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Originally Posted by willravel
It will be fact when we prove it conclusivly. When will that be? In several hundred thousand years when we are able to create life out of non life ourselves through controlled evolution. It's not nitpicking, it's science. There are laws like gravity right now that were theories, tested again and again until it became a law. Evolution, if proven, will become law.
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Evolution will never be proven fact. In science, you can never prove anything. You just find support or fail to find support.
Also, regarding gravity, there are still theories of gravity and there will always be theories of gravity. Sometimes critics of science use the word "theory" as though a theory is something lesser or weaker than other things. A "theory" in scientific terms is a tool, a good theory is a useful tool.
A good scientific theory is: logically consistent both internally and with other domains of scientific investigation, organizes and explains existing data , makes predictions about new patterns in data, leads to new domains of knowledge, etc. The theory of evolution by natural selection does all of these things.
The explanation of the origins of life as described by evolution by natural selection is fundamental to the theory. The continued empirical support for hypotheses and predictions derived from general evolutionary theory supports its explanation of the origins of life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alansmithee
How could ID not be struck down? If they prove one of those other theories, ID is disproved.
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That's not how science works. Scientific theories, unlike, ID generate testable hypotheses and predictions. ID is no more testable than my contention that a giant bunny rabbit named Harvey follows me around all day and keeps me out of trouble. Nobody can see him except me. If you can't you prove that he doesn't exist, then he exists. (My contention about Harvey makes no sense).