Top 10 Recent Signs Evolution is Real


When a living organism reproduces, genes are passed from one generation to the next, thus producing inherited traits in a species.  Evolution is a gradual process of changing in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next.  Most changes are extremely gradual, but can accumulate over time and can cause substantial biological changes to organisms.

Many feel evolution runs on the basis of natural selection, which is a process that causes helpful genetic traits to become more common in a breeding population.  The process of evolution helps insure the survival of all species of life.  Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who developed the theory of natural selection and presented compelling evidence that all organisms have evolved over time from common ancestors.

Darwin’s research has significantly impacted the scientific community and changed the way people view many theories of life.  Here is a list of the Top 10 recent signs and evidence that evolution is a factual scientific explanation. You may also be interested in reading our top 10 list of arguments that can’t be won where evolution or creation was at the top of the list.

10. Stickleback Fish

The stickleback fish is part of the Gasterosteidae family and can be found in freshwater environments in Europe, Asia, and North America.  Sticklebacks have no scales, but are protected by bony armor plates.  These creatures have intrigued marine biologists for years, as many populations of the fish have evolved with genetic changes and displayed major adaptations in their bony armor styles.  This evolutionary shift occurs when there is an increasing in the frequency of a rare genetic variant in a single gene of the creature.

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These fish helped scientists discover that changes in a single gene can produce a major difference in the selector armor and body style of wild fish.  It identified a specific genetic mechanism that controls a dramatic change in skeletal patterns.  This finding has many implications towards the process of genetic evolution of organic species.  It will help us eventually discover exactly how new animal types evolve in nature.  The research is suggesting that evolution can occur quickly and only a few minor genetic changes can allow a migrating species to adapt and populate different environments.

9. Darwin’s Tubercle


Darwin’s Tubercle is a congenital ear condition which presents a thickening of the upper and middle thirds of the human ear.  The feature can be seen in numerous primates and the phenomenon was used by Charles Darwin to support research indicating a common ancestry between primates.  Today, the feature is present in approximately 10.4% of the population and very few newborns.  The feature is thought to help animals control and regulate sound.  As intelligence of the human species evolved at a rapid pace various visual and auditory organs were no longer needed and gradually removed themselves from our anatomy.

Humans are also born with a third-eyelid that is useless and very small.  It is represented in a small membrane that is visible in the human eye and used to function as a protective shield.

Many people believe that the coccyx or tailbone is proof of what was a human tail.  Darwin’s discoveries surrounding the tubercle were extremely important in developing the facts surrounding the theory of evolution.

8. Toxic Australian Toads

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The toad problem in Australia is really bad.  In 1935, Cane toads were brought to Australia from Hawaii to control the spread of beetles that were killing the sugar cane crop.  It might have been a short term solution, but the lasting problem is horrendous.  The toads have quickly expanded their range to cover more than a third of Australia’s total land area.  They are spreading at a rate of 30 miles per year.  A deadly chemical defense system has been devised to kill the pests, which is not good for crops and ground water.

Experimentation on the toads discovered that the creatures that were leading the land expansion had legs that were 6% larger then others.  A study was conducted that showed that newer populations of toads tended to have longer legs than older established species.  This gives the toad an ability to jump higher, move faster, and cover more ground on a daily basis.  The grave mistake to introduce toads to this environment is a problem that is getting worse every day.  The toad species is evolving to its surroundings and gaining more defenses, which is not good for Australia’s economy.

7. Humans Influence Natural Selection

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Many studies have been conducted that show that the mass technological growth of the human race is greatly affecting other organisms.  Many species have to adjust to human expansion and mass transportation systems.  One clear example is the bee crisis that many areas of the world are facing.  Humans have interfered with the genetics of many bee populations and helped in transporting different species all over the world.  This has helped cause the spread of the tiny parasite Varroa Destructor.

