What convinced you that Evolution is the truth?

[rocala]

What convinces me that evolution is true is biological evidence, both through fossil records and observation of present day evolutionary changes, logic, and reasoning.

Multiple lines of independent investigation each providing evidence that leads to the same conclusion

In my case, it is really very simple: there is no doubt nor controversy of any significance.

Pretty much everything that has relevance supports evolution or at least fails to counter-evidence it.

I am fully with the above viewpoints. The only thing that I could add is the total lack of a viable alternative.

 

[Sargonski]

Of course this question is addressed both to theists and to atheists. Both to those who believe in evolution and those who believe it's untrue.
Explain why you, through your intelligence, reason and mind developped the awareness and the conviction that Evolution is the historical truth.

If you are a theist, please explain the theological implications, as well.

I will underline that we are not talking about Intelligence Design, here: we are talking about Darwinian evolution based upon the Darwinian principles like natural selection, etc..etc...
Thank you for participating-

The fact that it is true Evolution is simply a mutation to the human DNA - which happens .. and is happing all the time to every living creature. All are evolving as we speak. We know now many of these mutations happen and can measure and verify these mutations to our DNA.

One of the more recent revelations occured when a man who was a twin went into space. Then the fellow came back to earth - the two were no longer genetic twins.. the man had evolved .. his body adapted to space .. which included changes to his DNA -- telling us that the DNA structure is not as riged and non changeable as we thought .. that some of these changes can occur more rapidly than previously thought .. and that our interaction with the environment around us can effect such change .. but we kind of knew this if you think about it .... human adaptation to cold wether or Sun Exposure was a pretty big clue.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Multiple lines of independent investigation each providing evidence that leads to the same conclusion

What my lovely friend from France says.

 

[PureX]

Evolution is a theory ... a possibility. It is not a "truth-claim". It remains a possibility because when it's been tested by the observed physical data returned from it's application the possibility remains viable.

Evolution is a long-standing viable possibility as a physical mechanism. No presumption of truth (belief) is sought nor required.

 

[Estro Felino]

Evolution is a theory ... a possibility. It is not a "truth-claim". It remains a possibility because when it's been tested by the observed physical data returned from it's application the possibility remains viable.

Evolution is a long-standing viable possibility as a physical mechanism. No presumption of truth (belief) is sought nor required.

Interesting.
But observing that certain humans behave as savagely as beasts, don't you ever wonder why?
Maybe because we have evolved from beasts?

 

[sayak83]

Of course this question is addressed both to theists and to atheists. Both to those who believe in evolution and those who believe it's untrue.
Explain why you, through your intelligence, reason and mind developped the awareness and the conviction that Evolution is the historical truth.

If you are a theist, please explain the theological implications, as well.

I will underline that we are not talking about Intelligence Design, here: we are talking about Darwinian evolution based upon the Darwinian principles like natural selection, etc..etc...
Thank you for participating-

As a child....archaeopteryx.
Mendel predicted atomic structures that carry hereditary traits from parent to offspring more than a century before DNA was isolated. That also did it for me.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Evidence, schmevidence. My ninth grade science teacher was hot!

 

[metis]

Of course this question is addressed both to theists and to atheists. Both to those who believe in evolution and those who believe it's untrue.
Explain why you, through your intelligence, reason and mind developped the awareness and the conviction that Evolution is the historical truth.

If you are a theist, please explain the theological implications, as well.

I will underline that we are not talking about Intelligence Design, here: we are talking about Darwinian evolution based upon the Darwinian principles like natural selection, etc..etc...
Thank you for participating-

My main orientation has been science ever since I was in my early teens.

As you well know, Catholicism accepts the basic ToE as long as there's the belief that God caused it all. However, I didn't grow up being Catholic.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

what-convinced-you-that-evolution-is-the-truth

First, what are the choices? I think this list is exhaustive and therefore must contain the correct answer (ordered them from most to least likely):

• Life on earth evolved naturalistically.
• The tree of life was intelligently designed naturalistically (extraterrestrials, who themselves arose by abiogenesis and naturalistic evolution).
• The tree of life was intelligently designed supernaturally (gods).

Based on the evidence we have for naturalistic evolution on earth, which is compelling, and which supports the theory beyond reasonable doubt, I'd estimate them at about 99.9% likely, 0.1% likely, and dx% likely respectively, where dx is close to the limit as x -> 0.

 

[Alien826]

Of course this question is addressed both to theists and to atheists. Both to those who believe in evolution and those who believe it's untrue.
Explain why you, through your intelligence, reason and mind developped the awareness and the conviction that Evolution is the historical truth.

I'll answer this from a personal pov, which I'm assuming is what you want.

At one time, I knew what the ToE was and also the alternatives. As an atheist (or close to it) I tended to favor the scientific answer because, well, it was scientific. But I still didn't see how so much change could occur though mutations and natural selection given the amount of time available. So what made me a believer?

I read Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene. Do you ever read a book and stop every so often to say out loud "YES!"? That's what I did. It explained so many things that previously didn't make sense.

So there you are.

 

[Yerda]

Evolution is a theory ... a possibility. It is not a "truth-claim". It remains a possibility because when it's been tested by the observed physical data returned from it's application the possibility remains viable.

Evolution is a long-standing viable possibility as a physical mechanism. No presumption of truth (belief) is sought nor required.

Is this different from any other statement about the empirical world?

 

[Altfish]

Of course this question is addressed both to theists and to atheists. Both to those who believe in evolution and those who believe it's untrue.
Explain why you, through your intelligence, reason and mind developped the awareness and the conviction that Evolution is the historical truth.

If you are a theist, please explain the theological implications, as well.

