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Evolution VS. Creation It has been said that the major difference between humans and beasts is that humans are curious about there beginnings, they question where they came from and how they ended up where they are. There as several theories as to how humans came to exist but none have created such a controversy as the debate between evolutionism and creationism. Evolutionism consists of the idea that all organisms evolved from a single ancestor. According to this theory, the human species closest living ancestor would be the ape. It is currently the most accepted theory proposed by the scientific community.
The major opposition to the evolutionism theory is that of creationist. The creationism theory is based on the idea that all life was caused to exist at the same time by a divine power which is usually considered to be omnipotent. The concept of god, and the book of genesis play a major role in this theory. In terms of human development, creationism implies that the world and everything on it was created for humans and their existence. Humans were created last after all else was made to exist. Both theories have their supporters, the evolutionists tend to be scientists while creationists tend to be non-scientists or have strong religious beliefs.
Wether evolution or creationism is the correct theory can not be determined at this time due to lack of supporting physical evidence, there are too many missing links in both chains. Evolution is the idea that all organisms evolved from a single, more primitive ancestor. The basis for evolution is Charles Darwin's research that was done while on the Galapagos Islands. Darwin studied finch and found that they were similar in almost all physical aspects except their bills. One species had short bill while the other had long thinner bills.
The short bills seemed to be suited for cracking open nuts while the long bills were more suited for picking insects out of hiding places. Darwin assumed that they adapted to take advantage of their niche. The two species were on separate parts of the islands. The short bills lived where nuts were more plentiful therefore those birds with short bills had an advantage over the those with the long bills. The opposite occurred where the long billed birds lived.
The insects were more plentiful, therefore those birds with long bills could catch them more easily. Thus the term survival of the fittest. Those individuals that have a certain feature or skill that gives them an advantage will have the greater chance of survival and will be able to breed longer. The birds with long bills that existed on the area of the island where nuts were most plentiful could not compete with the other birds effectively and died. The changes that occur in evolution take a long time sometimes millions of years, and occur in small steps.
The gene pool slowly shifts due to the ability of individuals with mutant features to breed more often and over a longer period of time. Many people think that evolution says humans changed from ape to human overnight. That is not true, there were millions of years between the two, there have been many steps between those years to get to what humans are today. Evolutionists use fossil records as proof of their theory. Fossils can be dated using a technique called Carbon 13 dating and by the depth at which it was found in relation to present day. Generally fossils that are found deepest are the oldest.
By dating fossils they can be studies and comparison can be made between the older fossils and the newer ones. Over time, it has been found that the fossils of certain species have changed in certain ways; between species, the similarity can sometimes be traced back and eventually the traces intersect and a common Ancaster is found. This theory was applied to humans and the similarities can be traced back to primitive apes. A very distinct line of ancestry can be traced back. The first ancestor to walk completely upright was the Homo Erectus.
During the course of time of the evolution, the hominid skull and its distinct ape like feature have many general trends that can be recognized and related to human. The main foremost trend of the skull was the gradual increase in brain size (the brain size can be measured by the size of the cranium). The skull did not just accommodate a growing brain, the skull itself changed also, a rounding of the cranial vault, and the decrease of the size of the whole masticatory structure, not to mention the reduction of the upper and lower jaw and the teeth. All these changes resulted in a change of the skull shape and proportion, while the cranial vault expands the front of the skull itself would form a more straighter face like we have today.
The skull of the Homo erectus had a low skull vault or forehead, and a low cranial capacity. They also had a large face with big teeth and jaws, and a bridge along the bottom of the forehead. Since the Homo erectus had such a heavy skull, in order to counter balance the front of the skull there was a lot of muscle on the back of the head and neck part. Homo sapiens in comparison have an expanded cranium vault, with a well developed forehead. Since the cranial expansion has occluded the ridge that was near the end of the Homo erectus forehead, has now sensible practically buried itself, and at the same time the face is shortened by a decrease of the jaws which now bear smaller teeth.
