The Definitive Guide to Debunking Creationists Part 3: Evolutionary Biology/Paleontology

[@kr4119]

I grew up creationist. I was taught literally all of the arguments debunked in this video. Thank you so much for your work!

[@mattorr2256]

I am goad you broke free of the shackles that indoctrination can have

[@talfriedman1265]

same for me

[@chrishollandsworth6700]

Same. Welcome to a world of empirical evidence!

[@grouchyolddan]

Who taught you? I went to Catholic school but we didn't have argument points against what we were learning. I didn't even know there were other religions or atheist as a kid

[@ThommyofThenn]

Same my friend. I think a lot of us felt there had to be more than overly simplistic platitudes to find answers in. Even as a kid I never fully accepted what I had drilled into my mind. I'm not particularly smart or analytical but I've never been satisfied with the "god did it don't worry about it" thing

[@JacAmadeus]

As someone who grew up in a restrictive religious environment and is only now beginning to see things more clearly, I want to sincerely thank you, Dave, for creating these videos. They’ve been incredibly eye-opening and humbling, to say the least.

[@mattorr2256]

Good for you for being open minded to true science. You are accomplishing something that is extremely difficult and not often done my heavily indoctrinated people

[@mattorr2256]

It never ends too. It is lifelong endeavor to gain knowledge of our universe

[@chrishollandsworth6700]

Same! Dave is a champion of science communication

[@KCApplications]

Yeah, I'm currently in a strict religious family as well. Man my family doesn't like when I challenge the bible and explain why evolution does in fact happen in homo species.

[@chrishollandsworth6700]

@@KCApplications stick to your guns. Im sure I can speak for many of us in saying that we are proud of you.

[@flyingprist]

0:47 - Their Argument of "If we come from monkeys, why are their monkeys" is basically the exact same as saying "If I come from my parents, why are my parents still alive?" That's like the dumbest statement I've heard someone say and I've heard what flat earthers say too.

[@GiovanniGeo]

It is more like, if I come from my parents, why are my siblings still alive?

[@Kai_Stwosz]

Nah it's more like: if I come from my cousins, why are my cousins still alive? ​@@GiovanniGeo

[@flyingprist]

@@Kai_Stwosz I get that that is true, but even taking their own false narrative that "we came from monkeys" and just thinking about it for two seconds shows that its dumb.

[@Kai_Stwosz]

@@flyingpristI don't think there is any examination of premises going on within the minds of those who make such objections

[@secularidiot9052]

If the United States came from Great Britain, why does Great Britain still exist?

[@mtbee9641]

Every time you show the cartoon image of the ‘creationist’ with its arms in the air I see an image of James Tour. lol

[@blahblingo7605]

He left the chalk out.

[@longnguyenhai595]

MISTER FARINA!!! GO! GO! GO! GO! That should be my wake-up alarm sound.

[@katinapac-baez5083]

​@longnguyenhai595 there would be an instant dent in the wall if that was my alarm

[@ferociousfeind8538]

17:29 for a brief overview of some transitional species from LUCA to homo sapiens, Aron Ra did an amazing, comprehensive (but could never be exhaustive) breakdown of the slow and gradual evolution a la "molecules to man"

[@ferociousfeind8538]

(Oh Oops, forgot I was in this comment section. Meant to be a generic comment on the video. Still, check it out)

[@Hiljaa_]

The most annoying argument of all time is when people deny macro evolution but accept micro evolution. Makes me want to shed a tear of sheer frustration

[@Antares2]

Yep. Even using the terms "macro evolution" and "micro evolution" is a red flag. You know you are talking to someone about to say something very stupid. It's like saying "micro walking" about taking a step; nobody says that unless they try to imply that you can't take another one.

[@Crowbars2]

It's like saying "I believe in measuring in inches, but not in miles." Microevolution implies macroevolution, it's so stupid that people don't understand this.

[@circleo1992]

Young Earth creationists and some others use micro evolution to explain what happened after the Great Flood. They need it because the arc isn't big enough to hold all of the species. (It still isn't big enough to hold all of the "kinds" that are listed at the Creation Museum.)

[@marknieuweboer8099]

You may want to read The Sensuous Curmudgeon, The Scientific Case Against Stairs. I think it will cheer you up.

[@Hiljaa_]

​​@@Crowbars2I don't believe in measuring in inches feet or miles. Long live the metric system 🙏🙏🙏🕊️🕊️🕊️ (Yeah I get what you mean though, it's seriously, seriously annoying to see)

[@Antis14CZ]

1:18 - I choose to believe that using a strictly Gen 1 lineup for this picture is a subtle jab at creationists who are so behind the times they still call evolution "Darwinism". As in, "you guys are so out of touch that these are the only Pokémon you know".

[@PerryLePlatypus]

I’ve had somewhat of an evolution discussion with my creationist parents, but since my schools weren’t allowed to teach evolution in school I didn’t have much information to work with. But now I do, thanks professor, my birthday dinner is going to be so fun for everyone this year

[@byrnemeister2008]

Sounds like great content. Could kick off a TikTok career!!

[@Vileplume87]

Thanksgiving's gonna be a fun one

[@AXKfUN9m]

Yo if you don't have anywhere or anyone to fall back to, ie. a place to stay or a friend, you better not do that. People with strong beliefs tend to be very headstrong about having it challenged. And considering that your school doesn't teach evolution, you're in a deeply religious region, so it's even worse.

[@GadgetNeil]

Likely your school has computers, and the teachers likely have cell phones, and there is electricity powering the lights in the school. All these things have numerous complex branches of science behind them. So, it is really bizarre to accept the conclusions of scientists for these areas, then deny completely other branches of science!