I will underline that we are not talking about Intelligence Design, here: we are talking about Darwinian evolution based upon the Darwinian principles like natural selection, etc..etc...
Thank you for participating-

It makes imminent sense, you can see great examples, explain the laryngeal nerve in giraffes without evolution.

 

[Subduction Zone]

It makes imminent sense, you can see great examples, explain the laryngeal nerve in giraffes without evolution.

Here is a rather interesting related article. It is on the growth rate of the nervous system. In Blue Whales the rate of growth of nerve cell axons is incredible:

Giraffes vs. Blue Whales vs. Dinosaurs: Contest Reveals Which One Builds Its Nervous System Fastest

One megafauna extends its nerve fibers at an astonishing rate of five centimeters per day

www.scientificamerican.com

 

[wellwisher]

Despite receiving a very rigid Catholic education, at school I was taught that only evolution is the most reliable answer, that is the most reliable theory. I had never heard of Intelligent Design before frequenting this forum, and I don't think it relies on scientific evidence.

But as a theist, I believe in what I observe. And I observe that humans are still at a very low degree of awareness. Not that dissimilar from the animal stage since greed, selfishness and instinctual drives prevail over reason, common sense, altruism, etc...

For example: we can see here some monkeys rushing to take as many bananas as they can, driven by infinite greed and ignoring the little ones' needs.

Is human nature any different? No. There is unbridled capitalism which turn people into angry creatures thirsty for money, obsessed with the profit maximization, completely unaware that they are mortals and that after death they will have to quit all that money they have been stockpiling.
In order to maximize the profits, they are disposed to step on people's feelings, needs and on people's lives, sometimes.

So humans' behavior made me conclude, staunchly, that evolution is the absolute Truth. The scientific and historical truth.
Of course some of us understand that there is the need to evolve from that ape-like stage.

Christ's coming took place because the fullness of times depended on how evolved some people were.
What degree of spiritual awareness had reached.

As Nietzsche used to say, man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Overman. A rope over the abyss.
As mortals, as people who have a beginning and an end, we should understand that our planet is a worldly dimension that is not eternal, and that we can preserve it, as we can preserve mankind, by producing common good. And really evolving into better beings.

There is a difference between natural selection and manmade selection. Evolution is based on natural selection. The potentials of nature and the earth, funnel the natural selection processes. The north pole needs animals with warm fur even before life appears.

Manmade selection, on the other hand, would be more like the idea of intelligent design, such as a smart farmer mating his animals, to get the best traits for market. He does not sit back and let the animals decide via natural selection as they wander in the adjacent woods. Natural selection and evolution has no goal in mind. A goal would require an intelligent design with some ability to steer; fatter pigs.

Darwin had to leave England and visit the Galapagos Islands, to find a place where natural selection had not been inferred with, by manmade selections. He could not easily prove his theory in England, since the entire Island had been tampered with, by man, over thousands of years; Creation to 1800's. Galapagos was not tampered by man. Even if you use the Bible dating, it had to be as old as Creation, moving forward very slowly in time, untainted, changed only by natural means. Manmade selection seems to increase the pace of change as it did in England.

It never made sense that natural selection would be associated with randomness, while humans can do intelligent design such as genetic engineering. How can a random based organic system lead to deliberate intelligence for manmade selection?

Galapagos showed how nature changes very slow if man is not there doing his wild card randomizing. England showed how man's deliberate actions and selections speeded up change in England, but not always for the best; random thinking like greed and war. Pure Nature needs to be more in control of randomness, to slow the observed pace of change, like Darwin saw on Galapagos. Science missed this subtle correlation. That is how I would interpret Darwin's data.

We need a better theory for change, at the nanoscale, such as using water as the integrating variable for natural selection. The hydrogen bonding of water is a natural binary switch with the muscle and a free energy kick. When water folds and packs protein, it has a goal in mind; lower the surface energy to perfection so it is very repeatable. Mistakes can be made it we add surfactant types potentials in disguise.

 

[PureX]

Interesting.
But observing that certain humans behave as savagely as beasts, don't you ever wonder why?
Maybe because we have evolved from beasts?

Or rather that we are still trying to evolve …

 

[PureX]

Is this different from any other statement about the empirical world?

It’s not a statement about any world. It’s just a long standing bio-physical possibility.

 

[Yerda]

It’s not a statement about any world. It’s just a long standing bio-physical possibility.

Is my claim that OJ killed his wife a "truth-claim" or just a bio-physical possibility?

 

[PureX]

Is my claim that OJ killed his wife a "truth-claim" or just a bio-physical possibility?

It’s probably both, as most people can’t seem to grasp the difference between an opinion about the truth, an actual truth claim, and a physically viable possibility.

 

[danieldemol]

At first as a young adult it was interesting fossils such as dinosaurs with feathers and snake with legs combined with the odd design of various creatures (for example someone mentioned the laryngeal nerve of girrafes) which convinced me that creatures change over generations given time and dont seem to have the perfect designs of an All-knowing pre-planner.

Later on endogenous retrovirus insertion in our DNA history shared with other primates would suggest to me that the concept of evolution is irrefutable.

 

[Heyo]

Of course this question is addressed both to theists and to atheists. Both to those who believe in evolution and those who believe it's untrue.
Explain why you, through your intelligence, reason and mind developped the awareness and the conviction that Evolution is the historical truth.

If you are a theist, please explain the theological implications, as well.

I will underline that we are not talking about Intelligence Design, here: we are talking about Darwinian evolution based upon the Darwinian principles like natural selection, etc..etc...
Thank you for participating-

First, it makes intuitive sense. Selection pressure leads to adaptation which leads to speciation. No internal inconsistency, passes the sniff test.
Second, evidence, lots of evidence, from Archaeopteryx to DNA relationship.
Third, scientific consensus and lack of an alternative.