The muscles on the back of the head and neck can now be reduced in size. Now that the front of the skull is now smaller and not as heavy, it results that their areas of attachment can be brought more under the back of the head. If you compare the two skulls of the Homo erectus and the Homo sapiens, you will find that they are very similar. Similar in the way of the eye sockets, dental characteristics, and skull structure are very much alike. Practically all of the fossils that have been discovered can be related back to the modern day human, in the ways of skull structure and so on. Humans back millions and millions of years ago were not just walking skeletons.
Since there are no Neanderthals or Homo erectus walking around today, we cannot study there DNA or genes for that matter. So in hand we have to compare our genes with those of apes and monkeys... If you examine the genes of man they will compare with the genes that code for proteins of apes and monkeys. Study of Neanderthal fossil sites indicate that they lived in family units or groups, took care of the ill and wounded. CRO-Magnon fossil sites have shown use of tools and communication such as painting on cave walls. These findings also support evolutionism and tell about humankind's first primitive beginnings.
The Creationist theory is that human existence is based on the idea that all life was caused to exist at the same time by a divine power. The divine power would be considered a god or a supreme being. Creationism has to do with or reconciles to facts or passages within the bible. Creationists think that the bible is an accurate record of the creation event, namely the book of genesis. The bible says that god created everything on earth. This is largely a Christian belief but there are and have been other religions and cultures that believe (d) in creationism.
Creationists believe that human is moulded in his image; in the divine image... (Genesis 1 - 27). The creationist view is largely based on faith and religion. There are efforts, however, to express scientific views to support the theory. One scientific approached by creationists is using the second law of thermodynamics. Evolution theory involves a state of increased order over time, going against the second law of thermodynamics. Creationism supports the second law of thermodynamics in the fact that God created everything perfect and all changes thereafter are approaching disorder.
Another argument that creationists say is that if the theory of evolution were so correct, the fossil record should illustrate this. Instead there are gaps between the stages of man, millions of years between fossils there is no information that there was anything there. Evolution is a uniformitarian ist approach, it assumes that all events happened at a steady rate throughout history, and all changes are explained by mechanisms currently at work. Catastophism, which is a major part in creationism is a suggestion that many changes occurred by processes not currently observed at rates not now seen. Geological record supports catastrophism because of discontinuities in existence of fossils. Many kinds of plants and animals have remained practically unchanged throughout history.
Examples of this would be algae, jellyfish, ferns, crocodiles; just to name a few. It is hard to relate this with evolution because why would everything else evolve except for those particular animals or plants. This suggest that all forms began at the same time. A primary method for dating rock layers is through the studying of fossils. If there are three layers of ground or rock: the lowest layer should contain simple but extinct forms of fossils, the second contains a little bit more complex forms, and the third and highest layer, has even more complex fossils than the second and the first. When studied the first layer is considered to be older, but why is the first always considered older?
If you have two fossils in the same layer, why is the simpler considered older? They are considered older because of the theory of evolution, and it is a circular argument. Rock layers are dated based on the evolution theory and the support of evolution comes from the help of the fossils. Considering the time evolution had to happen, we can assume it takes as long as it needed to evolve. The earth on the other hand has only been hospitable to survival for only about four billion years, and massive geological evidence exists that this is so. Take in hand that human DNA alone consists of about three billion genetic instructions.
So according to evolution, humans must of had to evolve at an average rate amount of about point seven five (. 75) instructions per year, not by generation. Point seven five instructions is a very substantial number when it comes to DNA and genetic codes. Evolutionism is a very convincing theory, but like any theory there are flaws and faulty corners that havent been explained yet. The fossil pattern of the evolutionary pattern says that human evolved over millions and millions of years from a primitive ancestor to the well developed being that we are today.
This has some pieces missing from the puzzle of the fossil though. There are very wide gaps were scientists cannot fill in because there are no fossils or information, if you may between one fossil to another. Is there nothing there because man just did not die for a couple of thousand or million years? It is not possible. Fossil records show that there was single celled life about four million years ago, but no multi-cellular existed till around six hundred million years ago. That is about when an abundant amount of complex plant and animal species appeared practically at the same time.
