Critical Thinking Blog #2

Ah, the infamous debate between evolution and creation by intelligent design. Let's see, I am not a religious person, therefore I do not identify with any religion. In saying that, however, I do believe in something greater than the human race, but I do not believe in a "god-like" figure. Evolution is a beautiful, yet complicated process. I, myself, have my doubts sometimes in understanding how some animals evolved from water to land creatures. However, when plants, bones, etc. are found on different parts of the world without explanation, it is not too far-fetched to grasp that animals had to adapt to their changing habitats. The one thing that makes me a believer in evolution is that there is physical proof and evidence of organisms that multiply and evolve right before our eyes. Astronomers watch stars' births and deaths in space and form black holes or explode into red giants. This is evolution in itself; life in itself.

Creation by intelligent design sounds like a very simple answer to why things are the way they are. However, there is no proof that one person created everything. Who created that one person? Doesn't everything have a creator? I just find it beyond impossible to explain Earth's complicated being by magic, per se. If there was actual evidence to prove there was such a being who created everything we know and love, I would be more than happy to reevaluate my beliefs on how the universe, Earth, and life in general was created.

Honestly, I really do believe this argument is getting quite old and pointless. There will always be those who believe in pure evolution and that the world and everything on it adapts to changing environments. Also, there will always be those who believe in a higher being that created everything for a particular reason and that one's destiny is already written in stone. This debate never brings anything new to the table and therefore really needs to be retired as a debate topic. Whether the world and it's living beings were created by a higher being or by evolution over time really has little to no importance. Let's move on to things that actually matter and effect people's everyday lives.

Pre-Reading Blog #2

When I think of the word "pseudoscience", I think of fake science. For example, when someone makes up a factor to fit their definition of something. According to Merriam-Webster, "pseudoscience" means: "a system of theories, assumptions, and methods erroneously regarded as scientific."

When I first read Jacoby's passages concerning evolution and creation, I was a little lost. But when I read it over again, I understood her as defining theories and why they are important in understanding what can be proven and what cannot. For example, evolution has scientific facts that can be proven, of course some more than others, but all-in-all, most scientific theories can be somewhat proven. Also, if a theory becomes definite, they are called laws. Example: theory of relativity versus the law of gravity.

Religion takes already drawn conclusions and backtracks to find evidence to support that conclusion. Science takes test results and facts and then draws conclusions from those. Jacoby talked about the movie March of the Penguins and I thought that was very important to bring up because it showed how emperor penguins reproduce, a method of evolution. Importantly, she noted that the movie avoided making evolution a major factor in the movie and the movie turned out to be very popular amongst everyone.

Why do people ignore factual information, that can be proven, and instead follow unfounded conclusions?