Varroa Destructor feeds off the bodily fluids of bees creating a deadly virus that is demolishing populations.  There has been a mass expansion of bee populations since airplanes, trains, and cars became commercially produced.  In the past, one of human’s biggest faults was using various poisons and stratagems to try and fix this evolutionary problem, but this will only cause more abnormalities in the food chain.

Many correlation studies have shown that trophy game, such as big fish and caribou are reproducing at a younger age and becoming smaller in size.  Many hypothesize that this is to counter-act the hunting and fishing of many human populations, who prefer to hunt large game.  Many species are also being affected by the national problem of global warming.

6. Hypolimnas Bolina


The Great Eggfly, also called the Blue Moon Butterfly, is a species of nymphalid butterfly that is found in many areas of the world including Madacascar, Southeast Asia, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand.  It is a black bodied butterfly with an average wing span of 7–8½ cm.  The butterfly can be found in wooded country, forests, thick and moist scrub, and the greener parts of the uninhabited terrain.

In the last ten years scientists have come to realize that a parasite was killing all of the male members of hypolimnas bolina on the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savaii.  The pest would infect the females and then kill the males before they were hatched.  The problem was so severe that in 2001 males inhabited only 1% of the population and the species was on the verge of extinction in this area of the world.

In the span of one year and 10 generations in the hypolimnas bolina family, the male butterfly’s evolved and obtained a suppressor gene that prevented the killer bacteria from spreading.  In modern days the male population has increased to 40% in the colonies on these islands.  Evolution is often much more evident in insects, as a family generation and lifespan is much shorter then with primates.

5. Brown Anole Lizard

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Anolis sagrei is a lizard species native to Cuba and the Bahamas.  They were also introduced in many areas of the United States, including Georgia, Texas, and Hawaii.  In a famous experimental study, a research group led by Jonathan Losos of Harvard University discovered that when a brown anole population was introduced to a new predator, natural selection occurred in a six month period of time.

The goal of the study was to prove the hypothesis that evolution was not a prolonged occurrence.  The scientists studied twelve different islands and introduced the predatory lizard to six, using the other six islands as a comparative sample.  After six months, surveys found that anole populations dropped by 50% on the islands with the new predatory lizards.

The anole survivors had longer legs then the species previously inhabiting the islands.  In the next six months of study another genetic change was recorded and the legs of the anole lizard species began to become short and stubby, as they were spending more of their time in trees.  Female species were also recorded as becoming larger in size, ultimately making them harder for smaller animals to digest.

4. Darwin’s Finches

The second voyage of the HMS Beagle occurred December 1831 to October 1836 and the mission of the voyage was to conduct hydrographic surveys around the coasts of the southern part of South America.  A young Charles Darwin was the expert geologist on this voyage.  Darwin spent most of his time exploring the land and exhausted only 18 months at sea.  He spent time researching on the Galápagos Islands, studying the vast number of endemic species.  Darwin had incredible observational skills and noticed that there were numerous different finch species on the island.  One species of the birds would grow slightly larger wings and have curved beaks in relation to the geographic location on the island.

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Darwin recognized and recorded 14 separate combinatory species of Passerine birds in the area.  The various niches of finches on the Galápagos Island are constantly evolving every year.  The evolution of these birds can be readily studied and recorded.  The medium ground finch that lives in this area recently downsized its beak, so that it could get small seeds more efficiently, after a larger finch species arrived on the island and began competing for food.  Many scientists travel to this area because the experimental conditions are untouched and natural changes occur at an alarmingly fast rate.

3. Bacterial Evolution

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Natural selection is most evident in life forms that have extremely rapid life cycles, such as bacteria.  Bacteria can reproduce and span an entire generation in only a few short weeks.  Many types of bacteria are helpful to human and animal health, but others cause infectious diseases.  The quick evolution of disease-causing bacteria has been well documented and involves some of the most important medical research in the world.