After they appeared they stayed virtually unchanged for millions of years, one either dying off because of the environment or surviving to the present. Several most recent collections of a new species has happened more recently, and the most recent being the appearance of humans alone, about two hundred thousand years ago. Creationists say that evolution contradicts the second law of thermodynamics. They also say that creationism is supported by it also. Evolution started out as simple primitive ape, but then evolved to a more complex being and kept on going up the ladder. This disagrees with the second law because the second law is that everything in the universe is seeking disorder, and for something to get more and more complex it also has to have more and more order.
They say that creationism is supported by the second law of thermodynamics because God created everything perfect, and then from there it changed and increased disorder more and more every day. If one theory has defects, then it is quite likely that the other has just as many if not more. There are many problems with creationism, first of all most of the creationist literature is negative. Creationists spend so much time attacking the evolutionists and the evolution theory that they forget to propose the alternatives that can be tested for their own theory.
So if they are saying that creationism is a science, then it should be able to be tested and should solve problems. Creationists can accept the order of the fossil record, that as you move up the layers of the earth that the organisms become more and more complicated. They dont on the other hand dont understand the nature of fossils and fossilization, they say that the fossil should reflect upon all of evolution. Fossils are only a small part of the many plants and animals that once existed. Some species would be more likely to fossilize than the other (ex. Mollusks are more likely to fossilize than birds or insects).
A problem that creationists have is the fossil order, because they think that everything was created at once. Creationists say it is because of the flood that the fossils are buried at different levels. To explain the order they say that Marine invertebrates are at the bottom, fish are at higher level, reptiles at higher water ground level, and finally mammals and birds higher than th rest. There are many problems with thus theory though, marine invertebrates are found at all levels, whales are only found at high levels. Birds are not all found at the highest levels, some are even found with the dinosaurs which is at quite a low level. Creationists argue that there are many plants and animals that have not changed during the course of their history.
Evolutionists say that why should everything change at the same rate, or even change at all, an example would be that if you put two pans of cookies in the oven and each cookie was the same mass and both were baked at the same heat for the same amount of time. When you finally take the cookies out you find out that some are burnt and some are not, why should have all the cookies burnt if it were just those that were hotter than the other because they were over the element or some other reason. The cookies burnt because they found that they were getting to hot so they adapted to the heat and became black, and the rest stayed the same because they were fine were they were. The creationism theory states that all can be traced back to the bible. Creationists contradict themselves when they say that everything in the bible is true, but no one really believes that. In the bible there are such passages, as John 7: 38 which states that Jesus said, he that believeth on most of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
That passage is a figure of speech, and is not to be taken literally. A river could never flow out of a mans belly if he believed in someone, or something for that matter. So how could it be that humans had just popped out thin are and landed on earth, for no particular reason what-so-ever. Nothing like that happens in this day in age, so why would it happen back then? The creationism theory, argued by creationists say that creationism is supported by the second law of thermodynamics. They also say that evolutionism could of not happened because it goes against the second law.
If you look at it at a different angle, that is not entirely true. All the disorder around the humans could of caused an increase in order for them as well. The sun for example is a humongous ball of disorder twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The outcome of all of this disorder, causes our plants to grow and keeps the water unfrozen, etc.
Since the sun causes the plants to grow, that means that man can eat them and have more energy to do other stuff. While the humans have so much energy from eating and drinking all the time, they also become smarter because they are still curious about the environment around them. At the same time humans are also making their surrounding suitable for them as well, ex. Making tools, drawing pictures, etc.
So all the disorder around the humans would have caused them to have an increase in order. Evolutionism, creationism which one is true, we may never know. There are many facts and very good arguments about each of the two theories within this report. We may never know how man ever came to exist on this planet, but we still can make hypothesis on how it happened. The question throughout are lives is how we got where we are.
Evolutionism has set some really rock solid arguments that are hard to compete against, but so has creationism. Maybe some day we will find some evidence that will show us how we really ended up on this planet.
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Research essay sample on Million Years Ago Second Law Of Thermodynamics
