Pseudonymph

I have always wondered...why is there still a debate over evolution? All of you here claim to have "won" the debate once and for all, saying that it has been "proved thousands of times".
then you go to a christian bb and its the same old shit. They have "won" etc. They have "proven to be right"

where does it end? I believe in evolution but why is there still room for debate? I see many reputable scientists STILL goin on about creationism.
<img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

Boro Nut

No you don't. Those are clearly disreputable scientists.

Boro Nut

tgamble

There's still a debate because cretinists can't accept the fact that they've lost. The debate has been won, it's just a matter of cretinists trying to deceive people into believing otherwise and scientists trying to correct their misinformation.

GunnerJ

LOL! What an ass!

Undercurrent

I depends on what you mean by "won". If you mean "gained universal acceptance in the scientific community, whetered a great many experiments that could have concieveably proven it false but didn't, made many predictions that were later bourne out, and suffciently matured that it has moved from cutting-edge science to the beginnings of technology based on the science" then evolution has won, hands down.

If you mean "been accepted by the general population" then no, it hasn't. The theory of evolution has not stood up to the religious objections to its existence. And as irrelevant as they are, these objections are what a great number of people are concerned about.

m.

[ March 26, 2002: Message edited by: Michael ]</p>

Peez

Because there are those with religious/political agendas who are stubbornly trying to subvert the education system. I have never claimed thsi, and I don't remember anyone else here claiming it either. In fact, I (and others here) have gone to great lengths to explain that evolution has not been "proved." Nothing in science is ever proved with complete certainty. Scientists only test hypotheses and draw conclusions based on the results. The common descent of living things on this planet has been tested millions of times, and has not failed once. That is not absolute proof, but it is very convincing: it is silly to deny that common descent is a fact. That does not stop some people (due to bias, ignorance, or dishonesty) from continuing to deny it, of course. As has been pointed out, the scientific debate was "won" long ago, but the political debate continues. Time will tell. Religion, politics, ignorance, etc. Many scientists are doing their best to fight against the political machinations of the creationist movement. It is not a scientific debate (the creationists are not doing science), it is a political one.

Think abaout it: scientific debates take place in peer-reviewed literature, based on primary-referenced evidence, while political debates take place in popular media, based on debating techniques. Which does the evolution-creation debate look like?

Peez

Sir Nevah Entitar

And no true scotsman puts milk in his porridge...

(I am an evolutionist, just to clarify things, but one doesn't HAVE to accept a certain theory to be reputable.)

Synaesthesia

I agree that the reputation of the scientists is not quite the key issue here, some physicists may well have foolish ideas about biology. The point, I suspect, is that there are no reputable objections to evolution. Those who are specialists in the relevants fields see creationist objections as being ill-informed rhetoric.

Boro Nut

If you mean American population fair enough. If you mean population, as in general population, as in human, as in someone else might have an opinion about things, as in somewhere else, as in we are here too, as in it was our idea in the first place, then yes it has.

Do we care if the American bible thumpers don't like it? Er.. No we don't really.

As a spin off, is it likely to foster a more rational interpretaion of the issues and opportunities at stake and give us an unassailable lead in the field of genetic research and engineering well into the foreseeable future? If it doesn't I want my eggs back.

Boro Nut