WackyScienceDude02 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 My father doesn't believe so... he said: "If we came from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys? Did they not get to evolve? If Evolution really occurred how come they do not just begin as the new species?" If anyone has some real scientific evidence that could prove my father is wrong, (and he never is) I would love to hear about it... Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moontanman Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 We still are apes... If Americans came from Europeans why are their still Europeans? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Correction: Humans ARE apes in the same way that crocodiles are reptiles. We share a common ancestor with monkeys in the same way that chickens share a common ancestor with eagles. Also, if dogs came from wolves, how come there are still wolves? If Protestants came from Catholics, how come there are still Catholics? http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/How_come_there_are_still_monkeys%3F http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/list.html http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/ 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Concise, well-supported answers to a very specific question. I think we're done here. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 More here on the core question in the OP: http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzzwood Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) Point is that many people see evolution as some switch you flip and then magic happens. Obviously, that is not how it works... Edited February 12, 2015 by Fuzzwood 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajb Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 My father doesn't believe so... he said: "If we came from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys? Did they not get to evolve? Monkeys did and are evolving, everything on Earth is. As pointed out we share a not so distant ancestor with all great apes and a little further back an ancestor will all monkeys. And so on... in fact it is thought all cellular life on Earth can be traced back to the last universal common ancestor. This is the most recent common ancestor of all life on Earth! The 'LUA' lived something like 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago. If anyone has some real scientific evidence that could prove my father is wrong, (and he never is) I would love to hear about it... Thank you. Evolution is well tested now and has lots of scientific evidence. If anyone is just set against evolution then no evidence will convince them. You might just have to accept your father is wrong on this one. Anyway, one interesting piece of evidence of common decent is the variation of DNA. Basically, animals that look alike have similar DNA. You can tell your father that as he looks like a chimpanzee you will expect him to share 90%+ DNA with a chimpanzee. This is confirmed, but of course the exact figure is in dispute as it depends how you compare DNA. Anyway, we share a lot of DNA. More technically, there are methods of tracing the 'history' of DNA via mutations and so on. That I will have to leave to one of our experts. And I am sure others can point to other solid evidence. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 If anyone is just set against evolution then no evidence will convince them. You might just have to accept your father is wrong on this one. Being optimistic, it might just be that Dad doesn't know anything about evolution, has never really thought about it and has picked up a couple of simplistic arguments along the way. When it is explained how it really works, he might say, "Oh I see. That's pretty cool!" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WackyScienceDude02 Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Being optimistic, it might just be that Dad doesn't know anything about evolution, has never really thought about it and has picked up a couple of simplistic arguments along the way. When it is explained how it really works, he might say, "Oh I see. That's pretty cool!" Hahaha quite the contrary... when I explain to him all of the possibilities he says "Ok, but <insert new question>". See he's a Creationist and I'm an Evolutionist, that is why we have these arguments. So basically he always roots for the 'question everything' motive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Hahaha quite the contrary... when I explain to him all of the possibilities he says "Ok, but <insert new question>". See he's a Creationist and I'm an Evolutionist, that is why we have these arguments. So basically he always roots for the 'question everything' motive. In which case, I agree: you are wasting your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajb Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Hahaha quite the contrary... when I explain to him all of the possibilities he says "Ok, but <insert new question>". See he's a Creationist and I'm an Evolutionist, that is why we have these arguments. So basically he always roots for the 'question everything' motive. I have never like the term 'evolutionist'. It sounds like one has decided on a position and that is it. Quite the contrary, evolution is based on scientific evidence and in principle if new evidence came to light that really shows evolution to be incorrect then the scientific community will amend its ideas. Not that I think any such evidence will be found, but I will imagine that 'anomalies' will appear from time to time that will test the details. Anyway, asking more questions is good. If they are the standard questions asked by creationists then you can find standard answers on various websites, or indeed you can try here. You should try asking him questions about creationism and how that stands compared to scientific evidence. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Pull up the "answers to standard creationsit questions" on the Talk Orgins site then you will have an instant response to every one of his questions (he won't have any original ones). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Hahaha quite the contrary... when I explain to him all of the possibilities he says "Ok, but <insert new question>". See he's a Creationist and I'm an Evolutionist, that is why we have these arguments. So basically he always roots for the 'question everything' motive. Tell him there's nothing wrong with "question everything". Where he's making his mistake is not listening to the answers when he asks the questions. As I said before, a true skeptic questions everything, until he sees the preponderance of evidence favor a certain explanation. Then he accepts it, because it's the most likely and best supported. When Dad tries to <insert new question>, you need to say, "Stop! Before we move to the next question, can you please acknowledge my answer to this one?" Don't let him bury you with his talking points, make sure to deal with each one individually. That's all creationism has, really, just a bunch of individual threads that are easy to snap. Evolution's evidence weaves in and around so many other accepted theories, it forms a tapestry that no one has been able to successfully tear apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 That's all creationism has, really, just a bunch of individual threads that are easy to snap. Evolution's evidence weaves in and around so many other accepted theories, it forms a tapestry that no one has been able to successfully tear apart. Nice analogy. When people pick away at details, it is like they think science is a house of cards that will collapse as soon as you start poking. Instead it is in ancredibly strong structure of mutually supporting theories. But the other problem with that approach is that, if they are allowed to get away with it, you answer questions 1, 2, 3 ... and then they circle back to 1 as if it has never been refuted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxlDave Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) When people pick away at details, it is like they think science is a house of cards that will collapse as soon as you start poking. Instead it is in ancredibly strong structure of mutually supporting theories. Kind of like someone taking a piece of guttering off your house and then declaring "I have destroyed your home!" My father doesn't believe so... he said: "If we came from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys? Did they not get to evolve? If Evolution really occurred how come they do not just begin as the new species?" If anyone has some real scientific evidence that could prove my father is wrong, (and he never is) I would love to hear about it... Thank you. Try explaining it to your Dad like this: I have a cousin. I am not my cousin, nor did I come from my cousin, and yet my cousin and I are still related. We are related through a common ancestor - our grandparents. If he still asks for evidence, point him towards this paper: http://www.pnas.org/content/88/20/9051.short and this Wikipedia page explaining it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosome_2_(human) Edited February 12, 2015 by AxlDave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Nice analogy. When people pick away at details, it is like they think science is a house of cards that will collapse as soon as you start poking. Instead it is in ancredibly strong structure of mutually supporting theories. But the other problem with that approach is that, if they are allowed to get away with it, you answer questions 1, 2, 3 ... and then they circle back to 1 as if it has never been refuted. That's why I think it's important to interrupt and ask for acknowledgement. It's more difficult to do here, where multiple posters and time lag can throw off your focus, but talking face-to-face with Dad it should be fairly easy to stop him from asking another question until he acknowledges the answer to the first. When possible, it's also good to remind Dad that he can NEVER use these arguments again, once they've been answered and acknowledged. I'm sure he doesn't want to be intellectually dishonest, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 So basically he always roots for the 'question everything' motive. He should be a scientist... … no, hold on. He wouldn't make a scientist, he doesn't listen to answers. That's why he's a creationist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharonY Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Actually, scientists are really bad at answers. Questions are more our thing. If there are answers they tend to be in the trivial areas. The existence of evolution is a rather trivial thing to see (the opposite would be extraordinary, based on what we know about genetics). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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