BIBLE BASHERS BOOT BADGE

[Mr2Mike]

Swordman said:

I don't have evidence. There are two alternatives:

1. Believe that the Universe began by defying the fundamental laws of physics and that physical parameters to support life happen to be so finely tuned that life can exist, and then, somehow, all life evolved by chance.

How can you make that statement when we don't yet know all the "fundamental laws" of physics? This is as stupid as people saying bumble bees break the laws of physics.

Swordman said:

2. Believe that there is a Creator.

Neither one can be proved. So, you take a pick. What's wrong with that?

You are entirely welcome to believe in anything you want. Who do you think created the Creator BTW, because if someone/thing had to create the universe, then they had to be created first?

Personally I'm glad that scientists are learning how the universe works since this knowledge is rather more likely to prove useful to the future of mankind compared to unquestioning belief in an invisible magic entity based only on a book full of stories that have been altered by countless generations of people.

[TurboHatchback]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Natural selection is also about the ability to find food, and not become food for something else. And shelter, nest building skills, etc. Quite a bit more to it than purely sexual attractiveness. If it were all about sexual attractiveness to females, my family would have died out generations ago.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Mr2Mike said:

Swordman said:

I don't have evidence. There are two alternatives:

1. Believe that the Universe began by defying the fundamental laws of physics and that physical parameters to support life happen to be so finely tuned that life can exist, and then, somehow, all life evolved by chance.

How can you make that statement when we don't yet know all the "fundamental laws" of physics?

More importantly, life didn't evolve by chance. Another way in which Swordman doesn't understand the process.

Swordman, after it's been raining and you see a puddle, do you think it's chance that just the right amount of water fell and in just the right shape to fit the hole? Or do you think the water in the puddle was moulded by the hole in which it was confined.

Whilst chance events have occurred to effect evolution, like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, our evolution is not chance. It's been driven in the direction it has by the constraints of the environment. It's not chance that snow leopards have thicker fur than their African cousins.

[Halmyre]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

TooMany2cvs said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

What Darwin grasped was what drove it, namely natural selection. That's why the book is called "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection."

But as you rightly say, humans had been practicing evolution by unnatural selection for the previous 10K years. Both in crops and animals.

Natural selection is a female animal choosing to shag the biggest, strongest male member of the herd.
Unnatural selection is a human choosing for the female to do that...

Natural selection is also about the ability to find food, and not become food for something else. And shelter, nest building skills, etc. Quite a bit more to it than purely sexual attractiveness. If it were all about sexual attractiveness to females, my family would have died out generations ago.

Heh.

Evolution to some people means 'survival of the fittest', without stopping to think what 'fittest' actually means.