What if evolution was wrong?
 

I'm kind of curious here and don't want this to be derailed into a creationism vs evolution debate - there have been plenty already.

What if evolution was not correct, it was all wrong and the real answer was something else, but noone knew what. What would your reaction to this be?

How would it affect you and why?


I know what my reaction would be, but I wont tell so as to not bias your own opinions (Yes I think my opinion matters that much to you all! :P )

Don't think it would matter much to me to be honest. I know who I am, right at this moment, and thats all I need. Don't think it would make much difference if I had evolved from apes, or aliens...

[humor]you mean like what if instead of evolution it was like a monkey and a gorilla hooked up and humans was the result? that would be kinda weird[/humor]

seriously, i think it wouldn't affect me all that much. I would be rather curious as to what it was though because so many had believed in evolution. Thanks. I have to go take a French midterm and after i finish for that half hour before they collect it, ill be thinkin about this

No, I mean if evolution itself was wrong, not who our decendents were. In other words, decending from one species to another just did not happen.

I'ed be a little pissed off, I mean I spent a long time (3.5 seconds) geting my head round the idea, then a further 3 years to learn enough about it to understand it to the extent I consider suficiant.

I dont intend to spend anougher 3years and 3.5 seconds doing it again.

i think that people came from outer space.... but those are my...

http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColC...a-cent.rev.jpg

http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColC...a-cent.rev.jpg

edit: those are hella big penny pictures

There was a joke about this on Family Guy.

Their teacher got arrested for saying some guy went back through time and ejaculated into the prehistoric ooze.

If people evolved from apes and monkeys, why are there still apes and monkeys?

Actually, according to the Evolution theory humans didn't evolve from apes or monkeys, that is a common misconception, it is more that humans, as well as monkeys and apes had a common ancestor they derived from...

If there suddenly was a prove that Evolution was wrong it owuld mean that I had to re-learn a lot of things since I'm studying Biochemistry :rolleyes:

But it wouldn't shock me so much or make my life a lot different, meh, people throughout history have made wrong theories, the worls is not flat either so it can be possible that we're wrong about something again, as long as there is some kind of process, even though it might be a throwback when realizing that something is wrong, it's a development in science which is good in my opinion.

Mia:)

If birds are direct relatives to dinosaurs, why are there still reptiles like crocadiles and iguanas still around?

Wait, that doesn't make sense... :weird:

But it's hard enough for me to understand evolution that sometimes I don't really bother with it, especially when it comes to the theories about what man has evolved from...Given I can't take that, how should I comprehend any other theories regarding evolution?

Because if we did evolve from them, it was only ONE species of them. Even so, it would have been out of the need from wherever they were at (ie: hot weather, perhaps).

Why are there still monkeys and apes? Because not all the species evolved. Many could have kept along the same weather and climate, and not NEEDED to evolve. And the species we would have evolved from, chances are, they would have been spread out over a LARGE surface of the earth, thus not ALL were in the same climate/temprate zone, and not ALL would have needed to evolve, thus SOME are still around.

I'm sick of that "argument" being used. It's completely invalid. It's like putting a thousand pieces of toilet paper in a thousand toilets and flushing ONE of them, and asking why the other 999 are still there.
Think. Just because one thing happens to one item, doesn't mean it will happen to ALL of them. That's illogical.

Why are their still apes and monkeys?

Simple. There are plenty of people who need good butlers.

lol @ Biblo

Oh, and Bilbo - you missed a spot when dusting my coffee table.

Are you asking phily: how would we react to find Darwin incorrect?

Personally, I wouldnt really care as to what i evolved from, because for all intents and purposes, my would would not be shattered by some super-human race emerging trying to wipe me out (a la X-men or whatever). I would however be very curious as to the true nature of our creation, if evolution in fact was a farce. If you've read Darwin, you'll no doubt find it fascinating if you're in to anthropology and evolution. Personally, I found it amazing (Origin of Species and The Descent of Man).

Darwin was quite fundamentally wrong and DID NOT UNDERSTAND evolution. Sorry, that's a horrible misconception people have.

