[leewong]

1. “Where is the missing link/ transitional fossils?”

First of all, it should be noted that fossils are not easily found. They are rare, as general conditions do not always favor the formation of fossils. This being said, we actually have a HUGE number of transitional fossils and links between species. While it’s true that we won’t be able to find every single fossil for every single species that has ever existed, we have more than enough to accept the fossil record as extremely important evidence. An analogy would be this: ABCD_FGHIJK_MNO_QRST_VW_YZ. We have some blanks, but we can pretty much figure out which letters (or in evolution’s case, species containing certain traits) fit into these holes. Keep in mind that not having a perfectly complete fossil record is NOT evidence against evolution. It simply implies that there’s still room for improvement, and we still continue to fill in the blanks with new fossil finds. Here is a great reference with an enormous listing of different fossils and links: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional.html

and here’s another: http://darwiniana.org/transitionals.htm

and ::gasp:: here’s ANOTHER: http://www.holysmoke.org/tran-icr.htm

2. “My grandfather is not a monkey!"

It’s a common misconception to think that we directly came from monkeys. In reality, we actually share a common ancestor with apes (kind of like a family tree that branches off). To defend the claim that we share a common ancestor with apes, we have many evidences (such as the fossil record), but we have recently discovered two newer, amazing pieces of evidence. The first is that our chromosome pair #2 is consistent with the fusion of two ape chromosomes, and the second is a series of perfect matches between our endogenous retroviruses. The latter essentially proves ape common ancestry beyond all reasonable doubt. You may not understand these two genetic terms, but these two videos do a very good job of explaining just how important these are for evolutionary theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FGYz...eature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUxLR9hdorI


3. “Evolution is *just* a theory!”

Evolution is a scientific theory. It is labeled as such for two reasons. The first reason is that it has accumulated so much scientific evidence defending the claim, that it has gone from being an unjustified hypothesis to a justifiable theory. A “scientific theory” is not the same as a “guess” or “hypothesis” (or a regular “theory” in layman’s terms). It is the official scientific explanation for a huge set of facts and evidence. Secondly, it is called a scientific theory because, by definition, it is possible for it to be falsified. If a piece of evidence were to contradict evolutionary theory, the current theory would be dismissed and discarded. This has never, ever happened. Ever. This should show just how powerful this scientific theory really is. It should be noted that other scientific theories that are just as widely accepted in the scientific community include gravity, cell theory, plate tectonics, the big bang theory, and the atomic theory. These are all scientific theories. Yes, gravity is on par with evolution. Too many people think that a scientific theory could potentially be raised to a higher level (*if only there were enough evidence *). There is NO higher level. For instance, a scientific theory does not have the potential to become a scientific law, because they are completely separate things. A scientific law is not above a scientific theory. A law is a principle or guideline to keep in mind (such as the laws of thermodynamics), whereas a theory is the best current explanation for a set of facts. A scientific theory is the highest possible achievement of science. Evolution is not *JUST* a theory… it is TRIUMPHANTLY a theory (http://notjustatheory.com/)

This site also gives very good explanations: http://wilstar.com/theories.htm


4. “Evolution can’t be proven!”

I redirect you to my third misconception; theories, by definition, can’t be proven due to the fact that they are hypothetically falsifiable. For instance, if I held an apple in mid-air, and let go of it… and it didn’t fall, but just floated there… then I would have just falsified the theory of gravity. Similarly, if a scientist found that, on a genetic level, humans have more in common with oak trees than monkeys, it would falsify our nested hierarchies and evolutionary chain. These things have never happened.


5. “Evolution is wrong because the fossils indicate a young earth.”

The young earth argument basically says that if the earth is 10,000 years old (or less), then evolution simply would not have had enough time to run its course (which is true). However, an old earth (billions of years old) is accepted due to radiometric dating (not just carbon dating) and is mathematically and scientifically sound. Many people who say, “well this organism was dated to be two million years old when in reality it was only fifty years old” don’t realize that certain isotopes can only accurately date certain eras (based on their half-lives). For instance, carbon dating is very accurate for things that have been around for the past 10,000 years, but not to date things millions of years old (and so scientists use other isotopes for the older stuff). Here’s a site about which isotopes are used to date back to which eras (and more general information about radiometric dating): http://www.asa3.org/aSA/resources/Wiens.html#page%2019

We can also check these dates against other dating methods, which include varve counting, pollen analysis, ice core dating, tree ring dating (dendrochronology), coral dating, fluorine testing, thermoremanent magnetism, thermoluminescence, electron spin resonance, cosmic-ray exposure tests, and more. We have more than enough ways to date fossils AND eliminate any large inaccuracies. Whether a fossil is 37 million years old or 39 million years old is hardly something to lose sleep over. Most dating methods give ranges, anyway.


