Helping a Friend about the Nature of Science

This is my first topic here.I will admit that I don't know a lot or understand a lot about evolution. But I am not against it, just indifferent to it. I do have a greater understanding of how science works though.But I have a friend who is staunchly against it because he is both religious and anti-authoritarian. I also feel he does not even have a true understanding of how science works.So one thing I want to tell him is that the different breeds of dog and the domesticated banana would not have happened if Evolution were incorrect.But I'm sure he'll find something wrong with that though. Because he feels that the way science works is that you do whatever you can to find something wrong with a scientific fact, and it could be any little thing wrong, then it calls into question the entire body of work. In other words science must be correct the first time and must be one hundred percent correct and if not then the entire body of work is wrong, period.I've tried to tell him science doesn't work that way and have shown him multiple websites that agree. But he refuses to budge.I guess that it's because he just wants to be right more than anything else.So what do you think? Is my question about the different breeds of dogs and the domesticated banana in relation to evolution correct? If so, how is it correct? Edited by Tram law, : misspelling and needed to add a little more information.Edited by Admin, : Change title.

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I'm not sure what, and unless you give an example we can't help you with a response.

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Well, for example, he says that since the entire DNA has been mapped it can't be traced all the way back to the beginning nor does it reveal what the ancestor of humans were, so that calls into question the entire concept of Evolution.

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He is anti-authoritarian yet accepts the authority of the bible/god?

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Well, he had bad experiences with school authorities who claimed he was autistic and wanted to drug him all to hell to control him because he was hyperactive. Because they thought he was autistic, they often put him in the wrong classes and ignored his interests. So I think that's the biggest influence on him wanting to be right so much. He does have some intelligence, but he is very myopic when he argues, in that he has a certain set of beliefs and they are very black and white and can't see other side of the coin. For example, he thinks that not allowing children in school to pray only forces atheism in school is a violation of civil rights of the religious students, and I even showed him a video on you tube about girl who was kicked out of school for not participating in prayer.The points I was trying to show him was the divisiveness that religion causes, and that it can encourage bullying in school, and that she should sue the school for discrimination and violation of her civil rights. But he responds with that's just forcing atheism on the students. (Please note that is meant to show an example of how he pokes holes in anything he can to be right and is not meant to go off topic.)And it's just frustrating to tell him that it's not and how mistaken that he truly is.

Well, it's gotten to the point that I am going to tell him that for the sake of our friendship there are some things we shouldn't talk about. If he has any respect for me he'll understand. Because I really just can't stand his views on science and atheism anymore. The thing is he just cannot understand some things, especially atheism, even though I keep telling him I am an atheist. He demands that I don't define him but he has no problem defining me and won't see anything else.I guess it's true that you really can't discuss things like politics and religion.Thanks.I hope I didn't waste any of your time with this stuff, but where I am I'm the only one who believes the things I believe, and sometimes forums like these gives me more people to talk to.

Thank you, I've actually shown him that link, and others that say the same thing. He brings up the Diplodocus and Kennewick man as an indictment against this process to show that it's wrong and therefore must be changed.There is no such thing as the Diplodocus because that was a mistake of misidentifying other bones from other Dinosaurs.And the problem with Kennewick man is the bronze dagger.

I'm sorry, I'm dyslexic and sometimes gets things confused.There was a body that was found a number of years ago in an unusual place on a mountain range. When it was dated, it was dated before the Bronze Age. The problem with it is that there was a bronze dagger that was found with the body, which couldn't be because it was made several centuries before the Bronze age began, according to him. After reading the Wiki Kennewick man is not this one.I don't remember the proper name of the find.

It might be Oetzi, but I am uncertain. I'll have to ask him for further clarification.I've been searching on Google but haven't been able to find anything on it, so like usual, I think he's misinformed.Not that he'd ever admit to it.