I'm in the mood to teach about evolution! What questions or criticisms do you have for the Theory of Evolution?

This is so important I decided to post it at top level.

@Axeroberts says [quote]speculation is not fact. there is a point of speculation that is left to the imagination. why don't you just admit that?[/quote] Scientific theories are a lot more than "speculation." Scientific theories must make testable predictions and/or explanations; otherwise they are not in the realm of science. And to be accepted, they must make better predictions and/or explanations than alternate theories.

Why don't I admit what you mentioned? I will admit a whole heck of a lot more! There is no such thing as proof positive in science. You can disprove a theory with counter evidence but no accumulation of positive evidence constitutes [i]proof positive.[/i]

Let's take Newton's law of gravity. Sure, it predicts eclipses years in advance with better than a part per billion accuracy. Does that amount to a proof? No way! In fact, Newton's law makes wrong predictions about the precession of Mercury's orbit while Einstein's general relativity explains Mercury accurately. (Side note: we still use Newton's laws because they predict accurately enough for many situations; you just need to know when to step up to Einstein.)

If certainty is what you crave, then stay away from science. Science requires an attitude of skepticism towards all theories and all data. Science is always waiting for the next improved theory to supplant the existing pretty good theory, or the next startling observation to falsify the existing theory.

Where evolution enters the picture is evolution is the best explanation for the DNA record and the fossil record. Evolution has not yet explained everything, but it engenders the least skepticism. I could go on a lot further in this vein, but you've demonstrated a refusal to read my long pieces.

There, how's [b][i]that[/i][/b] for an admission??