[@FactStorm]

Damn, what kind of "school" did you go to? Religious schools need to be banned. There are too many catholic ones for example..

[@yankelpariselle-added428]

47:23 "All mammals have the same body plan" *shows a turtle in the middle* Small mistake from the professor, but that doesn't tarnish an overall great video. Can't wait to see the rest of the series

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Haha whoops! That collage is just one image file so I plopped it on and didn’t look too closely 😆

[@RDTRNT]

Edit: I misunderstood the comment, the mistake was that turtles are not mammals. I'll keep the rest of my comment for history. I don't think it's a mistake. The turtle has in general the same body plan as other vertebrates (e.g. vertebral column with a head, bony limbs, ribs etc). The problem is in the evolutionary origins of the bony shell. Fortunately, there's progress on that front, you can read one of the recent open-access papers on the topic, e.g. "Schoch, R.R. and Sues, H.-D. (2020), The origin of the turtle body plan: evidence from fossils and embryos. Palaeontology, 63: 375-393. doi: 10.1111/pala.12460 "

[@FactStorm]

Look at how humble he is to admit an innocuous mistake..no biggie. Making videos is tiresome, I tried it small-time and I get it lol. Compare his positive admission, versus a creationist who will deny, cry, complain and deflect everything. The difference between apologists and rational people is staggering. Religion has rotted way too many brains since the dawn of our civilization.

[@tonyk4615]

Regarding macro vs micro evolution: Thank you! My PhD is in Biochemistry and I never recalled anyone in my classes or professional work ever making a distinction between macro and micro-evolution. One of my pet peeves is people who argue with Creationists and get sucked into this distinction. It’s a red herring. We need to stop letting Creationists set the terms of the debate, including the terminology and definitions that we are required to use when engaging them.

[@skyinou]

Absolutely. If they want their (imaginary) limit, *the creationists* have to provide the evidence, *the creationists" have to provide the explanation and show how it could work. In the meantime, it doesn't exist.

[@tylerwest719]

Yes, especially when terms like “evolutionist” or “historical “ science vs “observational” science were created by creationists for the purpose of discrediting mainstream science.

[@iAmEbolaWoT]

I find it funny that their distinction between the two involves an undefined term "kind". If they refuse to define that term, then their distinctions are explicitly stupid and can be summarily dismissed.

[@AncientWildTV]

How can scientists effectively communicate the continuum of evolutionary processes to the public and to those with differing viewpoints, while avoiding becoming entangled in semantic debates that may distract from the core evidence supporting evolution?

[@iAmEbolaWoT]

@@AncientWildTV I think that what Dave is doing is a great first step. Others like him (Forrest Valkai, SciManDan, GutsickGibbon; for example) are amazing at pointing out nonsense (like semantics). I think they just keep doing what they are doing; because it does work. I think it would be helpful in the long run, to be able to develop accurate descriptions of complex principles in science for laypersons. Tall order, I know...because most of the debates are caused by either intentional misrepresentation or actual ignorance and misunderstanding. Scientists, in general, aren't really known for their abilities to dazzle a crowd. They just want to drive that thirst for knowledge and discover what makes the world "tic". It would be nice to see more scientist work towards being better communicators.

[@approachingcalamity9403]

3 minutes ago I checked for this video. Watched a music video. Came back and it was posted 2 minutes ago. This is my new most anticipated series.

[@shadowgophr5269]

The funniest thing about the "it's magic!" get out: "How'd they get to the ark?" Them: Magic! "How'd they all eat?" Them: Magic! "How'd they repopulate?" Them: Magic! "Cool, so all these problems were solved by magic?" Them: Yeah! "So why'd your all-powerful god need to get some dude to build a wooden boat when he could just have magically saved, wiped and repopulated the Earth at any time?" Them: .....

[@kaantax8666]

MF works in mysterious ways

[@Antares2]

Yeah, that's always the weirdness about the ark story. I have no idea why they even keep that dumb story in the bible. All it does is "explain" the origin of the rainbow... by accidentally showing god as an impotent and genocidal moron with zero understanding of genetics and the catastrophic results of inbreeding. Same with the "tower of Babel". Children's stories meant to explain basic facts of reality. Very similar to those cultural stories explaining "why the fox has a white tip on its tail" and other such childish nonsense. Which would be fine, if only they weren't included in "the Book of books" of all places.

[@AverageHistoryEnjoyer1914]

​@@Antares2 I mean God has always been genocidal. Waaay too many towns, cities, countries and regions getting 50 thousand pests because they stopped believing in him, became lustful, or did something bad.

[@Julian0101]

One guy once answered that one with "who are you to determinate what a god cant or can do". I responded with 'that is exactly what you are doing, by placing your bible above what your god can or cant do' He proceeded to change the topic.

[@toweypat]

Ha!

[@GreySteel]

You are doing a tremendous public service with this work, Dave. Our civilization is lucky to have people like you. Keep it up.

[@ShugMonkey]

1:17 dude I WISH biology was like pokemon that would be sick as hell

[@ThorDude]

I can't turn my Golden Retriever into a Silver Wolf 😔

[@wingedbluj1674]

Pokémon evolution is more akin to metamorphosis, like a tadpole becoming a frog or catarpillars becoming butterflies.

[@mrdraco3758]

​@@wingedbluj1674 M-Metamorphosis...? METAMORPHOSIS! CHAOS, CHAOS, CHAOS! I CAN DO ANYTHING!!!

[@RealBoxingBaka]

I wanna be The very best Like Hovind never was

[@peterkatulin8399]

that would explain noah's ark too, just put every animal into a pokeball lmao

[@Daniel-jh1np]

The underlying premise for many creationists seems to be: "If God exists, I know exactly how he created the world"

[@cliftongaither6642]

exactly 👍🤘

[@FactStorm]

No, most of them assert their god exists, I wish they were humble to even play with the idea "if".

