Evolution: Mere Theory?

One of the most incredulous analogies I have ever had to read with regards to the purported "myths" of evolution is statistical improbability: According to Christians or Creationists, Evolution seems to hover somewhere between the supernatural and the impossible: It would be the equivalent of a Boeing 747, stripped of all its mechanic and electronic parts and scattered randomly on an airfield, and then invoking a hurricane or maelstrom to jumble up all these parts and assembling a whole Boeing 747 from the resulting storm. According to these religious skeptics, the human body is so intricately "designed", or any living organism for the matter, that life on Earth would have to be dependent on the constructive hands of a Creator.

If anything else, such an analogy is laughable, and indeed highlights the abject ignorance of Christians towards the theory of evolution. While the idea that a visiting weather catastrophe can hardly be expected to conjure up a flying plane of any sort, the idea that evolution requires a simple, random factor to dictate its fate is furthest from the truth, as I shall proceed to illustrate.

Evolution: More than Just "Mere Theory"

If anything else, such an analogy is laughable, and indeed highlights the abject ignorance of Christians towards the theory of evolution.

Quite often, as I read about the profound nonsense uttered from the Creationist camp, the phrase "mere theory" is invoked as a convoluted form of misunderstanding towards Evolution: Evolution is a theory, not a fact, according to Creationists. The very fact that such a statement has been uttered time and time again is testament to either a deliberate distortion of truth, or a deep misunderstanding of "scientific theory".

As a word unto itself, a theory is synonymous with supposition: Mere speculation without the presence of tangible proof. Such an explanation cannot be deemed wrong in the original sense of the word, but again, a scientific theory encompasses more than mere speculation.

As a scientific theory, evolution is supported by tons of physical and empirical evidence: From the fossilized bones of creatures that have long gone the way of the dodo, to the empirical data garnered from carbon dating and DNA sequencing, we now know that life has been steadily growing and diversifying into the various branches we see today: Mammals, birds, plants, reptiles, etc.

The point of contention, according to Creationists, is that there is a general dispute amongst the scientific community (minus one or two oddballs, plus the Kent Hovind, fake-scientist prototypes) that evolution may or may not viable enough to explain the diversity of life. The opposite, however is true: Not only are scientists absolutely sure that Evolution is a scientific theory and a fact, they have by and large acknowledged the fact that evolution is the standard mechanism for all schools of biology: Through the random replication of genes and the process of natural selection, life evolved gradually over billions of years.

Without an adequate grasp on the subject of evolution, a scientist will not be able to explain and decipher general mutations in viruses which can produce new prototype viruses that can sustain an immunity against an outdated drug. Various biological traits in species, such as the approximate sizes of animals, are determined by the environment they live in: The Galapagos tortoises, for example, are far larger and heavier than most tortoises because of the relative comfort afforded by an isolated environment, which is devoid of prey, other than Man himself.

When scientific theory is concerned, scientists do not question the legitimacy of Evolution: Rather, they argue about the finer points, such as the characteristics of prehistoric animals, or the manner in which a T-Rex is supposed to seize its prey.

Climbing Mount Improbable

As Richard Dawkins illustrated in his book, Climbing Mount Improbable, he likens evolution to a mountain: On the very base of the mountain is perhaps the very origins of life: Single-celled bacteria. On the very top is Man. In front of the mountain is a treacherous slope, and almost vertical climb that no one or organism can reach within a single leap. Behind the mountain, however, there exists a single, gentle, slope. The gradient is ever so slight, so that anyone can walk comfortably to the summit without a great leap of faith.

Cue Evolution: From the simplest of organisms, life emerges and takes small, gradual, and incremental steps, hence breaking that very distant and remote improbability into manageable events that branch out from a singular source of life. Evolution, given a incredibly long span of time, is a viable, observable process, albeit not in its entirety.

If anything else, Evolution is more than just mere theory: It has become an established fact, albeit the fact that there are still more facts and probably some niggly gritty problems that still require a lot of work from biologists and other scientists.

As for Creationists who continue to question the legitimacy of Evolution, they might want to start sourcing for any concrete evidence for their biblically-inspired bullshit, Creationism, and its Trojan Horse, Intelligent Design. Either that, or take a long vacation to a natural history museum, instead of some bogus Creationist Museums and some other charlatan-inspired drivel.





"Life results from the non-random survival of randomly varying replicators."

-Richard Dawkins