A person who becomes ill can be given antibiotic drugs, which destroys the deadly bacteria in the human body, but not all of the bacteria get removed.  The remaining bacteria that have already been contaminated by the antibiotic will become resistant to the drug in a short amount of time.  If these certain bacteria reproduce then the disease will evolve to resist the medicines that we have developed.  This is why antibiotics are becoming stronger and stronger, which is why medical researchers are always trying to develop more effective future medicines.  As long as harmful bacteria and disease exist, evolution will be a formidable opponent against cures and medicine.

2. Land Living Ancestors of Whales

The giants of the sea have an extremely interesting story of origin.  Whales are marine mammals of order Cetacea and have been left seriously endangered in many areas of the world.  All cetaceans, including whales, dolphins and porpoises are the evolutionary decedents of land-living animals of the Artiodactyl order or even-toed ungulates.  Today, certain cetaceans and artiodactyl are organized under the super-order Cetartiodactyla.

The term Cetartiodactyla is used to describe the classification that whales have evolved from within the artiodactyls.  The hippopotamus is widely considered to be the closest land relative of the whale.  Scientists and historians have estimated that whales entered the world’s oceans roughly 50 million years ago.  Humans are just beginning to understand the complex behavior and characteristics of whales.

It is interesting that a species so large could evolve from land to sea.  Cetaceans are the smartest creatures in the sea and this intelligence can be traced back to their modern land living ancestors.  I wonder what geological phenomenon could have caused this mass population of animals to enter earth’s seas.

1. Evolution of Modern Man


As an organism evolves certain aspects of the anatomy become not as necessary and on occasion useless.  This can be influenced by a new habitat, natural disaster, or even adaptation to disease prevention.  When this occurs an organ that at one point in ancient history was essential for survival has become less important to the species.  This is a sign of evolution and can clearly be seen in the human body.

Humans get goose bumps when they are cold, frightened, angry, or in awe of something.  Before clothing goose bumps were an important way for humans to appear larger and more dangerous to prey.  Today goose bumps have shrunk to an almost unnoticeable size.  Humans also have an extra ear muscle, wisdom teeth, the appendix, and the Jacobson’s organ.  The Jacobson’s organ is located in the nose of many animals.  It is a smell organ which detects pheromones and can trigger sexual desire, alarm, and food sense.  Humans are born with the organ, but early in development it shrinks and becomes useless.  The plantaris muscle is used by many animals for gripping and manipulating objects with their feet.  Humans are born with this muscle, but it is so underdeveloped that it is often taken out by doctors to reconstruct other areas of the body.  Approximately 9% of the human population is born without the plantaris muscle.

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  1. Braedan Shigley on

    I love the *purposeful* omission of any explanation for: a) how life could have arisen in the first place, and how this mindless natural mechanism could have arisen and diversified, (while completely beating the statistical improbability of the random generation of amino acid; assuming its possible in the first place) whilst also driving this evolutionary process. Until I have substantial evidence supporting the magical popping into existence of such a process, I reject the a priori presupposition of such a claim, but also the “infallible” framework through which it’s taught.

    • How rocks fall and the origin of rocks are two different subjects, so too are the origins of life (abiogenesis) and how life changes(evolution).

      • Braedan Shigley on

        That implies you have an explanation for abiogenesis (in order for the analogy to be a good one). I’m all ears. Also, as clearly stated in my first comment, explain the driving mechanism for such a process. Also, its apparent contradiction to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is clearly ignored. And don’t give me the classic example of: entropy can decrease if net entropy increases, because in order for “pockets of entropy decrease” to exist, it obviously requires (this seems to be a recurring theme) a driving mechanism.

        • weird, I had a nice video link there but it didnt make it though, but thats ok since I already posted it here anyway, do a ctrl f for How Abiogenesis Works

          now if you want to talk about thermodynamics, the earth isnt a closed system, the suns decay is the missing piece of the equation.