[@ezbody]

This "I will tell God how He did it" presents a very clear picture of their personality, i.e. people who have a pathological need to be in control.

[@madnessoverload7824]

Funniest creationist argument i've seen is "Look at this banana. It fits perfectly in the human hand." Like, no shit, HUMANS DESIGNED IT THAT WAY.

[@synthetic240]

Know what else fits perfectly in the human hand? ;) ;)

[@Person-ip7iy]

@@synthetic240LOL 😂😂😂. IM DEFINITELY USING THIS. ITS GOING TO INFURIATE THEM

[@neoupath]

They must not know about pineapples or watermelons, that don’t fit in a human hand 😂😂

[@FactStorm]

Ray Comfort, ah a classic delusional whacko with his countless gullible followers. The religious are the easiest to lead. Psalm 23 literally refers to them as sheep.

[@MarcelinoDeseo]

@@neoupath include the jackfruits!

[@shmoese]

"If English evolved from Germanic languages, then why do people still speak German?"

[@Soundbrigade]

It’s even worse as English evolved from Germanic, Latin, French, Norse languages, so most of the European people should be mute …

[@Spielkalb-von-Sparta]

🤐

[@Shakazaramesh]

@@Soundbrigade English evolved from Proto-West Germanic and acquired loan words from Old Norse and Latin (via French). It's still a Germanic language. I know this sounds pedantic.

[@Soundbrigade]

@@Shakazaramesh No it doesn't. English sounds English to me, not pedantic ... Oh, your comment was pedantic, my bad. Anyhow, it's cool to pick out where English words and names are coming from.

[@TheFugitive2]

For the same reason we still have blues music when rock and roll descended from it and why we still have both blues and rock and roll when heavy metal music descended from both.

[@NeutralDrow]

Is it weird that I tend to fixate on one new piece of gained knowledge per video? A lot of this I'd already learned from yours and others' videos (in this case, especially Gutsick Gibbon's)...but I'm kinda blown away learning the explanation for all those fluffy-toed chickens I've seen in my life.

[@mcv2178]

I love that you do that.

[@Onio_Saiyan]

I remember commenting on a lot of old videos of yours as a catholic. Been an Atheist for about two years now. Your videos like this helped me understand and come to that conclusion. Time to kick back and focus on this video. Have a nice week!

[@BuckScrotumn]

Thank you for professing your past delusional beliefs alongside your current logical beliefs. Sentiment like this could possibly nudge a currently religious person down the path of reason if they see that you were once religious yourself. The world needs people like you more than ever. Don’t ever stop fighting the good fight, brother.

[@Onio_Saiyan]

@@BuckScrotumn Thank you for the kind words. :)

[@SteveSkiano]

I think this is my favorite series of yours so far. Really clear, concise, well-organized…just really well done.

[@ThatGuy-6669]

I can think of an argument that more immaculately demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the entire field of biology: "Have you seen an amoeba give birth to a human?"

[@micnorton9487]

KENT HOVIND lol,, 👍

[@junestorm]

I did. It turned out to be a creationist. ☝️

[@Seticzech]

Hovind/Powel inflate banana KIND of pseudoargument. 😀

[@mehallica666]

They truly think evolution should appear like the scene in 'Ace Ventura 2', where Jim Carrey climbs out of the mechanical rhino.

[@timlampers8610]

"So you guys just believe you came from mud? That's sooo stupid, we all know that God made us from dirt, not mud"

[@k45207]

As someone who’s whole family are young earth creationist. Professor Dave your doing the Lord work. Thank You so much

[@ItRemindMeOfHome]

My own mother, a pharmacist who knows full well how antibiotic resistance develops, continues to insist that evolution is impossible and that she "Didn’t come from a monkey".

[@budd2nd]

🤦‍♀️

[@paulussturm6572]

Yeah that always amazed me. People who are obviously intelligent enough to understand complex topics just refusing to do so for whatever reason. I have an aunt who’s just like that. Said she knows she didn’t come from a monkey and didn’t take kindly to me saying that she’s technically correct because she IS a monkey.

[@ItRemindMeOfHome]

@paulussturm6572 it's even more infuriating when they grasp it entirely in one area, refuse to grasp it in another, and get angry when that gets pointed out. I have told my mother "So you believe in evolution for microbes but nothing else? That's what antibiotic resistance is." Her response is usually "No it's not." She's not even Evangelical, she's Catholic, and the Vatican affirms evolution. I genuinely don't know where she got this

[@uchicha666]

Tell her politely that we don't and science does not state that. Homo sapiens and apes had common ancestors so we are cousins rather than parents and children.

[@ItRemindMeOfHome]

@@uchicha666 I've tried doing that for 15 years

[@CrimWorld9]

0:37 I swear this little screaming guy is becoming the unofficial mascot of the channel

[@scottselenak]

I want that screaming guy on a green shirt with chalkboard writing that says “MR. FARINA!!” On the front and “GO! GO! GO!” on the back. I’d pay good money for it.

[@federicogiana]

@@scottselenak "I want that screaming guy on a green shirt [...]" It's rather easy, if you go to a backstreet custom t-shirts shop, you won't have to pay much money for it. More than 10-12 euros would be a ripoff, maybe a bit more if you're picky during the design process. I could do it myself, but shipping cost would be several times the cost of the shirt.

[@charliedoyle7824]

I love how Dave injects insults of "clueless", "idiot", "infantile", creationists. Keep up the good fight Dave!

[@berniethekiwidragon4382]

These descriptors are as insulting as as they are factual.

[@FactStorm]

I would do the same, I can't help it. It's 2024 yet we have to deal with a petulant and deeply delusional majority.

