| Safe-Keeper |
05-11-13 04:18 AM |
Are people still, after 30+ pages, stuck on the "evolution is just a theory" discussion:doh:?
Wow.
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Theory
A scientific theory summarizes a hypothesis or group of hypotheses that have been supported with repeated testing. A theory is valid as long as there is no evidence to dispute it. Therefore, theories can be disproven. Basically, if evidence accumulates to support a hypothesis, then the hypothesis can become accepted as a good explanation of a phenomenon. One definition of a theory is to say it's an accepted hypothesis.
Example: It is known that on June 30, 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia, there was an explosion equivalent to the detonation of about 15 million tons of TNT. Many hypotheses have been proposed for what caused the explosion. It is theorized that the explosion was caused by a natural extraterrestrial phenomenon, and was not caused by man. Is this theory a fact? No. The event is a recorded fact. Is this this theory generally accepted to be true, based on evidence to-date? Yes. Can this theory be shown to be false and be discarded? Yes.
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.,
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Bad example aside, there are countless theories out there that are also proven facts. Such as, oh, evolution.
I think maybe what confuses you is that scientists are always open to being proven wrong, and that this to us laymen could be taken to mean that "oh, they don't have enough evidence to be 100% certain yet". Not quite. Sure, we could discover tomorrow that the Earth is really flat, and sure, we're open to the possibility, but it's still safe to consider it a fact that the Earth is round.
Either way, I still find it funny how religious people have so high standards for evidence regarding ideas they dislike... yet buy into their own worldview solely on the basis of "faith" :P .
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Look, all I am saying is that a theory by any other name is still a theory.
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Um, no. The word "theory", like most every other word, has different meanings in different contexts. It's a red herring anyway, of course, 'cause evolution has so much evidence going for it that it doesn't matter if there are still "holes" or uncertainty.
Meanwhile, why don't you go tell the residents of Hiroshima that atoms are "only a theory". I'll be rigth here. |
