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[Realmfighter]

Haha faith in Humanity haha.

[FuzzyZergling]

Oh Gog.
Quote #60638.

I believe that my brain attempted to slide down into my throat, to suffocate me so I could never read something that stupid again.

[Vattic]

I only have a healthy degree of doubt when it comes to evolution. The doubt exists because, given time, certainty often makes us fools. My doubt is so small because the body of supporting evidence is so huge and includes examples of life evolving in laboratories. The lack of refuting evidence stops my doubt growing.

[Nilocy]

On the topic of human sleep vs. bear sleeping, we spend about a 1/3 of our lives asleep, we're nearly at bear stage!

[ChairmanPoo]

Well, the thing is that you can't always disprove things, especially when it's exceptionally complex. For example, Freudian psychology. The whole human psyche being based around sex, penis envy, id, ego, superego. He is known as the father of modern psychology because he hasn't been disproven.. it makes sense. But then again, it doesn't always make sense. Freud gets as much criticism as Darwin, but isn't entirely wrong. Just because it's not false, doesn't mean that it's true.

Nowadays Freudian psychology is considered bs for the most part. He was criticized from the beggining for his lack of adherence to the scientific method, and the fact that most of his statements where not falsifiable. Even worse, by the eighties it had become clear that Freudian psychoanalysis did not achieve useful clinical results. So yeah, it's kind of a bad analogy to make.

[Tsarwash]

Goosebumps

Wut.

Goosebumps. A small piece of evidence pointing towards evolution via natural selection. A vestige from the past when we had hair. When we are cold, we shiver and our skin does that goosebump thing. Which does absolutely nothing nowadays, but it's a common reaction amongst many mammals who have hair. It fluffs up the hair, allowing more air to become 'trapped' between the hairs, allowing a larger cushion of warm air to surround the creature and ultimately warming the mammal up. With us, it does bugger all, as we have lost most of our hair. But we still do it.

Anyhow, humans are definately still evolving nowadays, but the process is no longer random natural selection. Well not as we might understand it, anyway. Other factors are coming into play. A certain amount of people are making an active choice not to have children for different reasons that would not have been a factor a thousand years ago. Non-physical attributes are having a greater affect whether people are successfully reproducing.

[Sneer]

Evolution is a scientific theory.

In the sciences, a scientific theory comprises a collection of concepts, including abstractions of observable phenomena expressed as quantifiable properties, together with rules (called scientific laws) that express relationships between observations of such concepts.

Let me explain the difficult words so you will understand.

Concept:
A concept is a cognitive unit of meaning—an abstract idea or a mental symbol sometimes defined as a "unit of knowledge".

Abstraction:
Abstractions may be formed by reducing the information content of a concept or an observable phenomenon, typically to retain only information which is relevant for a particular purpose.

Phenomenon:
In scientific usage, a phenomenon is any event that is observable, however commonplace it might be, even if it requires the use of instrumentation to observe it.

Quantitative property:
A quantitative attribute is one that exists in a range of magnitudes, and can therefore be measured. (Examples are time, length and weight.)

Evolution is NOT a hypothesis.

Hypothesis:
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for an observable phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose." For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot satisfactorily be explained with the available scientific theories. Even though the words "hypothesis" and "theory" are often used synonymously in common and informal usage, a scientific hypothesis is not the same as a scientific theory. A working hypothesis is a provisionally accepted hypothesis.

Do I believe in evolution?

You cannot believe in a scientific theory. A scientific theory is as described above used to explain a phenomenon. In this case why there is different kinds of animals.
If you were to observe evolution in reality, it would probably go like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxh_L1LUNk


And it does not explain how life began on planet earth. That is something completely different. And is described with a different theory.