[@bathin813]

It's a form of brainwash. Listening to those slowly you won't listen to people that has different view to you. because you will see them as those words You will automatically shut them off or give them a deaf ear. Could later cost you something

[@berniethekiwidragon4382]

@calculuslover2078 If the shoe fits, charlatan apologist.

[@cockyrustler]

Entirety of Creationism/Christianity can be summarized in a single sentence: "Whole Universe revolves around ME!"

[@Khann_2102]

Not just Christianity i think, but Abrahamic Religions, and maybe all religions cmiiw

[@finsternis1986]

It really is amazing how often they talk about being humble, eschewing pride/other "sins", loving one's neighbor, etc., and yet some of the most selfish, cruel, and willfully ignorant people I've EVER met have been deeply religious. Don't get me wrong, this does go both ways between religious/non-religious people-a lot of atheists suck too-BUT if I were to break it down by the numbers, using personal experience... Yeah.

[@unorthodoxpickle7014]

​@@finsternis1986 This is especially funnier when they vilify and berrate others like gay or trans people. So much for the "loving Christian"

[@mlgmelon]

More like it revolves around "us" and it's not unique to religion. Even science based views call humanity the universe's way of experiencing itself. Humans usually have a sense of self importance which makes sense since we're pretty unique.

[@RJS2003]

It's completely ludicrous and unfair to lump the innumerable normal, everyday Christians who aren't insane and don't weaponize their beliefs to obfuscate facts and deceive others with the meagre few who haven't had their egos checked. That's literally just as irrational as the creationists who point to one hole in the fossil record to say all of it is bogus. _They_ are the target of our ire. Not literally all Christians. Get your facts right or head on back to r/Atheism.

[@SkyKing-e4u]

With regards to the flood, "things get absurd very quickly" haha love this guy

[@FactStorm]

Lmao

[@ledrid6956]

You can't lie to me, I already know the end of evolution is crabs.

[@TheAncientAstronomer]

We're all going to become,,,CRABPEOPLE CRABPEOPLE CRABPEOPLE!😁

[@Kyeudo]

Not true. There's also weasels and dolphins.

[@blahblingo7605]

The end of evolution requires a shot to get rid of.

[@DanielMWJ]

Single-celled dogs be like: 😎 crab achieved.

[@cliftongaither6642]

😂😂

[@Nxck2440]

With every passing day, I wake up thankful that I was not raised creationist and have a clear head on such matters as evolution.

[@Maezumo]

Just Googled 'list of transitional species'. See you all in a few days. If not, hopefully a paleontology team will find my remains!

[@animeida3099]

I LOVE THIS SERIES SO MUCH! growing up under the literal tutelage (imposed by my father) of Kent Hovind- It feels good to have a real-world scientific rebuttal for everything i had to listen to growing up. Thank you Dave!

[@DoctorFudge]

This is certainly a nitpick but I wish the gradient you used ran from red to green, I've had a bit of success stumping a few science deniers who don't understand the idea that transitional species should demonstrate a gradient over time using the spectrum from red to green. The shifts are more visually striking and it made one of them very frustrated when I asked them to point to the exact spot on the gradient where red became green. Purple is also clearly not red or blue but that hard wall of yellow between red and green really tosses a wrench into the perception. The angry one said that it was a stupid question because we just arbitrarily define one color as green... Just like how humans define one population as being one species and another as another species based on factors we decided to base our distinction on.

[@flyingprist]

I guess that does work better because with purple, people know it as the color between red and blue but with blue (or yellow if going the other way around) people think its a color on its own (as if that means anything)

[@DoctorFudge]

​@@flyingprist Yes, straight from red to green through orange and yellow is what I meant. Red to blue through purple is interesting for other reasons not immediately useful to the demonstration that ranges on a gradient are defined by humans.

[@DanielMWJ]

Red to green is the same distance as red to blue. And with that color intensity, it'd be olive rather than yellow. (As it's purple rather than magenta) Also, red-green color blindness is the most common kind, so that's worth considering.

[@redstig08]

Professor Dave, Thank you for what you do! As someone who has a MA in biological anthropology, I’m impressed by how you hit nearly every major creationist talking point whilst presenting the paleoanthropological fossil record in a very digestible way. It’s videos like these, in my opinion, that do more good for science literacy of the public than semester long coursework.

[@POLARTTYRTM]

Creationists when denying evolution: 🤣😂🤪🤓🙄 Creationists when they learn bugs have become resistant to every pest control product out there: 😱😨😰😭🥶🤯

[@ThorDude]

Naw they just ignore it or say there's something wrong with the chemicals

[@kappasphere]

Clearly that's not an advantageous mutation, because it's bad for humans

[@budd2nd]

And that various bacteria can now digest both nylon and plastic. 👍🤣

[@tornadomash00]

@@kappasphere nature don't give a shit about one specific species

[@Hostefar]

Nah that's adaptation, totally different.

[@sara.carolinee]

an hour long professor dave debunking video? TURN IT UPPP

[@DataJack]

Fantastic, as usual.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Thanks for the contribution!

[@augustmarshall2961]

Never clicked on a notification so fast!

[@stilgar91]

The Cambrian explosion seems pretty rad, nobody's doubting that at least

[@darkness8488]

These videos are absolutely incredible and highly informative. If we ever reach a time when the theory of evolution is as universally accepted as other scientific theories, your contributions will be recognized as pivotal in making that happen. they’re very clear straight to the point and free! people should have no excuse not knowing this now.

[@sthed6832]

It's more accepted than most theories - by anyone with two brain cells to rub together, that is. These videos are great because they directly attack creationist crap with all the background information needed to understand why it is crap.

