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Old 06-16-2003, 03:45 PM   #21 (permalink)
Lebell
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I'm not trying to pick on you Loki, but this bears repeating:

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Anyway, the point im trying to make is that its still a theory. yet, many people just assume its a law, and do all sorts of inexplicable things to make it fit. hardly the behaviour one expects from professional scientists.

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1. Evolution is only a theory. It is not a fact or a scientific law.

Many people learned in elementary school that a theory falls in the middle of a hierarchy of certainty--above a mere hypothesis but below a law. Scientists do not use the terms that way, however. According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a scientific theory is "a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses." No amount of validation changes a theory into a law, which is a descriptive generalization about nature. So when scientists talk about the theory of evolution--or the atomic theory or the theory of relativity, for that matter--they are not expressing reservations about its truth.

GALÁPAGOS FINCHES show adaptive beak shapes.
In addition to the theory of evolution, meaning the idea of descent with modification, one may also speak of the fact of evolution. The NAS defines a fact as "an observation that has been repeatedly confirmed and for all practical purposes is accepted as 'true.'" The fossil record and abundant other evidence testify that organisms have evolved through time. Although no one observed those transformations, the indirect evidence is clear, unambiguous and compelling.

All sciences frequently rely on indirect evidence. Physicists cannot see subatomic particles directly, for instance, so they verify their existence by watching for telltale tracks that the particles leave in cloud chambers. The absence of direct observation does not make physicists' conclusions less certain.
So when a scientist says "theory" they mean something their pretty sure about.

Could the "theory of evolution" still be proven incorrect? Well, sure. But then so could the "theory of relativity" and "subatomic theory".

It COULD happen, but I wouldn't bet the milk money on it, if I were you.
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Last edited by Lebell; 06-16-2003 at 03:48 PM..
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