Wed 26 Jul 00 10:09
How do evolutionists explain the Big Bang, the fact that we haven't seen
animals evolve, etc.?
17-May-2000
---------------------------------------
Dear Straight Dope:
If cecil belive's in evolution,first of all how do you explain the big bang
theory,if all the matter was pulled together by a gravitational spin, and
then it exploded creating the planets and thier orbit, how is it possible that
the planets and moons rotate in different directions? Also how do you
explain that we havent ever seen a animal "evolve" into somthing else? It is a
fact that the sun is shrinking at a constant rate, knowing this, if the earth
was millions of years old it would have ingulfed the earth, and life would
not be possible. these are few of many questions i have about evolution, thank
you so much for your time. --john, alabama
SDSTAFF David replies:
Wow! Somebody's been reading creationist literature and pretty much nothing
else, from the looks of things. Excuse me for not correcting your writing
mistakes, but I figure when I have to spend this much time dealing with basic
logic problems--you bring up three major fallacies in a few short
lines!--for spelling and grammar you're on your own.
All the questions you raise are standard creationist claims. All have been
debunked many times. Heck, I even wrote an article debunking the "shrinking
sun" myth, "Honey I Shrunk the Sun! Evolution of a Creationist Myth." In the
interest of brevity I won't replay that whole discussion here. Instead let's
address your other two arguments.
A good start would be to realize that there's a difference between biology
and physics. The theory of evolution has nothing to do with the Big Bang
theory. Yes, creationists oppose both, but that's about the only connection.
Evolution deals with what happened to life on Earth once it began. The Big
Bang deals with how the entire universe came into being. If the Big Bang theory
was somehow proven wrong tomorrow, it would have absolutely no effect on the
theory of evolution, and vice versa.
That said, let's look at your Big Bang "spin" argument. The main problem is
your initial assumption. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe
exploded into being from a singularity. I'm not sure where you got your claim
of it being "pulled together by a gravitational spin" (actually, I'm pretty
sure I know where you got it--creationist propaganda; indeed, I am reasonably
sure I even know which creationist!), but it's just not part of the theory.
The Big Bang exploded everything outwards, including space itself. There
was no previous spin so there is no reason everything should be spinning in
the same direction. Furthermore, some planets are spinning in different
directions because they collided with other objects. All in all, it's a faulty
premise and doesn't take into account anything that happened after the Big
Bang.
On to the next argument--the common one about not having seen animals
evolving into "something else." The obvious answer to this is that while all
species are evolving, since the change is so gradual, it takes many generations
to become noticeable. But it's happening all right. As noted in Science and
Creationism, A View from the National Academy of Sciences, "on a minor
scale, we 'experience' evolution occurring every day. The annual changes in
influenza viruses and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are both
products of evolutionary forces. Indeed, the rapidity with which organisms with
short generation times, such as bacteria and viruses, can evolve under the
influence of their environments is of great medical significance. Many
laboratory experiments have shown that, because of mutation and natural
selection, such microorganisms can change in specific ways from those of immediately
preceding generations.
"On a larger scale, the evolution of mosquitoes resistant to insecticides
is another example of the tenacity and adaptability of organisms under
environmental stress. Similarly, malaria parasites have become resistant to the
drugs that were used extensively to combat them for many years. As a
consequence, malaria is on the increase, with more than 300 million clinical
cases of malaria occurring every year."
In addition, contrary to your claim, there are examples of speciation
having indeed occurred. You can find some of them in the "Observed Instances of
Speciation" and "Some More Observed Speciation Events" articles at the
talk.origins archive (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-s peciation.html and
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/speciatio n.html).
Incidentally, I think it's safe to say Cecil does indeed accept evolution,
because of the mountains of evidence supporting it. He doesn't "believe" in
it, though, because it's not something one "believes in." It's science, not
religion. The only way you can buy into creationism, though, is to take it
on faith.
--SDSTAFF David
cecil@chicagoreader.com
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ROSS SAUER
Creationists screw up 1
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board
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