[@markvonwisco7369]

The most irritating creationist tactic is the way so many of them pretend the there have no advancements in evolutionary science since Darwin's publication of "On the Origin of Species!"

[@joshbarrett9274]

Nazi

[@johnfox9169]

Thanks!

[@LanceHall]

I think the relative long-term stability of some shark forms is because they are extremely mobile (can travel around the world) and wild variations get averaged out.

[@drit84]

I love this series. Appart from being useful for creationists arguments, it's a blast to learn these bits of scientific knowledge. Thank you!

[@silentbullet2023]

As a primate living on a dust particle smaller than a bacteria in space, I find it statistically unlikely that there aren't any other creative powers in the multiverse.

[@twonumber22]

checkmate atheists

[@orionx79]

Yeah the problem is, are they within a reasonable distance of us, to make it discoverable, like broadcast signals degrade past 200 ly years. Plus we are moving thru space, so no ones watching "i love lucy" some 125 light years from now, "detecting us". Thats the universal speed limit for communication, and its really slow when compared to the just the size of our galaxy. Let alone other galaxies.

[@orionx79]

Yeah the problem is, are they within a reasonable distance of us, to make it discoverable, like broadcast signals degrade past 200 ly years. Plus we are moving thru space, so no ones watching "i love lucy" some 200 from us 125 light years from now, "detecting us". Thats the universal speed limit for communication, and its really slow when compared to the just the size of our galaxy. And it degrades. Let alone other galaxies.

[@RDTRNT]

This is a fantastic series, tightly packed with information. Was happy to see Marbled crayfish mentioned here, a fascinating example of speciation that happened just 30 years or so ago. Keep up the good work!

[@toweypat]

Fun-ish fact: in just the western mountains of the USA, there are 100,000 avalanches each year, and they fatally cover about 28 people. So sediment certainly does not move too slowly to cover an organism.

[@seanmcdonough8815]

He knows a tot about science stuff

[@flyingprist]

Proffessor dave explains!

[@TFSMF2]

​@@flyingprist Doctor Daniel Divulges

[@philgrahamsinger]

Gotta remember the word "Nitroplast", that would make a great band name

[@crashveretia8046]

yippee!!! my mom loves to bring up this supposed "archaeological evidence" and then never share her sources lol

[@POLARTTYRTM]

Days ago I was arguing with a guy and he just asked me what do we use everyday that we learned from school because everything contradicts the Bible. Idk man, I don't think the internet and electronics work because the bible says so.

[@toweypat]

"What do you use every day that you learned at school?" The English language, for one.

[@weltschmerzistofthaufig2440]

This is what happens when students delude themselves into thinking that the subjects at school are beneath them. They then substitute their ignorance with blind faith and conspiracy theories. That's how you obtain gullible, scientifically illiterate adults.

[@thunderspark1536]

​@@toweypatMath, for two.

[@Ratgibbon]

Correct, to acquire technology you join the Adeptus Mechanicus and worship the Omnissiah, not what's in the Bible.

[@byrnemeister2008]

Missed opportunity. Your list is to serious. Pickup trucks, Hooters and Walmart.

[@sauhamm3821]

this... instead of going back and forth with the rabble, my man just put up a great wall of fortified common sense, around a town of calm logic. bravo mate.

[@jloiben12]

My favorite part of evolutionary biology is how the fundamental structure of it is so grounded in reality that to “debunk” evolutionary biology you basically have to falsify the economy. To say evolutionary biology is false basically means you have to say the economy isn’t a thing. That’s something one can do if they want… but that’s an awfully silly thing to do

[@absence9443]

Thank you very much for this series. While I do find your other discussions or debunks entertaining, having these generalized full-scale rebuttals really carries weight. If I were to point somewhere for a comprehensive overview, I now know where to point to :)

[@eziowayne]

Really appreciate all your work, Dave!

[@David34981]

Incredibly well-made series, Dave. You are a true hero.

[@vichtenchoo5956]

Im from Alabama, you couldn't imagine how much I appreciate this video series.

[@BuckScrotumn]

Brother you’ve gotta be the only person in Alabama who accepts evolution that’s gotta be rough. You have my sympathy. 😂

[@thylacoleonkennedy7]

I spent most of my undergrad and my whole honours learning about how genetics firmly supports evolution so I'm really keen for the next episode in this series.

[@circleo1992]

11:45 They say that variations within "kinds" is possible, but they say that it's not evolution even though it is. They just say that there's no common ancestry between all of the originally created "kinds."

[@Angelmou]

The issue is when you look at the ark of noah with mentioned "clean kinds" like the dove kind to be on the ark to fly away and back with the twig in the dove's beak. The question comes: Why do they wish to suggest that the pigeoness of doves and the birdness of doves and the saurian claw genes and teeth genes in the dove's DNA shall be a deception to deceive us? Same goes for fur genes and the primate/snout muzzle base for human faces to be flattened. The question that comes up is why is it portraying a deceiver/trickster deity.

[@Rayrard]

How do they deal with the reality that all of the modern day "kinds" disappear as you go deeper in the fossil record and are replaced by creatures that look kind of intermediate? I'm not aware of any floods sorting by complexity.

[@circleo1992]

@@Rayrard That's just another problem with people who believe in the Great Flood. I'm not aware of any of their explanations for this problem, but there definitely isn't a valid one.

[@gotankz4698]

Thank you for all that you do Professor Dave. Keep up the great work.

[@lordMartiya]

If the fossil record is a test of faith, where's Barney's fossil?

