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Skeptoid

An Evolution Primer for Creationists

Skeptoid #10
November 30, 2006
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Some creationists may be concerned that some of their standard arguments against evolution sound dismissive or patronizing. This is probably true: in any debate, it's common to frame your opponent's arguments in a weak light. Sometimes this is done deliberately to make evolution sound ridiculous, and sometimes it's done accidentally through ignorance of what evolution is and how it works. Since misinformation and ignorance are poor platforms on which to build any conversation, I present the following Evolution 101 Primer for the benefit of creationists who want a correct basic understanding of their foe. I think the best way to do this is to dispel the three most common evolution myths.

Myth #1: Men evolved from apes.

This is the oldest and wrongest misconception about evolution. Nobody has ever suggested that one species changes into another species. Some criticisms of evolution show illustrations that fraudulently purport to show what evolutionists claim: that a salmon changed into a turtle, which changed into an alligator, which changed into a hippo, which changed into a lion, and then into a monkey, and then into a human being. Of course such a theory would seem ludicrous. But it's pure fantasy and has nothing in common with real evolution.

The diversification of species is like a forest of trees, sprouting from the proverbial primordial soup. Many trees die out. Some don't grow very tall. Some have grown a lot over the eons and are still growing today. Trees branch out, and branches branch out themselves, but branches never come back together or combine from two different trees. The path of a species' evolution is shaped like the branch of a tree, not a donut, not a figure 8, not a ladder. To embrace evolution, you need not — must not — think that a salmon turns into a zebra, or that an ape turns into a man. It's simply not genetically possible.

We've all seen the other famous illustration, where a monkey morphs into an ape, that morphs into a caveman, that morphs into homo sapiens. If you climb back down the tree branch, you will indeed find earlier versions of man where he was smaller, hairier, and dumber, but it won't be a modern ape. To find a modern ape, you'd need to go even further down the tree, millions and millions of years, find an entirely different branch, and then follow that branch through different genetic variants, past numerous other dead-end branches, past other branches leading to other modern species, and then you'll find the modern ape. Never the twain shall meet.

Myth #2: Evolution is like a tornado in a junkyard forming a perfect 747.

This is a popular manifestation of the argument that evolution depends on randomness, and so it would be impossible for complex structures to evolve. Well, this is half right, but completely wrong in its totality. Random mutations are one driver of evolution, but this argument completely omits evolution's key component: natural selection.

Obviously, in reality, if a tornado went through a junkyard, you'd end up with worse junk, not a perfect 747. No evolutionary biologist, or any sane person, has ever claimed that you would. It's ridiculous. The tornado is meant to represent the random element of evolution, but genes don't mutate catastrophically all at once, like a tornado. Here is a more accurate way to use this same analogy.

Imagine millions of junkyards, representing any given population. Now imagine a group of welders, who walk carefully through each junkyard, twisting this, bending that, attaching two pieces of junk here, cutting something apart there. They do it randomly and make only a limited number of small changes. Sometimes they don't change anything. This is a far more accurate representation of how genes mutate within an organism. It's not a single cataclysmic tornado.

Now comes the natural selection. Let's test every piece of junk in every junkyard. Does anything work better? Does anything work worse? With millions of changes in millions of junkyards, it's inevitable that there will be some improvements somewhere. Part of natural selection is the eventual removal from the population of any organisms that are less well adapted, so to simulate this, we're going to eliminate all the junkyards where the junk was worse after the welders made their mutations. This leaves only junkyards that are stable, or that are improved. To simulate the next generation of the species, we replicate all of our current improved gene pool of junkyards, and again send in the welders. They make a few random changes in each, or no changes at all.

Each time this entire process happens, the population of junkyards improves. But this doesn't happen just a few times. It happens millions or billions of times. The changes made by the welders are countless. The vast majority of changes are either useless or make things even junkier. Since natural selection automatically filters out the poorly adapted junkyards and rewards those rare improved junkyards with additional procreation, our population of junkyards gets better and better. Things start to take shape in the junkyards. Useful things. Stronger things. Things with abilities that nobody could have predicted. Any given piece of junk that improves is replicated in many junkyards, and reappears in millions of slightly altered forms each time. Pick the best version from each generation, and you can literally watch the same piece of junk evolve into a better, stronger, more useful, and better adapted machine with more capabilities. This is evolution.

Myth #3: Evolution is just a theory.

First of all, if you believe that most biologists consider evolution to be "just a theory", you're behind the times. Almost all biologists call it a fact, and not because they feel any particular need to respond to creationists.

Second, when creationists try to put evolution down by dismissing it as "just a theory", they're actually acknowledging its scientific validity. To understand why, it's necessary to understand exactly what a theory is. When creationists use the term to disparage evolution, they really should be using the word hypothesis. A hypothesis is a provisional idea, a suggested explanation that requires validation. Evolution is well beyond that stage, though; even the staunchest anti-evolution creationists assign evolution the much higher status of theory.

