Happy Darwin Day!

I think Darwinism is a widely accepted theory now... here are a couple of Darwin related links, just for fun :biggrin:

http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/new-darwin-optical-illusion/#more-746

http://www.open.ac.uk/darwin/devolve-me.php

I've opened this thread here so that members can discuss the theory if they wish. I think they will, or I'll be a monkey's uncle. :razz:

Well Fender is living proof that Darwin was right :twisted:

Oh yeah, Darwin day.

I am a believer. :)

Well Fender is living proof that Darwin was right :twisted:

OI! I'd be offended at that if I wasn't actually kinda proud to have the same ancestors as our simian siblings :razz:

/me goes off to nibble a banana

Woo happy Darwin day. This man did a lot for humans and for that I am grateful. Althoughh I would say evolution/Darwinisnm isn't a theory any moree it's more of a fact.

Yea, but you can never say anything for definate... You can only disprove theories not prove them... :P

But yeah I believe in Darwins theory... eh.. But one of my best friends in college doesn't as he is very christian and believes that he created all in 7 days etc etc.. so yeah.. -shrugs- He's seen the evidence, we did evolution in quite a bit of detail... and yeah, he sees the point of view of evolutionism but doesn't believe in it.. eh.. -shrugs-

One of my favourite bits is where you look at how horses have developed and stuff and how they've lost fingers.. and how yeah we all have the five finger bone thingy... (I did it a while ago.. >.>)

Hmm... evolution is a good linking theory for the similarity between species, such as fingers and hooves and dolphin tails and legs... but our definition of fact is something which is provable, so unless we can follow the development of a species through it's evolutionary journey (by observation), we can't prove evolution.

Hmm... some people would say that the emergence of multi-drug resistance in bacteria is a mini form of evolution which is completely reproducable.

Another nice, funny example, but not a proof, is the vagus nerve in the giraffe. I'm not going to explain or defend it (probably) because I plainly can't be bothered and I don't really like Evolutionary Biology as a subject.

I'm in love with the Endosymbiotic Theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endosymbiotic_theory) though; which is a good argument for all plants and animals being from much simpler roots.

So on topic of Darwin: has anyone read any of his books? I was going to a while ago but never got round to it. Worthwhile?

I've not read any of Darwin's books but I can recommend another book that is pretty thorough in explaining the evolutionary process. It's by Richard Dawkins but don't worry if you're religious - this one isn't like his more famous The God Delusion, this concentrates solely on the science of evolution and how we can trace back various species to common ancestors. It's very loosely based on The Canterbury Tales, but only in so much as it traces human development backwards and then expands on the evolutionary story of each common ancestor as we encounter them .. quite fascinating if extremely heavy going at times.

The Ancestor's Tale: Richard Dawkins (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancestors-Tale-Richard-Dawkins/dp/0753819961/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234484575&sr=1-6)

Sorsie, your college friend may be very Christian but maybe doesn't know that even the Vatican has had to admit evolution is a fact (http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Resources/vatican_admits_darwin_correct.htm). There's the argument that God now works through 'intelligent design' but, personally, I find it all the more wonderous that we've evolved from such extroadinary beginnings purely through chance.

BTW, anybody thinking we evolved from monkeys is barking up the wrong tree, so to speak. We share a common ancestor, from which later developed chimpanzees and humans - that ancestor was around 5 - 7 million years ago, which isn't long in the grand scheme of things, and does explain many of the players encountered on iSketch at 4am :razz:

Lol, I recently watched part two of Richard Dawkins' documentary "The Root of All Evil?" and he was questioning a Rabbi about the teachings of evolution/natural selection in a Jewish school; the Rabbi used the old "it's still called the theory of evolution" defence and old Richy boy came right back at him with "well I'll call it a fact" and oh how I laughed.