[@SEGAClownboss]

underrated comment

[@GadgetNeil]

I was always interested in science, and studied sciences throughout university. So, I can follow all of Dave's explanations, and in fact I am learning a lot, as there are details I was not fully aware of. But I am realizing something. To understand evolution, and all the sciences involved in the understanding (eg. biochemistry, cellular biology, genetics, paleontology), you need a decent science background. but consider how many people only took minimum required sciences in hi school (and likely didn't pay much attention, and have retained almost nothing into adulthood) - consider how hard it would be for them to understand modern science. How does evolution happen and how did humans evolve? How does a cellphone or computer work? How do airplanes fly? Why is climate change happening and why is it a huge problem? Sadly, a huge percent of the population (I fear it is the majority) do not have adequate science education in their background to understand these things. This wouldn't even be a problem, if people were aware of their ignorance and trusted scientists to inform them of their conclusions. But now we are in a world where more and more people are not science literate and on top of that have a belief that scientists can't be trusted. I fear for our future.

[@victorfinberg8595]

well said

[@synthetic240]

Exactly. The main way to inoculate against fascism, religious fanaticism, and extremism of all sorts is education. Fundamentalists understand that their authoritative, anti-science, and violent beliefs are deeply unpopular so they've been doing everything they can for decades to undermine the education system and drive people into home-schooling or private religious schools. It's bearing fruit because, well, the state of American politics has reached an all-time low and the dummies only want slogans and easy-to-digest information.

[@TheAncientAstronomer]

I can't wait until creationists flood ( no pun intended 😁) this comment thread!

[@Kyeudo]

Same.

[@Snowcat1970]

Get off my lawn!!! Gawd personally instructed Jeebus to create my lawn and now I am it's protector. That's why I need this shotgun, because Jeebus/Gawd protecting me means nothing!! 😉😉

[@shmoese]

Haha literally the comment above you

[@altair91100]

I understood the evolution when I had algorithms classes while studying computer science. We were designing an algorithm to solve Knapsack problem - it was given N number of elements of random volumes, and a 'knapsack' of volume V. Its goal was to put the elements in a way that most of the space is used. It was very simple; it was putting the elements in a random order first, and assuming it wasn't optimal, it randomly swapped one element for another that was outside of the 'knapsack' at that time. Then, it checked if the new solution is better (closer to optimum) or worse (further from optimum). If it was worse, the 'parent' solution was kept, if it was better, 'child' solution was kept and done the same thing again, until reaching optimum. So the survival factor of a certain solution was to be as close to optimum as possible, but the change within was completely random. The thing is that the algorithm didn't 'know' what it was looking for. Just like the evolution; it doesn't follow any guidline on how to create that specie or another, it's just the change of environment - in my algorithm it would be changing the N and the V - and other solutions would be more suitable than the others, while the algorithm would be exactly the same. It's mindless process that just promotes a specie that can, at the certain circumstance, multiply. I think studying of computer science and algorithms would turn so many creationists into evolutionists had they been given a chance to understand it lol

[@shmoese]

That's the thing with evolution. At first glance it may seem strange how something can just "design" itself, but the more you look, the more you realise how intuitive the concept actually is and how often it occurs.

[@sthed6832]

Excellent point. That's an example of a genetic algorithm, using evolutionary principles to solve search space problems. These things can also write programs (the first example was done by a researcher at IBM way back in 1960) which is good to use when some creationists say that DNA is a program (it isn't) and programs need intelligent creators (they don't.)

[@Nxck2440]

Unfortunately they just fall back to the intelligent design argument if you go this route. “Look, there’s an algorithm for life! Computer code!! codes need a creator!!” - Stephen Meyer, talking to himself in the shower every day

[@seanphelps4057]

"In the next installment we will discuss genetics." As a complete layman without an educatjon beyond middle school aside from using the internet, I cannot wait for you to teach me your funny words magic man. I seek the forbidden knowledge.

[@C3l3st14l_M4rk]

These videos are awesome, I can't wait for part 4

[@ATGC597]

I find debunking anti evolutionists far more important than debunking flat earthers.

[@rusblock]

he can do 2 things

[@211aonscratch4]

UW Geoscience student here. Thoroughly enjoyed the video. Just a couple things I felt like saying. First, yes, we have COUNTLESS fossils. Our lab is still trying to catalogue fossils collected in 2008, and we collect more every single year. Of course, this completeness only comes from where we can find fossils. To the point of the incompleteness of the fossil record, an important thing to add is that we can only work with what is exposed. For example, the Hell Creek Formation in Montana is much younger than the Morrison Formation in Colorado. Much of Colorado is higher in elevation, which generally promotes weathering/erosion, which is why the countless layers above the Jurassic Morrison Formation have weathered away, in contrast to the Hell Creek, where the higher, younger layers are still present because they haven't been thrust up as much by tectonic processes.

[@S1nwar]

Very thorough. Leave them no gaps to shift the goalpost to

[@emanueledebortoli2945]

Hell yeah, Evolution!

[@Yoursss_Trulyyy]

That’s right it will send you to hell

[@kaantax8666]

​@@Yoursss_Trulyyywomp womp

[@mrdraco3758]

​@@Yoursss_Trulyyy hell? you believe in hell? lmfao alright, let's question your belief in a "hell." there are some people rigged from the get-go to do bad, or be born into and influenced by a bad environment. how is it moral to send those people to hell if they couldn't controll where they were born? there are plenty of tribes around the world, some even unaware of our civilizations. most, if not all of them believe in a religion that isn't abrahamic, and a lot of them do things society would consider bad or immoral. will they go to hell? they don't know about the abrahamic religions, and neither are they aware about our society's moral standards. so is it fair to send them to hell? and in general, a lot of people around the world don't ever learn about abrahamic religions even if they are civilized, because they don't have contact with anyone that believes in abrahamic religion. some kids even in secular societies with all types of religions might hear about an abrahamic religion, but lets say they die before they're about to learn about that religion. will they go to hell? they were never able to learn about those religions, so is it their fault? hell is a concept conjured by an idiot, an inconsiderate one at that

[@tornadomash00]

@@Yoursss_Trulyyy womp womp

[@shadowofthemorning1927]

@@Yoursss_Trulyyy womp womp

[@xynthsneddon1450]

we need a collab between professor dave and miniminuteman

[@flyingprist]

Hell Yeah!