In order to qualify as a theory, evolution had to meet the following criteria:

  • A theory must originate from, and be well supported by, experimental evidence. It must be supported by many strands of evidence, and not just a single foundation.
  • A theory must be specific enough to be falsifiable by testing. If it cannot be tested or refuted, it can't qualify as a theory.
  • A theory must make specific, testable predictions about things not yet observed.
  • A theory must allow for changes based on the discovery of new evidence. It must be dynamic, tentative, and correctable.

Notice that last one: tentative, correctable, and allowing for future changes. Creationists often point out that the theory of evolution is incomplete, like any theory, as if this disproves it. To be a theory, evolution must be incomplete by definition, and (no pun intended), constantly evolving.

The strict scientific definition of a fact is both simpler and hazier. A fact is a verifiable observation, and evolution is verified so many times throughout the entire science of biology that most biologists call it a fact. However many scientists contend that every fact has some element of theory to it, so in this sense, it doesn't really make any difference whether evolution is called a fact or a theory. Since biologists are always learning more and adding to our knowledge of evolution, it's probably best to leave it as a theory.

I hope some creationists find value in these explanations. As always, your comments are welcome on the web site.

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Brian Dunning

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© 2008 Skeptoid.com

Discuss!

5 most recent comments | Show all 321 comments

Remember, you should always read with skepticism the comments of anyone too lame to put their real name & city.

I like what I am hearing, but I must make one small correction. The word theory is not used lightly in a scientific context. What you are probably thinking of was a hypothesis. In science, theory means the following:

In science a theory is a testable model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise verified through empirical observation.

If that is what you meant already, I apologize. I don't mean to argue semantics but that is a very important distinction to make. Best of luck in your search.

Steve Loeffelholz, Iowa City, IA
May 09, 2008 10:22am

Well steve, first off i would like to thank you for the way this turned out, becuase it was at first argument to you trying to help me look at all the details before making a decision. And i am going to have to say after looking at all the different types of creationism, and how science is retested in differnet ways to say the same thing, that the way to fit both together and not change any of my beliefs, just add something in was gap creationism. Simply because the mechanics of time were inexistent before the fall of man, and we read today how long that period was before man screwed up. Now there is still hope for you steve, i dont want that to sound corny lol. There is no reason for science to disprove the bible and it doesnt in any way. I am still trying to get you to have faith in the bible, lol. The way the world reads today doesnt just say that science is right, it says were running out of time, and we dont know how much time we have anyways, which all points to taking wagner's wager or whatever, which the only religion applicable to this wager is the bible, becuase the rest are just wrong because they contradict themselves, and i hope that that beckons you to see the need for faith.

mike, pittsburgh
May 11, 2008 9:32pm

Mike, I did not lose faith in Christianity and the Bible because I began believing in science. For many years I was able to merge what I knew about science with what I believed about religion. It was not until I began to notice all of the contradictions present in the teachings of Christianity and the teachings that went against what I believe to be right that my faith went away. It was not a choice that I made lightly, and I still think about it almost every day.

We are not running out of time. The end of the world has been predicted by several religious groups countless times, yet here we are. Each false prediction is quickly forgotten when new calls of "The end is near" are heard from a different person or group. These predictions and warnings mean nothing, and I see no reason to fear them.

The last thing I will ask you to do is to take a good hard look at your religion and at those you discount as being wrong. All religions contain contradiction, even Christianity. Don't be so quick to claim that your religion is perfect and others are flawed when you haven't ever read their holy books or listened to their scholars. I hope that you can learn to keep an open mind but a critical eye.

Steve Loeffelholz, Iowa City, IA
May 12, 2008 9:16am

my open mind and critical eye caught that christianity doesnt have any contradictions. would you show me some of these apparent contradictions please? and whats going on in the middle east around god's chosen people suggests the beginning of the end. look at matthew 24.

false prophets (just one in the link)

http://www.houstonpress.com/2006-11-30/news/this-man-thinks-he-s-jesus-h-christ/

rumors of war, iran is rumored to be dealing nukes with russia, who doesn't like the u.s. who is isreal's ally. this little example also works for nation rising against nation, at least tension in between those nations.

earthquakes, there is an earthquake in the news that china was hit by and the recent tsunami by japan was one of the biggest ever, i think it happened in 2003 or 05.

these things are the beginning of the end. Next christians will be persecuted, arrested, or even killed. And the gospel will then be preached everywhere, and then the big man comes in clouds with angels and all his glory :). as for the day and hour, of course we won't know those details. but i think we will be able to guess the decade.

mike, pittsburgh
May 12, 2008 4:28pm

I don't have much time, so I will have to link you to an article. In it are direct contradictions contained within passages of the Bible. These are very specific examples not open to interpretation. When I have more time I will be back to discuss them.

Here is the link:

http://www.wordwiz72.com/bible.html

On a side note, people have been using examples of wars and disasters like the ones you list above for decades if not hundreds of years. The times change, the examples change, the outcome remains the same, no end of the world.

Steve Loeffelholz, Iowa City, IA
May 12, 2008 4:50pm

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