6. “Evolution is wrong because fossils are consistent with a global flood.”

This argument from ignorance actually amazes me. All fossils found in the same era are found in the same layer of earth. Older fossils are found in lower strata, while newer fossils are found closer to the surface. It’s as simple (and logical) as that. The only initially-puzzling special case is when we find older fossils on mountain tops… however, this is because of how those specific mountains were formed (two earth plates pushing against one another for millions of years caused the mountains to form; the earth used to be flatter way back in the day). For a global flood to be correct, ALL fossils from ALL species of living things would need to be found in the same layer of earth (whenever the global flood occurred); that means that you should be able to find a human’s skeleton next to a dinosaur’s. This has never been the case. Ever. Furthermore, here is a video that explains a logical alternative to the “global flood” myth, which is often created due to the Biblical flood story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq0dBFqJZc0


7. “What about Noah’s Ark?”

This is similar to number six. This is also where it gets ugly, when people try to mix religion with science. You simply can’t do that. Religion is faith-based, whereas science is evidence-based. There is no proof that the Ark was real, or that there ever was a global flood. Since this is such a weak argument against evolution (there are actually many ways to disprove the global flood myth from a scientific standpoint, including the facts that the food/waste for/from every animal could not also fit onto the ark, plus carnivorous animals would eat the other animals, plus all of the plants on earth would die of drowning, plus all of the saltwater fish would have died due to the freshwater rain changing the ocean’s salinity, plus the fact that the animals would have had to carry all of the viruses and bacteria, plus apparently rabbits decided not to “screw like rabbits” for a whole year, plus the fossil record disproves it… but I digress), I’m just going to cut to the chase and post a video that shows one example of irrefutable scientific evidence (the bottlenecking of the cheetah) against the Noah’s Ark/global flood claim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIlWKp44T50


8. “I believe in Intelligent Design.”

Quite frankly, you shouldn’t believe in Intelligent Design (the umbrella hypothesis that includes Creationism). That’s the problem right there. It is unfortunate for those who like the idea of ID, because not a single shred of evidence has been presented to defend this hypothesis. The foundation of ID is Irreducible Complexity, and every supposed “example” of this has been found out to not apply. Exactly what things ID and IC claim are explained in the following video. Here is an example of the main argument for IC (and it’s debunking), the Bacterial Flagellum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_HVrjKcvrU

ID doesn’t impress the scientific community (the people who matter when it comes to facts and evidence) because there is no logical reason to believe in it.


9. “Evolution contradicts God’s existence… and… therefore, science is wrong."

Besides being a clearly illogical argument, I’d like to say: Nope. It does not. Evolution (and science, in general) says NOTHING about the existence of God. Evolution and the rest of science are SECULARIST, not ATHEISTIC. It may disagree with the Creation story in the Bible’s Genesis chapter, but it does not, in any way, falsify or contradict the concept of a general deity. It is possible for God to exist with the intent of creating the universe in such a way that this scientific process of evolution could have run its course (I recommend looking up the very smart and *safe* religion of Deism). Therefore, God and evolution can both exist. Of course, it should be noted that possibility is very different than probability. Quite frankly, Christians should be relieved that science is incapable of disproving God, or else evolution would be proof that their deity can’t exist (based on Biblical claims)


10. “There’s evidence for micro-evolution, but not macro-evolution.”

