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50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

nature.com

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Re: 50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

#11

Post by tomrod »

inkaudio wrote: post #9
yread wrote: post #6

Have you guys seen the comments there? Is it usual that Nature is read by people like that? What does God have to do with evolution anyway? Evolution is falsifiable theory on which some very useful models (which work) are based. They can believe in whatever they want, but they surely can't base any models on "God created everything". Everybody can program a little evolutionary algorithm yourself and see that it can c…

Yes you are creating something out of chaos because you have an algorithm. No algorithm, no programming means you can't create.

Hi!

Have you ever played Conway's game of life? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life

It hasno algorithm, only a few simple rules from which order arises from chaos.

Give it a shot, you may like it.

As a practicing Christian, I see no reason evolution can't be exactly what we scientists observe it to be: a process by which beneficial adaptations are passed down to succeeding generations. Much like in software, where design decisions pass down to future incarnations of concepts, like WASD for FPS game control.

Re: 50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

#12

Post by readme »

binderbizingdos wrote: post #7

> do not believe in evolution exactly... you need to believe in it because there can't be any proof as long as we can't travel in time. get over it and recognize that everything that goes beyond the scientific method is mere speculation.

Evolution does not go beyond the scientific method. You need to take a college level biology class.

Re: 50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

#13

Post by kghose »

binderbizingdos wrote: post #7

> do not believe in evolution exactly... you need to believe in it because there can't be any proof as long as we can't travel in time. get over it and recognize that everything that goes beyond the scientific method is mere speculation.

There are a lot of data that are most simply explained by the concept of evolution. Any other explanation for evolution (such as God did it) requires the invocation of principles that have far less support than gene mutations during reproduction/replication.

Re: 50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

#14

Post by colinb »

binderbizingdos wrote: post #7

> do not believe in evolution exactly... you need to believe in it because there can't be any proof as long as we can't travel in time. get over it and recognize that everything that goes beyond the scientific method is mere speculation.

does recent historical record count, or do you need predictive results? Recent historical examples include the Industrial Moth. If you want to predict some evolution, pick an antibiotic and wait for it to become ineffective. Here's more:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/46030115/142-Modern-Examples-of-Ev...

And while we're beating each other with the scientific method, I believe [!] the onus is on those who think evolution to be an incorrect theory to provide a result that falsifies the premise.

FWIW, if you haven't read The Origin of Species, I can't recommend it strongly enough. It is my opinion Darwin is a better writer than Dawkins, Gould or Jones. The man could put together a lovely sentence.

Re: 50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

#15

Post by cantankerous »

binderbizingdos wrote: post #7

> do not believe in evolution exactly... you need to believe in it because there can't be any proof as long as we can't travel in time. get over it and recognize that everything that goes beyond the scientific method is mere speculation.

You should probably read some Karl Popper on the philosophy of science. Falsifying something is pretty much the beginning and the end of the scientific method. The model of evolution, as yet, has not been decisively falsified.

Re: 50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

#17

Post by inkaudio »

I love science & technology therefore I'm alarmed because so many scientist and technologist don't see the inherit paradox in evolution. Natural selection makes it virtually impossible for animals to adapt via the proposed mutations. Natural selection happens immediately, valuable life preserving mutations are suppose occur (typically) over thousands of years.

To illustrate Arctic terns are dying because they are not able to adapt to climate change. Arctic terns eat herrings a cold water fish, as the water gets warmer, these fish seek colder waters, possible by going deeper in the waters. According to biologist other birds in the Arctic can dive deeper to grab the cold water fish Arctic terns cannot, so they and their chicks starve to death. This is natural selection, there is no time to adapt via mutations, adaptations must happening quickly.

Re: 50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

#18

Post by alinajaf »

harrytuttle wrote: post #10

We should exclude such people from educational institutes by nature of belief. They're not teaching science if they already have an agenda, bias or belief and allow it to interfere with objectivity and professionalism. In fact any religious school or education institute should be of independent of religion how the church and state supposedly are. This shit is unfortunately rife. I had to explain this to my daughter's…

As a new parent this is somewhat terrifying. But good on your daughter for setting the teacher straight!

At the same time, I was lucky enough in my education in the UK to get a steady stream of secular humanists as science teachers. They never directly attacked my religion, but by the end of it I had the skills to tear it to shreds on my own.

Re: 50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

#19

Post by prawn »

inkaudio wrote: post #17

I love science & technology therefore I'm alarmed because so many scientist and technologist don't see the inherit paradox in evolution. Natural selection makes it virtually impossible for animals to adapt via the proposed mutations. Natural selection happens immediately, valuable life preserving mutations are suppose occur (typically) over thousands of years. To illustrate Arctic terns are dying because they are not…

The terns able to dive deeper (for whatever physical reason) survive and breed.

Re: 50% of South Korean biology teachers do not accept evolution

#20

Post by protomyth »

The Catholic Church's current belief is there is no conflict between evolution and church teachings. They do believe evolution was divinely inspired. They also go with the scientific theories on age of earth and gradual appearance of life. Its interesting to see the difference between the actual Catholic doctrine and those that broke away.

If the non-evolution Christian truly needs everything spelled out, Genesis 1:28[1] would probably explain it all. Kinda hard to have dominion if you don't have a mechanism to change things. I would love the non-evolution version of how we get good hunting dogs and modern cows?

1) http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-1-28/

// ok, yes the Catholic Church did some bad things to scientists, I get that - look at the current doctrine

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