Perhaps I'm asking more whether you would resist or accept the change.

even if darwin was wrong, he was still willing to consider the idea of evolution to be the truth before anyone else had the balls to say what they believed. thats something very wrong with modern society. People are unwilling to do something such as challenge the entire history of humans because they fear the reaction.

Religion: The world is flat. WRONG
Religion: The world in the center of the universe. WRONG
Religion: All heavenly bodies are perfect. WRONG
Religion: We are fallen angels. WRONG

Its just another case of people trying to use the bible as a science textbook.

If evolution didn't happen, I'd eat my hat. It is 1/4 of my first year biologist friends studies at university.

you have to remember that evolution is a theory, not fact, will... theories can never be proven to be fact, but can be proven

If evolution was wrong, I wouldn't really do anything different. Evolution doesn't really have an impact in our daily lives, as the process itself takes more than one lifetime.

Horse-Fly: Um, no. All "facts" are theories. You cannot truly prove anything, EVER. Gravity is a theory. The existance "Heat" is a theory.

One plus one is two. That is a fact.

But only because math is not a science in that way...it made up it's own rules and boundaries as facts and in these borders, things can be a fact...but we didn't make the world so we don't know the preset rules, science is trying to find them out and of course they can be wrong in between...

Now I'm waiting Phily's opinion on this since he already announced it to be important :D

Mia:)

I'm sorry, you're right. 100% abstract ideas can be proven. "6=6" is 100% proven. But can you apply it to the real world 100% perfectly?

...and with that xzxzzx said exactly in 2 lines what I was trying to say in 4 :igor:

Mia:)

Just because the human mind has the ability to be imperfect, doesnt mean that everything that can be conceived is imperfect. Things can be proven to be fact. Saying that absolutly nothing can be proven 100% is just rather stupid. If everything were thery, everything would be abstract.

"All facts are theories". So, is that a fact? Of course not, according to you. It would be a theory, which indeed means, that all facts can indeed be facts.

Fact: a thing that is known to have occurred, to exist, or to be true.

The formation of a diamond through extreme pressure and heat of coal (carbon) is known to have occured, it does exist, and it is known to be true. Thus the proposal that a diamond can form from coal is fact.

SSJ4: I'll bet that it was "known to be fact" that the Earth was flat hundreds of years ago. You could go up onto a mountain and look - see? It's flat!

We can assume that heat and pressure cause the carbon to change into a diamond, but you can't prove it. Maybe an alien switched the coal for a diamond. Maybe a diamond forms from carbon randomly, and it just has happened to occur at times when heat and pressure was applied. Both are unlikely, but you can't prove your theory any more than I can prove my theories. You can only show it's a shitload more likely.

Everything is abstract, and those who create abstract ideas try to see how close they can get to what happens in actuality - that's a theory, and all knowledge that applies directly to real-world situations isn't provable, that is, you can truly prove nothing.

You know what, xzxzzx? I'm through talking to a brick wall. You go right on ahead and think that the earth is flat, and that aliens change coal into diamonds.

I, on the other hand, will laugh at your inability to think things can be true.

SSJ4 Gogitta: I don't even know why we're arguing. I'm sure we have the same view, but are simply expressing it differently, using different definitions of "prove".

That, or you think everything that is "known true" cannot possibly be false, in which case, you're simply a moron. I don't think that is the case.

No, i dont think that all things that are "known true" to be true. There is a difference between "known true" and "fact". It is "known true" that a penny dropped from the Empire State Building will kill someone on the street below. This isnt a fact though, and it can be proven by dropping a penny from the same height, or firing it with a device at the penny's terminal velocity. This was actually done. All it did was sting, didn't even bruse.

Prove: establish the genuineness and validity of

How true.

Would you agree that you cannot show something which is not entirely abstract to be compeletely true? That is, nothing ever shown in the future will ever alter how true it is? I'm sure there are many examples in history of those who thought this way, and were proven wrong.

The point I was trying to make is that there is no single point where something goes from "theory" to "proven". It's not a definate border, where theory is suddenly "fact". All "facts" are simply very, very accurate and likely theories.