This is actually just plain false, but allow me to first explain the terms. Many people choose only to note the tiny steps (a mutation here, a new function there) and thus believe that only micro-evolution occurs and not macro-evolution. Micro-evolution and macro-evolution are terms used by IDers to try to weasel their way around the truth of evolution. Micro-evolution is supposed to be changes within a species, while macro-evolution means changes that connect one species to another. In reality, scientists decide when enough small changes have been generated (usually through multiple generations) to label a new organism as a new species. Evolution is evolution, period. Skeptics need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. We all know that micro-evolution is observable and testable. A very simple and common example of this is the fact that every few years we need brand new flu vaccines; viruses and bacteria often evolve rapidly and overcome our current treatments. You USUALLY won’t witness a macro-evolutionary step in your lifetime, because a macro-evolutionary step could take tens of thousands of years to occur. However, one macro-evolutionary step could be the same as a hundred micro-evolutionary steps, and a few of those we CAN see in our lifetime. Looking back on our fossil records, we see all of the tiny steps (through our transitional fossils) and then choose to label a certain group of them as a single macro-evolutionary step. Here’s an analogy:

AARDVARK (original word)

AASDVARK (one micro-mutation, changing one letter)

AASDVARL (one micro-mutation, changing one letter)

AASDBARL (one micro-mutation, changing one letter)

AASEBARL (one micro-mutation, changing one letter)

AASEBALL (one micro-mutation, changing one letter)

BASEBALL (one micro-mutation, changing one letter; new word )

To go from AARDVARK to BASEBALL, six micro-steps took place in between the two real words. However, the first six “words” could be labeled as A-species, while the last word could be labeled as a new B-species (based off of the first letter of each “word”). Therefore, A-species to B-species could be considered a macro-evolutionary step, while the little “in-between” steps are micro-evolutionary.

Another very simple word analogy is this: Accepting micro-evolution but not macro-evolution is like accepting that seconds exist but not whole minutes.


***It should be noted that macro-evolution HAS been observed. Unique polyploidy generations result in speciation (which is the same as macro-evolution) due to there being more than the expected two homologous sets of chromosomes. This occurs more frequently in plants than animals. Here’s a reference regarding examples of unique polyploidy types and hybridization (as well as other examples): http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-...ion.html#part5


The REASON this is an example of macro-evolution is because there are certain unique and beneficial capabilities that polyploidy organisms have over organisms with only two homologous sets of chromosomes. This is why they are classified differently. However, we have found that sometimes the latter organisms can produce offspring that (through mutations) have the polyploidy characteristic. Therefore, we have witnessed macro-evolution.

Allow me to give some examples and references to back up my claim (as it is ALWAYS important when discussing science):

"Ultrafrequent establishment of poly- ploidy in the homosporous Pteridophy- ta appears to be necessary to create and maintain genetic variation in the face of the homozygotizing effects of habitual self-fertilization in the monoe- cious gametophytes of these plants."

~http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/conten...t/153/3733/305

"Somatic polyploidy, defined as genome multiplication, was found in all differentiated mammalian tissues. The highest level of such a polyploidy was found in the myocardium. This phenomenon was shown to be associated with changes in the pattern of gene expression. Hence, polyploidization may create cells with new physiology. ... Thus, we suppose that additional genomes may serve for cardiomyocyte protection from oxidative damage in the hearts."

~http://www.tsitologiya.cytspb.rssi.r...atskaya_en.htm

Check out this abstract as well (I can’t copy/paste this one, sorry guys): http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/...Code=ecolsys.1


If anyone ever says that macro-evolution has never been observed, you can safely correct them.***

11. “Evolution doesn’t explain how the very first living thing came about.”

It’s not supposed to. Evolution is the study of how living organisms have changed throughout history. Evolutionary theory does NOT deal with how the first living organism came from non-life. This is a separate scientific field of study, know as Abiogenesis. Evolution and Abiogenesis do not rely on one another. Whether the first living organism came from self-replicating RNA or proteins or amino acids or Zeus or Thor or the Christian God does NOT affect the fact that we have substantial evidence for evolution. Abiogenesis contains hypotheses, but is currently not up to “scientific theory” status. However, it should be noted that we HAVE created life from non-life. We know that Abiogenesis is an absolute possibility (though we’re not 100% positive if this first experiment is the correct one, which is why it is not yet a scientific theory): http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog...d-team-cr.html


12. “You can’t prove that God simply didn’t set up everything to fool us!”