  2. I believed in evolution until I started to think about how unlogical the Whole idea is..

    We can today divide all living species into groups like amphibians, animals and insects.. How come that there is not a single “hybrid”? Like an insect on its way to become an animal? A species would be “uncategorizable” for millions of years when on the stage between insects and animal. Yet we dont know of a single one…

    The anathomy of humans and pigs is extremely alike! We should really have high fived the pigs while saying “well evolutionized pigs. You guys are keeping up well, arent you?”:P The same With all the other animals since we are pretty much alike all over…

    All humans are extremely alike physically and intellectually even though we “evolutionized” 6000 miles apart from each other for the past 1 000 000 years, depending on when the continents draft apart to a point were we couldnt swim from continent to continent…a

    • a typical Fundamentalist?
      Ok, here goes: first think in the ocean, but there are no fishies, no plants, only cells. Now, this cells needs to eat something right? well, thats how primitive plants, in this case seaweed, start to evolve. They absorb minerals on the floor & the water, & also absorb the sunrays to process food, in some cases they produce oxygen. Now other cells see that as too much work but they need to eat too, so they decide to eat these “vegetal” cells to consume the food they produce, and now we got “animal” cells, but this need to re-process the food to be of any use. Then some of these “animal” cells think that they should eat other “animal” cells to they can skip the entire re-process, and now we have Hervivorous & Carnivorous.

      About your question of pigs, we got the primal-animal, from these we got pigs & primate, from primates we got apes & primal-humans.

      …educate yourself

    • take each of the assertions that you just made and feed them into google to see if they’re true.

      Why wouldn’t the common ancestor have died out? survival of the fittest isnt saying what we determine to be most fit ought to survive, its just acknowledging that what survives is most fit.

      Why wouldnt pigs have been evolving this whole time?

      The ice age only ended like 10,000 years ago, the rising waters from melting glaciers isolated some populations briefly, but people are still people. lactose tolerance is something thats only evolved in the last few thousand years for example.

      • Seekeroftruth on

        The Europeans released pigs when they went to America so they could eat pork it didn’t take em long to turn into wild bore.. apparently

  3. Thatoneguyuhate on

    Einstein believed in God, true, but he did not believe in a personal God, google that. In his own worlds he viewed the Cosmos to be perfect. Meaning as everything came into shape in the universe to be so exact to allow the earth to inhabit life. He viewed the space as a design and saw it fit. Any astronomer would agree that if the orbit of earth was to change a little bit, our life system would fall apart. -there are only two things infinite, the universe and mans stupidity- we are in a blue fish bowl looking into the stars and trying to establish sense so we can grasp intelligence. Knowledge is neverending, due to our belief or dissatisfaction. In the end we as a whole don’t deserve life due to humanitys treachery and arrogance.

  4. lisaandtheword on

    My small & useless 3rd eyelid sure does a good job of stopping debris from going behind my eyeball, I’m glad I have it! When I get a speck of something in my eye I can use my finger & it catches it right there usually.

  5. Sorry but evolution has already been proven false by real science and real scientists. There are hundreds are real scientific facts that prove it false. 2nd law of thermodynamics for example. Google scientific proof evolution is a lie and you’ll see. Here’s one for you. Only men can create men. the male sperm is what gives the egg the y. xx is a female xy is a male. Without a man you cannot make a man. All eggs are female until the male sperm adds the y. So how did evolution happen? You can’t have a human without a woman but you can’t make a man without a man. You would need both a man and a woman to continue the species. So are we to believe that both men and women evolved at the same time? I call bs.

    • > 2nd law of thermodynamics for example.

      No it doesn’t. The earth isn’t a closed system, the decay of the sun fuels our biological processes.

      > So are we to believe that both men and women evolved at the same time?

      Yep, evolution effects populations, its the exact same thing as dog breeding, but on a longer scale. Evolution doesn’t try to explain the origin of life, you can figure out the weather without having to know the origin of weather.


