In a previous post I talked a little about Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. I mentioned that the second episode covered Evolution and now I’d like to say a little more about my views on Evolution.
First, we have to clear something up, the term “Theory of Evolution”. This is much used by its opponents to denigrate it with the words “it’s only a theory”. On the surface, they would seem to have something, but looking deeper I have my doubts.
A Scientific Theory is an attempt to explain a series of observations. It must be stated in such a way that it is testable and potentially could be disproved. The following quote covers it pretty well:
“A scientific theory summarizes a hypothesis or group of hypotheses that have been supported with repeated testing. A theory is valid as long as there is no evidence to dispute it. Therefore, theories can be disproven. Basically, if evidence accumulates to support a hypothesis, then the hypothesis can become accepted as a good explanation of a phenomenon. One definition of a theory is to say it’s an accepted hypothesis. ” [1]
It seems fair to say then that Evolution is certainly no mere hypothesis, Darwin’s ‘best guess’, but that there is evidence stacked up in favour of it. Some of this is observations, resistance to antibiotics in bacteria and pesticide resistance in insects. Our knowledge of Evolution has been used to make predictions in the fossil record, and also in the biotech industry. [2] [3] Further to this, while some may still deny that species can arise through evolution; Speciation, the arising of a separate species or sub species, has been directly observed. [4]
My third reference link below provides what I consider to be the killer blow in favour of Evolution, the thing that makes it quite plain that it is fact. There are a number of practical applications, the implications of this are clear. Our use of our knowledge of Evolution has saved rare species, assisted in engineering, helped create antibiotics and more.
My question is; In light of this, scientific convention notwithstanding, how can Evolution now be viewed as anything other than solid fact?
References
[1] – http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistry101/a/lawtheory.htm
[2] – http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-misconceptions.html (see “Evolution has never been observed”, paragraph 3)
[3] – http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA215.html
[4] – http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html (more specifically, section 5)