This is true. God could have planted every single fossil correctly, decided (unimaginatively) that all living things should be connected genetically, and every other fact we have for evidence could have been a front for a designer. Most people believe in some sort of God; however, most of them do NOT believe in a deceitful one. Based on facts, evidence, observations, experiments, logic, and common sense, there is no reason to believe that evolution is incorrect, or a trick devised by a deceptive deity. Genetics can tell us who our mum is just like genetics can tell us who our grandparents are and (if we go back far enough, which doesn’t make it any less accurate) we can also find out other ancestors (species-wise). In the Creationist line of thinking (doubt EVERYTHING in light of obvious evidence), one couldn't even prove that you're related to your mum! Even when she was pregnant with you, the fact that you look like your mum and have her DNA and genetic make-up CLEARLY only says that God implanted an intelligently designed fetus inside of her to make you APPEAR to be related Come on now. This isn’t logical or scientific, and it shows that some people are simply grasping at straws.


13. “All of the alternatives should be taught in the classroom anyway. Everyone has a right to speak their minds. Let the children decide for themselves. It’s only FAIR.”

This obviously is not even an argument against evolution, but an argument to try and convince an audience that science is subjective. This argument, however, presents the dangerous fact that some people want unscientific hypotheses (or possibly even religion) taught in science class. This is terrible, and must be stopped at all costs. There is no scientific alternative to evolution. There is no controversy. Intelligent Design/Creationism does not impress the scientific community, because it is a religious belief system and it has no evidence behind it. Teaching science in schools is not about freedom of speech or ideas. It’s about teaching what we know is correct. In fact, there are many instances where education is simply NOT open for interpretation. Should a math teacher say, “If you WANT, you can believe that a triangle has four sides?” NO. Should an English teacher say, “If you WANT, you can say ‘I brang my lunch to school,’ instead of ‘brought’?” NO. Should parents say to small children, I want you to go to bed at nine o'clock and always do your homework... but it's up to YOU to make the final decision on those things ? NO. Using this faulty argument, we should also teach that since gravity is also *just a theory*, we should encourage children to jump off cliffs so that they can make their OWN decisions on whether or not to accept it as truth. Remember, evolution is on par with gravity (they’re both at the status of “scientific theory”… neither have ever been disproven, and both properly explain all of the facts). It's NOT up to the children to decide. It's up to the experts. It's up to the scientists and the teachers. Parents and other adults need to set a good example for children. Teaching ignorant alternatives is not healthy, and it will, quite frankly, screw up the next generation. The concept of fairness may seem appealing, but this extremely short video will explain how teaching ID (or other unscientific alternatives) in classrooms is anything BUT fair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO5us0qHcwc


14. “A butterfly is a butterfly is a butterfly.”

This is the argument that a butterfly will only give birth to a butterfly (or that a dog will never give birth to a “non-dog”). Popularized by Kent Hovind, this argument against evolution actually defies the very definitions of evolution, speciation, and macro-evolution. I will use the butterfly scenario. An animal is considered a butterfly if it falls into Kingdom Animalia + Phylum Arthropoda + Class Insecta + Order Lepidoptera + any number of Families ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly ).

This being said, there are still smaller classifications (Genus and Species), ALL of which are still considered butterflies . This means that a butterfly parent could hypothetically even have an offspring in a different GENUS (not just Species) and it STILL wouldn't fall under the ridiculous ID goalpost-moving fallacy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_the_goalpost ).

You might as well move the goalposts all the way back from the get-go and say evolution hasn't occurred because animals only give birth to animals .


15. "Evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics."

"This shows more a misconception about thermodynamics than about evolution. The second law of thermodynamics says, No process is possible in which the sole result is the transfer of energy from a cooler to a hotter body. [Atkins, 1984, The Second Law, pg. 25] Now you may be scratching your head wondering what this has to do with evolution. The confusion arises when the second law is phrased in another equivalent way, The entropy of a closed system cannot decrease. Entropy is an indication of unusable energy and often (but not always ) corresponds to intuitive notions of disorder or randomness. Creationists thus misinterpret the second law to say that things invariably progress from order to disorder. However, they neglect the fact that life is not a closed system. The sun provides more than enough energy to drive things. If a mature tomato plant can have more usable energy than the seed it grew from, why should anyone expect that the next generation of tomatoes can't have more usable energy still? Creationists sometimes try to get around this by claiming that the information carried by living things lets them create order. However, not only is life irrelevant to the second law, but order from disorder is common in nonliving systems, too. Snowflakes, sand dunes, tornadoes, stalactites, graded river beds, and lightning are just a few examples of order coming from disorder in nature; none require an intelligent program to achieve that order. In any nontrivial system with lots of energy flowing through it, you are almost certain to find order arising somewhere in the system. If order from disorder is supposed to violate the second law of thermodynamics, why is it ubiquitous in nature?"

