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Who in history (either present or in the past) do you think has had the biggest positive impact on humanity? (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by Aurelius@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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[–] clot27@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I dont think evolution should be considered just a theory now,, its basically proven.

[–] thebardingreen@lemmy.starlightkel.xyz 17 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Theory doesn't mean what people think it means.

Culturally, we misunderstand theory to be equivalent to "hypothesis," meaning "We have an idea, now we need to prove or disprove it."

But accurately, theory means "We have a framework of interrelated ideas that fit the observable evidence." In that sense, evolution is an EXTREMELY well supported theory.

Gravity is also a theory. So are general and special relativity. So is all of quantum physics.

[–] clot27@lemm.ee 6 points 8 months ago

I see, thanks for the nice explanation

[–] Kindness@lemmy.ml 3 points 8 months ago

You are wonderful. