Evolution is real. Its a real thing that really does happen and did happen. Gah!

[ImmortalDrifter]

Indeed, history had proven the best way to change people's minds is to call them stupid. Well done.

 

[burningdragoon]

Okay people, why can't we discuss much less heated things like whether or not 0.9 repeating = 1?

>.>

0.9 reccurring = 0.99999999999999999999999999... not 1. It's close, but no cigar.

Since there is really no way to tell either way, is that your serious answer or is that your "let's poke the bear" answer?

 

[hutchy27]

Don't be completely short sighted, evolution is only a theory.

If it were real, and we evolved from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys around? You can't explain that.

Next you'll be claiming that the world is round like that dude in the other thread. What's wrong with you people, has the world gone mad.

I was going to comment on the monkey comment but it seems you were being sarcastic.

 

[algalon]

The simple fact is, no amount of thread trolling is going to convince a person their views are wrong. You could link studies, experiments, charts, and graphs until you die due to a circulatory issue related to carpal tunnel and they'll still say the opposite. People are generally ignorant, stupid creatures that only believe what they were told when they were 5. Though they do have the mental capacity to move past such delusions, the act of refusing is just another symptom of the inherent laziness of our current society. Good luck.

 

[Lethos]

It's not a question of 'views'. It's a question of 'fact' versus 'fiction', 'provable truth' vs 'unprovable belief'. To say that evolution is wrong, to deny the proof, is to be ignorant.

I still don't think you get it. Evolution makes sense to us, right. But to people who believe it, creationism makes sense to them. If I was to give you 2[]2=4, and tell you to fill the blank, there would be plenty of options to making it work, however, we don't know what needs to go in the blank space. There is no genuine fact here, only theory and logic. We weren't there when people evolved or were created, or whatever happened, happened, so we can only take an educated guess at what happened. If I said that we were all dropped onto earth by aliens, and we turned into humans because we went so fast it morphed us this way, it would make just as much sense. We weren't there, so we cannot say that it didn't happen is the point I'm trying to push. This is one of life's greatest mysteries, and we are still no-where near to explaining it.

But when you follow this pacifist approach too much you end up with groups proposing that things such as intelligent design should be taught along side evolution in school as credible alternatives. There has to be a point where you say "no" and favor the stance that is built on evidence and reason.

 

[Conn1496]

Okay people, why can't we discuss much less heated things like whether or not 0.9 repeating = 1?

>.>

0.9 reccurring = 0.99999999999999999999999999... not 1. It's close, but no cigar.

Since there is really no way to tell either way, is that your serious answer or is that your "let's poke the bear" answer?

Semi-serious mathsy answer. 0.9 reccurring is so close to 1 that the difference is pretty much unmeasurable, but it's there... Somewhere... I think... Damnit! I can't find the difference! ='(
It's there, I'll prove it! I CAN FIND IIITT!

 

[Lexodus]

Okay people, why can't we discuss much less heated things like whether or not 0.9 repeating = 1?

>.>

Because FUCK YOU, that's why.

Actually, this is one that bothers me. It's because decimals, the most precise type of calculation, aren't as precise as fractions, the least precise. Saying something is a third is overly simplistic, but in cases like this with no answer but a paradoxical one, a fraction's the best we've got. To ease my mind about this horrendous, horrendous problem, I like to imagine all the 9s as little ants, carrying an infinitesimally small piece of the 0.00000...1 along with them past a border patrol, and it's so small it doesn't show up on the radar as a real number but actually exists.
SHUT UP, THAT'S EXACTLY HOW MATHS WORKS!

 

[nightwolf667]

You know, OP I know some people that really believe the Earth is only 6,000 years old. Legit. 6,000 years. It's a strange thing to have conversations with those people, very strange. This whole snafoo with science and religion is kinda funny because we're watching history repeat, but also very sad.

The part that scares me the most is that many of these people want to stop this from being taught in school because it contradicts them. I mean hell, the teaching of dinosaurs was banned from schools in the entire New York State because as the Victorians tell us, God put dinosaur bones on the earth to test our faith.

No, I'm not kidding.

 

[Lexodus]

It's not a question of 'views'. It's a question of 'fact' versus 'fiction', 'provable truth' vs 'unprovable belief'. To say that evolution is wrong, to deny the proof, is to be ignorant.

I still don't think you get it. Evolution makes sense to us, right. But to people who believe it, creationism makes sense to them.

It's not about 'making sense'. It's about proof. And so far, the proof is on the side of evolution, not creationism.

If I was to give you 2[]2=4, and tell you to fill the blank, there would be plenty of options to making it work, however, we don't know what needs to go in the blank space.

No, but we can figure it out through testing, and determine that +, * and ^ are all possibilities. And in the testing, we can rule out other symbols like -, and /. Evolution is saying 'We think it's +. It could be * or ^." And in this analogy, Creationism is -. It just doesn't fit.

There is no genuine fact here, only theory and logic. We weren't there when people evolved or were created, or whatever happened, happened, so we can only take an educated guess at what happened.

And that's what we did. We took educated guesses. We looked at fossil records and other evidence. And those all supported a gradual change from 'not quite human' to 'human'. They do not, however, support that 'first there was nothing, and then there were humans'.

If I said that we were all dropped onto earth by aliens, and we turned into humans because we went so fast it morphed us this way, it would make just as much sense.

And then I'd ask you to prove this. And when you couldn't, I'd point to the proof of evolution that directly counters this.

We weren't there, so we cannot say that it didn't happen is the point I'm trying to push. This is one of life's greatest mysteries, and we are still no-where near to explaining it.

But that's the thing. It's a mystery, yes, but there are clues. It's like we have Jim's corpse here. It's got several knife wounds in it. Over here we have a knife. It has Jim's blood on the blade, and Gary's fingerprints on the handle. Over here, we have Gary, covered in Jim's blood.

So which is more likely? Gary stabbed Jim, or God struck Jim down with His holy might and planted evidence to 'test our faith'?

Fixed!


This

On the topic of this religious debate, I find myself in concurrence with the creator of this comic:

Affording respect to rubbish just begets more rubbish.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I don't know if I'd say I believe in it since I don't really like bringing faith into a field of study. I do think evolution is an actual thing that actually happens and continues to happen. Either way, I actually love it when people who don't 'believe' in evolution explain why they don't as some of those explanations are just hilariously stupid.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

The best argument I've ever seen is that we can't possibly have DNA in our bodies because the A stands for acid. Thus, if we had DNA, we'd melt. Flawless logic

...

I don't want to know what kind of arguments you have heard that makes that the BEST one.

 

[Conn1496]

-snip-

You really still don't get it. OK, that's fine. Let's explain it in the easiest way possible. There is no way to explain where humans came from - that's final, but there are theories. Science's explaination is evolution, and Religions answer is creation. That's all there is to it. They're different approaches, and that's it. Because one seems more credible, doesn't mean it's the right one. No matter how evident that may seem.

As for the 2[]2=4 thing, there is far more than +,X and ^ as possibilites. They're just the simplest solutions. For example, substituting x3- into the sum gives us 2x3-2=4. There are lots of possibilities, others are just more complex, and that's why I chose that comparison, because you'll never know. Your view was that there were only 3 possible ways, and I blew that out of the water by explaining that you can put in more than one thing.

 

[Lexodus]

Evolution did happen. Evolution does happen.
But somehow, I can't shake the feeling, that a higher power has had it's influence.

If only reality was guided by people's feelings... Does it do you any good to think that there's a god behind the curtain?

Nah.
Doesn't do any harm either.

Don't you agree?

I don't.

In all cases, irrational beliefs represent harm towards a person's rationality, and, in turn, the collective rationality of the group they are a part of.

Seriously, how short sighted can you be? You don't have to do anything resembling going to extremes to point out just how much social and technological retardation, never mind direct physical harm is brought on by completely baseless, iron age beliefs. The opposition to stem cell research is almost entirely religious, the moronic fixation on gay marriage and abortion and the subsequent clogging up of the public debate is brought on entirely by religion. The opposition to scientific education - entirely religious. Stifling freedom of speech in quite a lot of countries - religion.

Now, I'm not saying religion is the main source of our problems, far from it, but it is absolutely one of them. This sort of dancing around under the pretense that "personal" beliefs can't be dangerous is as delusional as some of those beliefs themselves.

It creates a flawless system where people with ridiculous beliefs can't be ridiculed, and responsibility is a thing of the past. Done something bad? Ask god to forgive you! And you *didn't* here a gigantic voice going, 'OKAY, GARY, I FORGIVE YOU FOR GUTTING THAT HOOKER, JUST DON'T DO IT AGAIN,' (Like that but in cursive script), but you *think* you did, so it's all okay. Another facet of religion (and how fucked up it is) is that we have people with absolutely no moral authority trying to claim it. Kiddy fiddler priests trying to tell us that all sex is bad and contraceptives are evil and homosexuals are the devil? Where the fuck is the sense in that?
So yeah, I'd definitely agree.
So would this guy:
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h256/Calatar/religion.gif
I've already posted the img so just follow the link, I don't want to get done for spam but it's just as relevant here.

 

[Kunzer]

My response to the OP is this:

People who cling to old views and refuse to open their mind to the possibilities of other truths simply arent worth the stress.

They will die soon, and with them, their narrow views.

 

[Lexodus]

-snip-

You really still don't get it. OK, that's fine. Let's explain it in the easiest way possible. There is no way to explain where humans came from - that's final, but there are theories. Science's explaination is evolution, and Religions answer is creation. That's all there is to it. They're different approaches, and that's it. Because one seems more credible, doesn't mean it's the right one. No matter how evident that may seem.

As for the 2[]2=4 thing, there is far more than +,X and ^ as possibilites. They're just the simplest solutions. For example, substituting x3- into the sum gives us 2x3-2=4. There are lots of possibilities, others are just more complex, and that's why I chose that comparison, because you'll never know. Your view was that there were only 3 possible ways, and I blew that out of the water by explaining that you can put in more than one thing.

You haven't blown anything out of the water, you've just said the equivalent of 'OMG GUYS, if nothing's 100% then 96% and 3% are equal! LOLOL'.

My response to the OP is this:

People who cling to old views and refuse to open their mind to the possibilities of other truths simply arent worth the stress.

They will die soon, and with them, their narrow views.

That's the hope, but there's a young religious generation too, who only have the excuse that they grew up with this filth to rely on.

 

[Aprilgold]

Dont they still call this the "theory" of evolution? Meaning its not 100% fact?

Yeah, the people who call it just a consipracy are ignorant, but just calling them idiots is just as ignorant. Actually study and look into this stuff before you make a decide whats up.

Well gravity is just a theory to show how far theories go in the science community.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Its not that complicated when you get down to it. For example, heres a new, X species, in 1,000 years this species will grow a trait allowing it to survive better, either poision on its skin to stark off predators or razor-sharp-claws to hunt better. 1000 years later once more it gets better and better and better until you get up to us in this level of potential.

 

[evilneko]

-snip-

You really still don't get it. OK, that's fine. Let's explain it in the easiest way possible. There is no way to explain where humans came from - that's final, but there are theories. Science's explaination is evolution, and Religions answer is creation. That's all there is to it. They're different approaches, and that's it. Because one seems more credible, doesn't mean it's the right one. No matter how evident that may seem.

It's not just more credible, it's the only explanation with any evidence whatsoever, and boy does it have a lot of it.

 

[Roggen Bread]

Evolution did happen. Evolution does happen.
But somehow, I can't shake the feeling, that a higher power has had it's influence.

If only reality was guided by people's feelings... Does it do you any good to think that there's a god behind the curtain?

Nah.
Doesn't do any harm either.

Don't you agree?

I don't.

In all cases, irrational beliefs represent harm towards a person's rationality, and, in turn, the collective rationality of the group they are a part of.

Seriously, how short sighted can you be? You don't have to do anything resembling going to extremes to point out just how much social and technological retardation, never mind direct physical harm is brought on by completely baseless, iron age beliefs. The opposition to stem cell research is almost entirely religious, the moronic fixation on gay marriage and abortion and the subsequent clogging up of the public debate is brought on entirely by religion. The opposition to scientific education - entirely religious. Stifling freedom of speech in quite a lot of countries - religion.

Now, I'm not saying religion is the main source of our problems, far from it, but it is absolutely one of them. This sort of dancing around under the pretense that "personal" beliefs can't be dangerous is as delusional as some of those beliefs themselves.

Hi.
I don't think, you read in context but just nailed me to this quote.

Please, before judging me, read the original post.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.380319-Evolution-is-real-Its-a-real-thing-that-really-does-happen-and-did-happen-Gah?page=4#14941332

Thank you.