    • The chances that you would write exactly what you did is 26 times 26 times 26 times all the letters. But amazingly you did, God must have been involved. Time taken from 1 cell to 2 took a billion years and almost as long from 2 to 4 cells. God wasn’t involved unless you define time as God.

  7. Evolution isn’t trying to get us to anything in particular though, we didn’t come to our 26 letter alphabet by aiming for it either. Its incredibly improbable that we would come to this current configuration, but its guaranteed that we would come to some configuration.

    We can look through a microscope and see it in action, we can compare genomes and see where mutations and viruses have left their mark:

  8. Comrades, please educate yourselves. Evolution has been proven as a fact. Not one religion on earth can claim the same. Not one. Those of you who moronically believe in what you cannot possibly prove, stand in the way of those of us trying to move our species further. All while thriving in a global civilization built by the scientific process, not god. Totally discrediting those more educated than you might ever be. Every time you top off your gas tank in your hemi dodge 4×4 on your way to go mudding for the lord, pay a little more notice to that if not for evolution and the great expanse of time that has elapsed, you would NOT have petroleum to fuel your vehicle. The only way for petroleum to even exist is for living things to die, millions of years pass by, while their forms change into the petroleum products you use every day in ignorance. This is a fact that every oil and gas company on the planet understands. Its time for the rest of you to catch up and quit holding the rest of us back.

    • Well yee-haw. Apparently because I believe in God and follow a faith, I am a dopey redneck.

      Atypically, when someone needs to fuel their arguments with insults and rhetoric, it’s because they don’t really know what they’re talking about, so they use these flaws in logic to attempt and make anyone who reads their post feel like a moron if they disagree in anyway.

      I believe in God. I believe in Evolution. I believe that neither is mutually exclusive by those who keep an open mind and accept that we don’t know everything about everything.

      FYI: Not all religious folk go “mudding for the lord” as your asanine statement attests. Good day.

  9. Braedan Shigley on

    Wow… I haven’t been on this site in four years. I’ve read and reread all of my comments, and while my views have pretty much flipped to the polar opposite, I still take issue with this comment.

    Yes; the scientific method has indeed advanced our species light years beyond a society lacking one. You seem to confuse the creationist stance (in case it wasn’t clear from above, I’m not one) in assuming that they don’t similarly embrace it. Only a very small division of biology and a very small division of physics is at odds with creationist doctrine; the rest both parties can equally utilize in the advancement of our society. I would look to the invention of the MRI for proof of this fact.

    Speaking of fact, I think you may be getting a little overzealous in distinguishing fact from fiction. Everybody knows that every religion can’t give a single god-damn shred of evidence to support their claims of origin. However, what we “know” from a secular perspective still relies on the ex post facto deduction of evidence we have found millions/billions of years afterwards. Philosophically speaking (or rather, according to the theory of knowledge), you couldn’t prove anything to be completely true, even if the truth was standing right next to you. This is because of many underlying assumptions that we make; for example: you and I both exist and we both perceive the world in a similar way. This cannot be proven, and if the most fundamental and ancient observation of our species cannot be proven (i.e. that we exist), it also cannot be proven that anything we observe millions of years afterwards is true.

    That especially long paragraph can be summarized and applied this way: while scientists do their best to piece the evidence together ex post facto, it can’t necessarily be purported as the truth EVEN IF we observed all of it happening. The same thing applies to the Christian zombies that munch on the holy remains of their savior every Sunday.

    Every epistemological belief is created equal. The difference is that the scientists (and us, by extension) use evidence as opposed to a book they can’t even be sure hasn’t been translated into oblivion.

  10. Braedan Shigley on

    No one claimed that it does.

    What the evidently biased “statistician” won’t tell you is that, according to organic chemistry, certain organizations of organic molecules are more likely than others.

    For example, structural isomers of carbon based organic molecules respond differently to bonding or dissolution than others. Structural isomers of a larger surface area are incredibly easier to dissolve than isomers of a smaller surface area, as explained by the kinetic molecular theory, and therefore the process of chemical natural selection (I think I just coined a new term!) determines which compounds are stable and which aren’t.