[@StopMotionDryptosaurus]

Absolutely

[@johngavin1175]

Googledebunkers. 😅

[@Kualinar]

2:10 I've seen that gradient, but presented in another way : A text over some 10 lines where the letters start blue and end red. The text ? An explanation about how evolution is a very gradual process. In our ears, we have another vestigial structure : Those three little bones that transmit and amplify the sound vibration that where originally part of the jaw's articulation. The creationist's book of species/kinds looks like an image book aimed at toddlers and preschoolers.

[@markdaniel9657]

The funniest thing about the Bible is that it constantly contradicts itself, and the first instance of it is the order in which God created everything changing between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2

[@Spielkalb-von-Sparta]

You don't even have to go so far. Creating light before the sun, creating day and night on day four…

[@FaustCrowley]

I think there are too many polysyllabic words for most YECs to understand, but this video has a lot of great points. Thank you Professor Dave.

[@HessianHunter]

Here's another fun piece of evidence of whales evolving from land-living mammals - While the mammalian olfactory system can still technically function underwater, it's not very useful. We know what genes code for scent receptors in mammals. In semiaquatic mammals like seals, some of these genes remain intact but some are "broken" - the fragments are identifiable but they're scattered around the genome so as to be nonfunctional. Presumably, those particular scent receptors weren't useful enough to these animals to select for keeping them around. In fully aquatic mammals, these receptors are all completely broken. Orcas don't even have lobes of their brain dedicated to processing smell, even though smelling blood like a shark can would be useful for them. If a future ancestor of cetaceans ever lives mainly on land, they won't be able to smell anything until they maybe painstakingly re-evolve some new receptors over eons. The only rational explanation for this is aquatic animals evolving from land-living ancestors. We didn't even have to rely on bone anatomy to prove it!

[@a2sbestos768]

Thank you, that's very neat

[@unrecognizedtalent3432]

Another mega video to add to Dave's never-ending catalog! 👏 👏

[@Soundbrigade]

As long as there are fraudsters out there, Dave will surely expand his video catalog.

[@TheTaelus]

If it’s alive, it’s transitional. If it’s dead, it died in transition.

[@Bangin0utWest]

They're transing our dead!

[@skepticalCoder]

Another great episode! I’m loving these. Thanks for taking the time to make this series 🎉

[@davesnothere420]

Shut down the "it's from the devil!" argument by explaining that Israelites didn't believe in the devil until the idea was borrowed from Zoroastrianism around the time of Jesus..

[@raptorcrasherinc.9823]

The people who "discovered" Nebraska man and Piltdown man should not have been embarrassed. They made honest mistakes and correct themselves when faced with new evidence, that is exactly what scientists are supposed to do.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

No piltdown was a fraud.

[@raptorcrasherinc.9823]

@@ProfessorDaveExplains They did not know that at the time, but he printed a retraction once they discovered that.

[@a2sbestos768]

@@raptorcrasherinc.9823 Nah, it was pretty much a fraud. I mean there was carefully crafted "apeman" skull with orangutan jaw mounted on. They knew what they were doing. The author always dreamed of "big discovery" and such. It's not exactly known who's the fraudster, however. There was a paper that basically claimed that the skull was fake a year after publication, but, I think it was ignored for a while. There's a version of it being an out-of-control prank, but British didn't have any decent human fossils of their own, so it was met there with pomp, and it was "awkward" to detract it. Also these were years of war and fossils were mostly a hobby to those people.

[@GrammeStudio]

if entire evolution field should be discarded due to few fabrication despite multitudes of evidence, shouldnt christianity be treated the same due to the same problem with debunked relics occuring? if evolution theory should be done with over its constantly revised understanding, shouldnt christianity be changed for its constant changing interpretation of verses. genesis used to be read figuratively by early church fathers now literally by literalists...

[@JGM0JGM]

Love the care with which the script was written. Clear and unambiguous sentences makes for an enjoyable listening, we don't have to scratch our head and try to figure out what you mean... A good example, and one that creationists should notice is the following: "It [nature] does what it does; but our inability to trap nature in our attempts at rigid categorization is in no way evidence against evolutionary principles." Indeed, creationists are always trying to play sematic games to score points, they fail every time, but we have to spend time deconstructing their lies, it can get tiring (like when they use "code" to talk about DNA, I'm sure you will bring it up in the "Genetic" part of this series).

[@tornadomash00]

31:06 professor do you happen to remember where you got that picture of folded strata from? that looks sick as hell and i really wanna do more research on where that place is

[@marknieuweboer8099]

Of course I also love that they accept micro-evolution, reject macro-evolution and again accept Hyperaccelerated evolution. Here another quote applies. "Iron Law of nature compels the various species to keep within the definite limits of their own life-forms when propagating and multiplying their own kind. The fox always remains a fox, the goose remains a goose and the tiger will retain the character of a tiger." It's from Mein Kampf. YECers do nót like the fact that they believe the same. Best one: the sloth. This nice animals sleep 19/24 and walk 180 meter an hour. Asking YECers how it travelled from South America to the Middle East never fails. When they reply "God used miracles" (magic) I reply "but you tell your god he couldn't have used abiogenesis and evolution to create the variety of species as we know it."

