Warp wrote:
>   This is an example of a measurement which we can do right here right now.
> It doesn't require humongous amounts of time.

Yep.

>   Now, if I say "the current consensus among scientists is that the theory
> of evolution is mostly correct", that doesn't mean I have the same degree
> of confidence in it as with the GPS thing.

Yeah, until you get drug-resistant TB. Then you're kind of screwed.

>   In the exact same way as we cannot check how the expansion of the
> universe has occurred during millions of years, we cannot check how
> evolution has occurred during millions of years. We can speculate from
> some of the consequences, but it's only speculation. We cannot measure
> here and now.

Fair enough. But you're not checking that GR worked for millions of 
years. You can't check that *any* theory has been correct for millions 
of years. It's nothing specific to evolution.

You can watch evolution and speciation in the lab. You can cause it to 
happen at will. You can see millions of years of results consistent with 
evolution, from bone shape to genetics.  You can prove that bone shape 
is *caused* by genetics.[1] You have to account for it when creating 
medicines. Software and hardware you use daily is designed with 
evolutionary algorithms.

Not sure how you can't measure "here and now" what evolution does.

What part do you think is in doubt?

>>> but we can't go back in time a few million years to check evolution
> 
>> Sure we can. That's what fossils are for. Same way we check things like 
>> binary stars obeying GR and black holes obeying GR.
> 
>   Says the person who takes expansion of the universe and dark energy
> with a grain of salt, and seriously considers alternative theories...

Yep. Because we have tons of other ways of checking the same thing. 
That's what makes it a theory instead of a hypothesis: You get the same 
answer when you measure the value with a dozen different independent 
experiments.


[1] Apparently, the same gene that causes there to be five fingers is 
also related to sexual reproduction, so almost all mammals, birds, and 
fish that have anything even remotely like hands and feet, wings, 
flippers, fins, etc have five bones in them. Not something you'd expect, 
until you look at the genes that cause that, and see they also cause 
stuff necessary for sexual reproduction.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     It's not feature creep if you put it
     at the end and adjust the release date.

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