    As an extension of this, many creationists in their “intellectual” haughtiness ask scientists to explain how a cell membrane could have spontaneously combusted into existence. The answer is simple. Electromagnetism (the force everyone can agree exists) is a fundamental property of atoms and of the universe. Once stable compounds were created (i.e. phospholipids), electromagnetism literally forced (pun absolutely intended) the cell membrane into its shape. The hydrophilic heads (polar as a result of atomic structure) face outwards and the nonpolar hydrophobic tails face inwards.

    This is a small example of how natural processes drive cell creation. Did this process happen on the first try? Hell no. It took millions and billions of years. And it’s far from impossible.

  11. ComeOnNowBraedan on

    Braedan. Dude. What the hell are you talking about? I mean I understand what you are trying to say, but I dont. After subtracting your fancy word vomit from the core of your over cooked thesis here, I am left confused to what side you are on. What the heck are you talking about? Are you on a side? Or do you work for some weird internet troll truth squad? What ever the case sir, I take issue with you attempting to out-troll me. So let the truth be known. Let there be some ex post facto light on your subject comrade.

    I am not confused on the creationist stance at all. Seems you are however if you think there is only some small group of the sciences that are at objection to creationist world views. Or vice versa. Like most creationists are not trying to shut down scientific progress at every turn. And that both sides can happily hold hands into the sunset just because the dude that invented the MRI was religious. You cant be serious. Like dude, have you even heard of the creationist museum in Kentucky? Have you seen these people protesting ad nauseam outside the courthouses to oppose same sex marriage?

    Now we turn to your real gem of your unnecessary argument. Like what is true dude? Is being real like even really real? I got stoned just by reading that paragraph. I do get down of some philosophical “do we really exist” stuff, but using this in your argument when (A) allegedly we are on the same team and (B) people are trying to teach creationism to children, is just a waste of our time. Whether we exist in a million different dimensions or not, if a religious nut blew off a nuclear weapon on some part of the earth in the name of jiihad or jesus, both our lives would change forever. Just because we can have a conversation about how we may or may not perceive that in a similar way, people would die horrible deaths. And that is all I need to know for this to be a REAL and important topic. 

    “Every epistemological belief is created equal.” – This last one totally blew my mind. I totally appreciate skepticism. Its wonderful trait to have. But it can be overdone. Are you saying that evolution/science is purely a belief along with creationism? Feel free to correct me if i am wrong in understanding you. If both are simply beliefs you are totally discounting the best game in town for understanding what we perceive in our surroundings and how to thrive in it. Same reason why if you catch a nasty virus you don’t go to the church to be healed.

    Lets wrap up here. You seem like a super intelligent fella, and I have no hate for smart people. However I feel an ache in my head when being argued to by a smart person with bad ideas. More than that, I honestly can’t tell where you place yourself in this war of ideas we are having worldwide. This topic not only effects us but future generations. And with such important stakes at hand, it only seems like you are trying to look like the smartest guy in the room as opposed to offering any real substance other than being so neutral that it hurts my brain.

    What do we know really? Well I don’t know that. What do we know that we don’t know? possibly more than we could ever fathom… but you haven’t taken us any further to finding that out either. Pick a team homie. because whether you think anything is real or not, your thoughts and “beliefs” will affect everyone around you.

  12. Braedan Shigley on

    First of all, I laughed when I saw your revised name. And then the smile immediately faded from my face when you, instead of first invoking logic or reason, proceeded to call my thesis over-cooked or my word choice “vomit”. Although, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you should consider my word choice desultory; in fact, however, my word choice contributes precise meaning to my sentence.

    No, I am not really on a side. I reside somewhere in the middle between the crazy-ass creationists and the bigoted scientists that proclaim infinite wisdom in the beliefs that (ironically) are weakened by the scientific criteria they define. HOWEVER, I lean far closer to the secular side than the creationist one.