[@kappasphere]

The craziest part is how they then use "mein kampf = eugenics = neodarwinism = belief in evolution" to use the pseudoscience to discredit the actual science. It's like finding a flat earther to make predictions using astrology, and pointing out that those predictions are inaccurate and then using that to discredit the field of astronomy, because "astronomy = astrology" in the land of the dyslexic

[@perujones2]

My favorite tidbit related to this is that the terms “macroevolution” and “microevolution” were coined by Yuri Filipchenko, who was a well known eugenicist. He didn’t agree with the idea of natural selection and saw evolution as a normal developmental process in organisms, which sort of jives with the whole artificial selection but for humans thing. Not to say that *I* think a bad person having an idea makes that idea a bad one, but creationists certainly do. Edit; I just got to the part of the video where he is mentioned.

[@Akira-jd2zr]

When your answer is magic, you have lost the argument

[@sthed6832]

And you can no longer pretend that your nonsense is science and should be taught in schools. That's why they jump through all sorts of hoops saying it isn't magic, and call it creation science. Which it isn't. It's creation magic.

[@Joe-Przybranowski]

I LIKE the color gradient analogy! Don't know why I hadn't pictured that myself!

[@danielbrannon9513]

I grew up in a religious home. It was Noah's ark/ flood that first made me seriously question everything in the bible, and therefore god's existence. It's kind of a go-to when peopke ask why I don't believe in god. There are many reasons, but that has always been a solid starting point.

[@hzoonka4203]

Well done once again,this is easy to understand!

[@user-sh3cf7kd6e]

1:15 Oh, yeah? Than why does Pokémons "EVOLVE"? Can your science explain this?

[@Angelmou]

/watch?v=kTthcMOODvc dorkly explained that.

[@user-sh3cf7kd6e]

@@Angelmou I thought that Pokémon is based on a frog (which is, of course, an amphibian)

[@wut_the_fug]

Pokemon is a bloody franchise that some Japanese company made up... Can't differentiate fictions from the reality?

[@user-sh3cf7kd6e]

@@wut_the_fug Dude. It's a joke... I'm a biotechnologist

[@wut_the_fug]

​@@user-sh3cf7kd6eI have encountered much more idiotic questions from the creationists, it is sometimes hard to distinguish.

[@agustinfranco0]

you should have included the recurrent laryngeal nerve, i love that proof of evolution

[@peewee0224]

I will say it’s very telling that creationist will try to logically justify Noah’s ark rather than just saying it was all magic. It’s almost like they know the entire thing is ridiculous.

[@synthetic240]

It honestly is hilarious when they try to justify their beliefs with science when the whole point of miracles is that they defy natural law (aka "magic"). It's like they understand that rational people won't blindly accept magic so they have to trick people into thinking they're on the same side. Once they've got someone convinced they're talking to someone who cares about the truth, just like them, the theist can start in on the conspiracies and disinfo. I remember reading some JW / Watchtower propaganda they left behind. It starts out reasonable, acknowledging established science for many things, but it's just a trick to lower my guard because by the end it's doing the same thing every science-denier does: they pick a time period where science just stops advancing and act like nothing's happened in the decades since then.

[@davidmurphy563]

Fun fact: when disparate aspects and fields of science come together to reach the same conclusion it's called concordance. It's when uncertainty effectively vanishes and is an important concept in science.

[@THATGuy5654]

Just a small correction: those chickens with the feathers instead of scales on their legs don't look "kind of funny;" they look "fly as hell."

[@ArKritz84]

Except they still can't fly very well. 😢 😂

[@waelfadlallah8939]

Sir, your logic is undeniable!

[@YEY0806]

There is something hilariously ironic about theists needing direct evidence to believe in evolution

[@rhouck8407]

46:24 ah the mustard plant. My favorite thing to use in many discussions. Thank you for including this

[@prschuster]

You can't be a Young Earth Creationist, and still be scientifically literate.

[@Sarvibolt]

A good series, more people need to see this.

[@Geek37664]

It took me a while to accept that the indifference of nature to our existence is the ultimate reality. I wasn’t a creationist but I felt that humans held a special place because we split the atom, turned electricity into computing power et al. I think this is why creationism hangs on so tightly as it does. They don’t like their feelings of being special hurt or threatened.

[@synthetic240]

I try to see consciousness as the universe being aware of itself. I think consciousness is something special enough to want to preserve, generally. As far as we know we're the only species to do the things we've done. I just wish people would be nicer to one another lol.

[@bamboozled8955]

A view opposite to the commenter above, personally I don't think consciousness is all that amazing. While yes, like you said, we can split the atom, intelligence like that is also capable of incredible unnecessary evil and suffering, not just for ourselves but almost every other species as well. It might be more like a punishment if you see it from that perspective

[@Specter_stuff]

I don't feel like we're special, but I feel like us recognizing that we aren't special is special.

[@YoshYouYube]

Well I'm not a creationist but we are kind of special. As we are _the only_ specie which split atom or create art and infrastructure on such scale. When you see all those extinct animals it really hits how small part of that genealogy tree high intelligent live is.

[@muchanadziko6378]

12:43 This is actually something I hoped someone with greater knowledge than I have would explain to me. I mean, the emergence of self-replicating life is very unlikely, and though nobody says it happened once, it couldn't have had happened thousands of times over. How then, in the natural/biological/etc way, did populations evolve in a healthy manner?

[@lezeger40]

dave when is the eric weinstein debunk coming out, after this series?

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

yep soon, the script is written

[@byrnemeister2008]

Good, that charlatan needs a serving of humble pie!!

[@bomanaxelsson]

@@ProfessorDaveExplainsYOU HAVE A SCRIPT?!?! Sorry, couldn’t resist. Looking forward to it!

[@andersonpallot8784]

Dave, you forgot to mention the "You cannot prove they had any childreen" argument and how that is complete irrelevant because fossil represents a population.