A friend tells you that the theory of evolution is just an educat...

Question

A friend tells you that the theory of evolution is just an educated guess by biologists about how things work. Evaluate this statement.

Accepted Answer

Hi everyone. Let's look at our next question. Why is the theory of evolution not classified as a hypothesis. Let's recall that a hypothesis is an explanation that we pause it for some aspect of the natural world that we then plan to test run experiments to see if that's correct and then we'd expect other scientists to run the same test challenge our view and then hopefully corroborated. However a theory is an explanation of some aspect of the natural world that has been repeatedly tested and corroborated. So I have pot Asus an explanation that needs to be tested that is being tested needs to be tested by other experimenters. A theory is an explanation that has been repeatedly and extensively tested and corroborated. So why is the theory of evolution not classified as a hypothesis. Let's look at our answer choices choice A. Says because it accounts for the past history which was observed by our ancestors. Well this is not the answer. We're not just looking at um observations from the past historical stories, historical observations. Um We have current data, current geographic data, current genetic information and current examples such as antibiotic resistance of species evolving. So it does not just depend on past history observed. It also accounts for current phenomenon choice B says because it is assumed to be part of every species development. Um That's not a correct answer. These aren't just assumptions. Again have observations such as fossil records such as genetic information showing share or conserved gene sequences from ancestral species choice. He says because it is discovered by a scientist. Well no that's not our answer. Scientists can make mistakes. They can come up with crazy or wrong ideas. Um When you have a theory, you have multiple different scientists, many different researchers um presenting evidence examining challenging experimenting. So not just anything discovered by scientists as a theory of scientists can form a hypothesis, but that scientist needs to test the hypothesis and other scientists need to be able to show that they can duplicate those results. So finally we're down to choice D because it is supported by a variety of substantial and well supported data. And yes, this is our correct answer. We have many many substantial well supported data supporting the theory of evolution. We have fossil records showing change over time. We have genetic information um genome sequences from modern and uh fossil species. We have bio geographical evidence and we have similarities in anatomy and development across species. When you look at embryonic development showing a high conservation of the early stages of development. So many many different things that support this theory and from many different researchers and many different fields. So again, why is the theory of evolution not classified as a hypothesis? Joyce. D. Because it is supported by a variety of substantial and well supported data. Thanks for watching. Hope to see you in the next video

A friend tells you that the theory of evolution is just an educated guess by biologists about how things work. Evaluate this statement.

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