    I’m well aware of the protests and the pseudo-scientific museums they adhere to. Not at your fault, perhaps I was a bit vague in my first response. What I meant to say is that creationists and secular scientists can both agree on the structure of an atom, or on the applications of differential calculus. It is only in evolutionary biology and in physics that secular theories of origin are posited, in order to explain the phenomena specific to that field (which contradict creationist ones). But you’re absolutely correct in saying that creationists themselves pit themselves against the scientific community in all disciplines.

    My opening invocation of philosophy was to define the boundaries of evidence in asserting the truth. Of course I believe that we all exist and that we all perceive the world in a similar way. As does everyone. But you can’t prove it, despite the observational evidence we’ve acquired. If you want a more tangible example of this, I would look to mathematicians asserting that you can never transport yourself from point A from point B, (despite experimental proof), but rather you asymptotically approach point B. Such is the conflict between observational evidence and actual *mathematical* proof. The same applies to scientific models put together after the fact using evidence we’ve found (and I believe in those). I’m not arguing against the secular community, rather, I’m pointing out that at the most basic of levels, secularism and creationism are equal in validity. NOTE: it is only secularism that bases their entire doctrine on evidence. And that’s why I lean to their side.

    Honestly, of all the things you said above, the one that made me think the most was your plea to the posterity. I respect that. I have that same interest. I sincerely hope that you haven’t misunderstood me so far as to attribute me with a neutral party or with (even worse) one that would vote/act against policies advancing our species.

    In summary, I am on your side (and on the side of the betterment of humanity), but I recognize the logical bases from which both sides are built. As a result, I always take any secular theory of origin with a grain of salt. And I never accept a creationist one.

  13. Braedan Shigley on

    That’s an intriguing video.

    Firstly, one can still think of truth in absolute terms (not that your video refutes that).

    Secondly, (and inviting a whole new fun conversation), the relativity to which this writer claims that correctness abides by similarly applies to the degree to which we can conjure evidence.

    Notice, not observational evidence, but evidence. Just to clarify, this entire response is ONLY referring to theories of origin, and not what has happened since then.

    Throughout the entire video, the writer posits relativism of correctness under one assumption: that we can measure the curvature of the Earth or that we can measure the changes in life over billions of years. This is truly an elegant counterpoint to my original suppositions, in that it can be justified quantitatively. Good job.

    However, what about in topics for which we’ll never conjure truly measurable evidence? I’ll provide an example from each end of the spectrum:

    1) Unfortunately, one cannot logically apply the scientific laws gathered within this universe to that which is without it. Therefore, how could you say it is any more or less likely that a God exists outside the universe or that it doesn’t? You can’t, of course.

    2) The mechanism of physics responsible for creating the matter which we observe today inevitably came from a universe outside our own, regardless of a cyclic or a noncyclic model of origin. Therefore, the argument that creationists apply to such a feat (Law of C of M) doesn’t apply, because the possibility of it being true or false is equal.

    In summary, in dealing with that which is observable (directly or otherwise), relativism seems to be a more effective system (as long as it’s based quantitatively). For theories of origin, however, absolutism is unfortunately the only system to employ.

  14. “Firstly, one can still think of truth in absolute terms”

    Sure, there are plenty of things that we can demonstrate to be untrue, but for any statement that we currently hold true, we can still discover new caveats to add to it.

    “what about in topics for which we’ll never conjure truly measurable evidence?”

    We couldn’t have imagined that radio waves existed until we discovered them, perhaps there is still something to discover that will shed light on the subject of origin. Until we make that discovery, the only honest answer we can give is that we don’t know. Sure, there are hypothesis that we are a flatland to some higher dimensional plane of existence, but if we expand our definition of “the universe” to include these extra dimensions, it does nothing to explain where that universe itself came from.