So saying something is "just a theory" shouldn't threaten it's credibility.

No, i don't agree with it. We KNOW how diamonds are made. We know the step-by-step process that carbon atoms go through to form a diamond. We can even SEE the atoms with a specific type of microsocpe. This is what allows us to synthesize our own diamonds.

Re: What if evolution was wrong?
 

Well, umm, you got, err.. half, your.. uh.. not wish. Thing.

I can't imagine evolution being "wrong", because I can't imagine a feasible alternative to evolution. Can you suggest one, and I'll see how I'd feel were the alternative proven to be "right"?

=)

Relativity changed what we "knew" to be true. Before, we thought time to be constant. We had tons of proof of this. Relativity showed time to be inconsistant, something we have verified through experiment.

Perhaps our understanding of coal->diamonds transformations will always remain static, perhaps not. It is foolish to be completely certain in this regaurd.

oh shiznitz... i started a feud between xzxzzx and gogitta.......








cool

I don't see my opinion to be important, I just didn't want to bias anyone elses opinion initially. This thread cam after reading this interview with Richard Dawkins. In it there is this quote:

I was just interested in whether other people would be as accepting of a new theory that turned their ideas upside down. Would they argue against it and try prove it as rubish, just because they have a vested interest in the throry after having spent a lot of time learning and studying it. I also thought it'd be interesting to compare the views of creationists vs evolutionists, but I forgot to ask that.

The above quote sums up my reaction, at least after some puzzlement.

Evolution is a concept for someone to understand there existence or a theory of there exisitence, quite a reasonable one I would say and better than any other concept put forward by the Bibles/Religions.

Flaws? maybe but thats the beauty of chaos which is what causes things to evolve because without it every thing would be constant and if every thing was constant then nothing could evolve.

I am therefore I exist, I exist therefore I am. Accepting that without theoriseing as to why and you will understand why you exist for all you are really is a group of atoms very complexly put together yes, but a group of atoms non-the-less. With that knowledge you realise that you are one with all, for the trinity is within you, it is held with in every atom.
With that knowledge, you can then understand how simple time transendation can take place at many levels and with many facets. I can be here and be aware but also a part of me can be a billion light years away as actively aware, while another part may be simply two or three years ahead...ever heard of Dejah-Vu? (bet that caught your attention-heh heh heh)

Once you gain that simple understanding you then realise that you are only limited by your own self doubts, by your own negativity.
This is how Politicians use media to manipulate masses. It's also why they want to control the use of computers more because before they had total control over Programmes(Television/Films?). Computers wern't really meant forthe home market. The internet was originally meant to be for the 'transfer of Research and Educational Meterials' through a dedicated safe system.

Someone saw a profit and a demand (Gates :p :D)and the rest is history. What that did do though is put 'chaos' into the equation. i.e. The Operator 'YOU'.....


Just a theory is all...

~ :)

>> The above quote sums up my reaction, at least after some puzzlement.

Same here. That guy said what I said, word for word. Only he used bigger, better words. =D

Going by this logic we can say that conciousness is a theory. Theories are proven, only to a certain extent. But this extent is all we have. In this reality, be it real or not, these laws apply and thus it is fact.

Evolution is WRONG!!!!

Humans have 46 chromosomes. With 47 they have down syndrome and do not function properly. Humans(46), Donkeys(62), rabbits(44), dog(78) are all mammals and thus share a common ancestor yet have different chromosome counts. Through survival of the fittest chromosome COUNTS do not change, only chromosome quality does. THey teach you in school only what supports it. THey should try teaching what doesn't support it.

Also, the change from fish to amphibians took millions of years and progressed as slow but continual changes, or at least that's what they tell you. so fish fins slowly become legs, fish's air sacs eventually become lungs etc... Slow, gradual changes. Nothing happens overnight.

But what about things like circulatory systems? We have warm blooded and cold blooded. There is no fossil record of "luke-warm" blooded, or "cool" blooded. Shouldn't there have been a gradual change? Apparently this change happend overnight just no one points it out.

Do you even know what warm and cold-blooded mean?