Definition of Evolution

Drosophila Melanogaster has an average generation gap of just under two weeks, meaning about thirty generations in a year, thus meaning about 3000 generations in a century. 3000 does not equal hundreds of thousands.Doesn't one of the EvC members have a signature quote which says something about pseudo-science thriving on innumeracy?Because people have been experimenting on fruit flies for nearly a century does not mean that any one experiment has lasted that long. Most, like the 35 generation one that Percy described above, would only take a year or two.If I combine your comment above with this.... ..... it looks as though you might be an evolutionist in disguise, trying to make out that creationists are not only stupid, but also entirely ignorant of the sciences that they comment on. There are loads of transitionals, and so many examples have been given on these threads during the time you've been giving the site the benefit of your wisdom that you shouldn't need to be shown any more.Edited by bluegenes, : No reason given.

There's a lot of talking (or typing) at cross purposes going on in this thread. One of the main problems is that RAZD's thread, the one that Vashgun is referring to above, was titled "Definition for the Theory of Evolution", whereas this thread is titled "Definition of Evolution." The two aren't the same thing.I've just noticed that RAZD has already pointed this out to Vashgun in message 77: I think this needs explaining further.Vashgun, defining a theory is really just a matter of deciding what's the best way to express it in language. It has nothing to do with whether we think the theory is a good one or not. For example, take the Steady State theory of the universe. Modern physicists, with their "Big Bang" theories, are not disagreeing on the definition of the S. S. theory with Steady State supporters, they just think the theory (not the definition) is wrong.If you wanted to define your own Creation Theory, I'm not going to disagree with your definition. You might choose to say something like "The Universe was created by God in accordance with the account in the Bible." You might have some discussion with other young earthers about the best way of expressing your general theory. So you could start a thread, just like RAZD's, titled "Definition of the Theory of Creationism". Defining all of the origins theories and beliefs is useful to us all in debate, so that we know exactly what we're arguing for or against.If evolutionists posted on your YEC "definition of the theory" thread saying that they disagreed with the theory as expressed by any of your chosen definitions, they would be off topic and their comments would be irrelevant. They can do that elsewhere.The title of your thread here, "Definition of Evolution" just requires a definition of biological evolution, and several people have already suggested perfectly adequate definitions which have nothing to do with anyone's theories, and fit with them all.The definition of a phenomenon is a completely different thing from the definition of any theory concerning that phenomenon.Edited by bluegenes, : No reason given.

Were you particularly impressed by nemesis's in depth knowledge of fruit fly experiments, or by his astonishing grasp of mathematics?Or was it, perhaps, his eloquent demonstration of the point that some creationists are in complete denial about the fossil record, combined with his astute ability to misunderstand a topic? That's fine as a general definition, and couldn't get more economical.If we were going to get more wordy, then I quite like the Futuyuma definition that Modulous posted earlier:

quote:

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'Biological evolution ... is change in the properties of populations of organisms that transcend the lifetime of a single individual...The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are inheritable via the genetic material from one generation to the next.'

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Edited by bluegenes, : No reason given.