~http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-misconceptions.html


16. “Darwin recanted his belief in his own evolutionary theory when he was on his deathbed.”

This is a misconception taken grossly out of context. The backstory here is that a woman named Elizabeth Cotton (also known as Lady Hope) visited Darwin when he was nearing the end of his life. The following is taken from a website that is famous for its ANTI-evolutionary and pro-Biblical literalist opinions:

“Further, it is fascinating what Lady Hope’s story does not say. It does not say that Darwin renounced evolution. It merely says that Darwin speculated over the outcome of his ideas. He never backed away from evolution. Nor does the Lady Hope story say that Darwin actually became a Christian.”

~http://www.answersingenesis.org/arti...version-legend

And, of course, pro-evolution websites explain the same thing (such as http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CG/CG001.html). Lady Hope actually visited Darwin months before he died, and she wasn’t even with him when he was on his deathbed. Most importantly, even if this whole fairy tale were true, it would not make evolutionary theory any less valid If Newton had renounced his scientific views on his deathbed, he wouldn’t have flown into the ceiling.


17. “Mutations never provide *new* genetic information.”

This is a very common misconception, and probably one of the funniest arguments ever; EVERY mutation technically provides new information.

If a base pair is inserted, then that's the addition of new information.

If a base pair is removed, then the resulting shift from the rest of the bases in the sequence causes new information.

If base pairs are switched, then that's new information also.

In every single mutation, new triples emerge. Therefore, there is always new information.

Let's say we start with: ...-ATA-CGC-ATA-CGC-...


Insertion of C between first T and second A: ...-ATC-ACG-CAT-ACG-C...

Deletion of first G: ...-ATA-CCA-TAC-GC...

Switching second A with first C: ...-ATC-AGC-ATA-CGC-...


As you can see, regardless of what mutation occurs, new triples form. This means that new information is being processed. To say that no new information ever occurs due to mutations could not be more wrong; new information ALWAYS forms due to mutations.


Finally, here is a huge reference defending the entire scientific theory of evolution: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/


Only 2% of scientists even consider Intelligent Design as a HYPOTHESIS (not even close to a scientific theory), which is about the same percentage of geologists who consider the possibility of a flat earth (check out the Flat Earth Society if you want a few good laughs). There will ALWAYS be a small group of people who refuse to accept facts that may go against personal belief. It's called denial. The other 98% of the scientific community recognize evolutionary theory (and, in the analogy, a round earth) as truth. If the experts accept evolution as the prominent, unifying biological theory, why should the less-educated disagree? It’s always good to be initially skeptical and ask questions (this is how science progesses), but it should be painfully obvious that scientific theories have already gone through rigorous processes (make sure you watched the short video at the end of misconception thirteen). There is an abundance of evidence for evolution; there is none against it (or for any alternative). There is no controversy. It’s vital that we silence the myths and correct the misconceptions. Personally, I’d like to stick twenty Creationists in a room with twenty tigers and show them that survival of the fittest really DOES work… but as for right now, I’ll stick to the Facebook debates.


18. “Evolution is wrong because of the Piltdown Man, Haeckel’s Embryos, or any other famous scientific hoax!”

Like other areas of science, evolutionary theory has had its fair share of greedy scientists who fabricate finds and make up data in poor attempts to gain a quick path to fame and fortune. However, it has always been the case that, through peer review, OTHER scientists have discovered the occasional forgery and refuted it. Science is, after all, self-checking. The rare fake does NOT discredit the hundreds of thousands of other genetic, geological, and biological facts that all agree with one another and validate evolutionary theory. Besides, there have been plenty of fake religious propaganda and forgeries as well (Paluxy tracks, Peter Popoff, Shroud of Turin, Kinderhook plates, etc.); you wouldn’t want us saying that your entire religion is false just because some religious fundamentalists fabricated “evidence” to further THEIR own agendas, now would you?