    Its possible that the big bang was more of a big bounce, where black holes just explode when they become too massive, and everything a black hole kicks out comes back eventually. Along similar lines, as we detect further and further into space, we may find something anomalous, that doesn’t fit with the rest of the big bang, which could indicate that we are in a vast ocean of big bangs, in a kind of foam structure- the expansion of two big bangs meet, gravitate to one another, condense into black holes and eventually become massive enough to go big bang all over again. Fascinating stuff, but none of that resolves origin either.

    Then again, do we really need there to have been an origin? Its possible that everything has simply always existed.


    What type of god, specifically?

  15. Braedan Shigley on

    Absolutely we can add caveats.

    The example of radio waves differs in that the only barrier we experienced during that time was the ability to measure them. We’re discussing the inability altogether to measure that which is outside the universe (its origin was implicitly outside/separate from the visible universe). It’s possible (but unlikely) that, in the future, we will discover means of solving this problem, but for now, it’s most reasonable to admit that an answer is unavailable. And given our current scientific perspective, that likely won’t change.

    Sure, I suppose we don’t need an origin *theoretically*. But until we have evidence that reaches past a simple invocation of naturalistic observation (Law of Conservation of Matter/Energy), supposing that is akin to supposing we’re all bits in a cosmic supercomputer.

    I use “God” very ambiguously. Certainly not a god that interacts with our universe, but a god merely capable of creating it.

  16. Charles Campbell on

    I choose creationism over evolution. You can prove the predictions of the scriptures when applied to historical fact with an absolute certainty. Alexander the great was prophecised in the book of Daniel. He read the predictions of Daniel in 332 BC and knew he would be victorious against the Persians. Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews stated this. According to the scriptures everthing organic is composed of the soil so of couse the DNA is going to be similar in various lifeforms. It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that we did not just happen . This does not help the debate much just an old guy sounding off! If you want to believe in evolution then be my guest!

    • If I was personally going to create a planet of mammals, i’d at least have the intelligence to lower the body temperature of human males and have their testicles be on the inside rather than hairly dangling out…

  17. A lot of one sided info in this article. Always evaluate both sides of the argument before making a decision. Take number 6 for example. This is natural selection and not evolution – the two are often confused. The butterflies didn’t evolve some new genetic information to combat the parasite. Instead some of the males had a mutated gene more resistant and thus became the ones able to reproduce. No new genetic information was created. See the UC Berkely Article – Check out

  18. What I’m really wondering is, if evolution is a theory of a mechanism by which life arrived at its current state, and if its a ubiquitous, naturalistic, unguided, random process that occurs everywhere, has this same mechanism ever been isolated and accelerated under controlled conditions to clearly demonstrate its ability to produce major change and complex structures? Because if it is such a common simple mechanism, then it would have to be the simplest thing to accelerate its effects under controlled conditions. What has been achieved for example with micro-organisms with incredible rates of reproduction that can have mutation rates accelerated by controlled radiation? Is the only “evidence” of evolution actually the fact that existing organisms share similarities and can vary within certain observed limits as the above examples show? Because surely this is the phenomena that evolution is trying to explain the origin of, and you can’t use the end result as the proof of the process can you? If that were the case, evolution would be on the same logical basis as creation to my thinking, i.e. that the characteristics of the current living creatures justify the support of a theory of origins, and you don’t need to understand or be able to demonstrate the process. Isn’t this circular reasoning common in both camps? The organisms show these features, and this is our explanation of how those features arose, and we don’t have to demonstrate our process is real, because the features of the organisms make the validity of our theory self evident.

  19. Unfortunately, almost all of these examples are adaptation, not evolution. Evolution is the appearance of new dna information due to mutation. Adaptation is recoding information that is already there. Every species on earth (as far as I understand it) adapts to its environment. This is one of the wonders of our world’s design – yes I said design. Sorry, no proof here in this article. Just evidence of the fact that our existence is indeed robust and able to adjust. Very interesting bits of info however. Was an interesting read.