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Donnie B.
Skeptic Friend
417 Posts |
 Posted - 07/23/2002 : 18:27:27 [Permalink]
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quote:
When I talk to people about it I often say that Evolution is a fact, Natural Selection is the theory to explain it. Am I wrong on this?
May I pick a nit here?
The facts are the fossils, the geological strata, the ice cores and tree rings, and the DNA measurements that show how living species are related, and a myriad of other such data.
Evolution is a catchall name for the process that best seems to account for these observations of the natural world.
Natural Selection is one mechanism that can account for evolution, and which is thought to be the dominant mechanism. It is, of course, Darwin's (and Wallace's) great contribution to evolutionary theory, and the reason we place him high in the scientific "pantheon".
In short, I would categorize "Evolution" as a theory that unifies and explains the facts (observations), and "natural selection" as a component of that theory. Saying that evolution is a fact is not really accurate, although I fully understand your reasons for expressing it that way.
However, this set of definitions suffers from that familiar semantic problem: the fact that the scientific definition of 'theory' is distinctly different from the popular usage of the word. So when we say that evolution is a theory, we have to be sure that our listeners understand what we mean.
Now, if we could just get all the TV detective shows to start using the expression: "Here is my hypothesis of the crime..."!
-- Donnie B.
Brian: "No, no! You have to think for yourselves!" Crowd: "Yes! We have to think for ourselves!" |
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jmcginn
Skeptic Friend
343 Posts |
Posted - 07/24/2002 : 07:49:31 [Permalink]
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quote:
The facts are the fossils, the geological strata, the ice cores and tree rings, and the DNA measurements that show how living species are related, and a myriad of other such data.
I would also add that the fact of evolution is that life on this planet has changed and continues to change.
Species go extinct and new species arise from existing species. The fossil record documents the history of this change showing that life gets more different as one goes farther back in time. Modern examples of new species arising from existing species document the fact that new species arise from existing species.
So to summarize the key fact of evolution is that life on this planet changes over time and is not static. New species appear constantly throughout the history of Earth and most species disappear.
This leads to the two key components of the theory of evolution 1.) These new appearing species arose from other species (descent with modification) and 2.) That natural selection combined with genetic variation is the main cause of the rise of new species.
#1 is actually better supported by the evidence then #2. In other words all of the evidence points towards descent with modification while there is still some debate and questions about the role of natual selection in evolution (there is no question that natural selection plays a role, but there may be other concepts at play such as genetic drift, founders effect, etc.).
Edited by - jmcginn on 07/24/2002 07:51:02 |
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 09/23/2002 : 01:41:02 [Permalink]
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quote:
Evolution is a catchall name for the process that best seems to account for these observations of the natural world.
There but for the grace of nature, go us (humans).
Since we could have been sponges, that is, they are our ancestors or our cousins as it were, do you think it's right for us to use them as slaves? To clean up dirt off the floor? To wipe up grime, with something that was us. Is that sacrilegious? Don't they deserve a little more respect?
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*Carabao forever
*SAN FERNANDO VALLEY SECESSION - YES
www.CuriousCreations.com
*All lives are movie settings, it's what channel you're on that counts. Zatikia
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