive humanoids & dinosaurs existed because there are fossil remains. Evolution is a fact.
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We know that primitive humanoids & dinosaurs existed because there are fossil remains. Evolution is a fact. It's like teaching children the Earth is flat! I guess I'm still confused! 
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8/2/2017 8:57 am |
I have another two words to add to that - tree rings.
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I can't imagine how those young-earth creationists can reconcile their belief that the words of primitive sheep herders who would have hailed a wheelbarrow as innovative technology knew more about the origins of Man than we do when they get aboard a trans-Atlantic flight, use their Smart Phone, or have a heart valve replaced.........Do they realize that the same Science that created these innovations is the basis for our knowledge about Evolution?.......
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