Originally Posted by: Dr_simonOk so Im not after upsetting anyone so please don't take this as personally.
However....
Can you prove the moon is not made out of green cheese ? How do you know, have you been there ?
How do you know the earth is not flat, have you ever seen the edge ?
How do you know the Earth orbits the Sun ? Have you seen it ?
People have been incarcerated (Galileo Galilei 1564—1642) or even killed as heretics for saying less !
Im not sure I understand what an "absolute fact" is, something is either a fact or it is not.
Absolute is also not a word I would attribute to a concept like "truth" either as one mans "freedom fighter" is another mans "terrorist". Or to use a less abrasive example, the question "Is a table a table if you use it as a foot stool ? Or is it then a foot stool ?" begs the question was the person who called the table a table telling the truth ? Truth is (IMHO) relative (que OBI Kanobi jokes).
However evolution can be observed on may levels and it is occurring every day. Look at the acquisition of bacterial antibiotic resistance (i.e. MRSA) or the change in color of moths as a result of living in an industrial climate or the radial evolution of the pentadactile limb.
Evolution can also be modeled using computers. Here time is speeded up allowing the viewer to watch a process that would normally occur over a very long time happen quickly which makes it more dramatic and noticeable.
Have a look at a couple of (IMHO) very well thought out books. One by Douglas Adams called "The Salmon of Doubt" and the other by a guy called Richard Dawkins called "The Selfish Gene".
Both are well written and in "non-scientific" english.
I'll also say... man, it's pathetic how ignorant and un-educated I was back then. even though it was only a year ago.. I was stepping all over my own feet in that debate. yeesh!