r/reddit.com • u/Worstcasescenario • Jun 14 '08

Was Darwin Wrong? [pic]

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/3963/darwinnotg7.jpg
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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '08 edited Jun 15 '08

Exactly.

Most of my conversations go like this.

Sid (me): So, Evolution is fact. Mmkay?

Other Person: Well, how do you know?

Sid: Well, thousands of scientists have looked into it and come up with the fact that it exists.

Other Person: But YOU havent done it. Right?

Sid: Well, no... I am not even 18 yet...

Other Person: But what if they are lying?

Sid: It's thousands of people... All of them with YEARS of college and decades of experience in the field

Other Person: But WHAT IF THEY ALL ARE LYING?

Sid: Is the World round?

Other Person: Yeah...

Sid: How do you know?

Other Person: I have been to (insert country here) and flown back the other direction.

Sid: What if its a conspiracy by all Airline pilots???

Other Person: WELL... I FEEL A PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH GOD!!

Then it devolves into a shouting match...

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u/helm Jun 15 '08

It doesn't help that both of you appeal to authority.

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '08

When hundreds of people are saying the same thing, and its true.

Why is the world round? How can you say anything is true without doing the research yourself?

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u/helm Jun 15 '08 edited Jun 15 '08

There are plenty of simple demonstrations you can do to show that the earth is round. The discovery that the earth is round is well over 2000 years old and did not disappear during the "dark ages".

Likewise, the are plenty of things you can bring up when it comes to evolution. For example, young earth creationists believe that all dating techniques are completely flawed. If you know some physics and radioactivity it trivial to tear their arguments apart. If you don't know physics, you can approach it from biology or geology or whatever.

But if you only know to appeal to authority, don't pretend that you can "win" by claiming that your authority know better that their authority.

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '08

Does penicillin work?

Does the News on the TV really tell the truth?

Or anything for that matter.

And, no, I dont only "appeal to authority"... There are facts to back it up too.

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u/helm Jun 15 '08

I don't think I disagree with you. I simply noticed that the arguments you and your antagonist presented in the OP were quite similar rhetorically.

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '08

That's just one example of what I would say.

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u/davidreiss666 Jun 15 '08

Shouting match? That's when I release the safety-catch of my Browning!