This place sure goes in "spurts"

[Robert Holtzman]

On Tue, 21 Jul 2009, Odd wrote:

> Please don't send me mail off-list, send to the list.
>
> Harold Sawyer wrote:
>>> You don't believe in evolution? Unlike the supposed existense of
>>> a God, the evolution theory has been proved time and time again.
>>
>> I am fairly well read.  Can you give any example of someone proving
>> evolution?  I have only read supportive material, but nothing that
>> proves it.
>
> There is ample evidence in the fossil record. More recently you can
> look at the industrial revolution in England,and the English peppered
> moth. These moths were originally white, but changed their color to gray
> during the industrial revolution when the soot from factories colored the
> enviroment. In the 1960s they changed back to white when the factories
> were cleaned up.

Most people don't realise that it's usually impossible to prove a theory 
in the physical sciences in the sense that you and Mr Sawyer mean. As 
more and more evidence accumulates the probability that the theory is true 
approaches 1. The approach, however, is asymtotic in that it normally 
never reaches 1. The other thing is that people seem to think that 
reproduction of events in a laboratory environment is necessary for 
proof. In reality, the predictive ability of a theory is strong evidence 
of it's being correct.

Last point. Just as the creationists, rightly or wrongly, claim the 
absence of evidence *for* evolution, the scientific community can point 
to the absence of evidence *against* it.


-- 
Bob Holtzman
AF9D 8760 0CFA F95A 6C77  E125 BF90 580F 8D54 9279
"If you think you're getting free lunch,
  check the price of the beer"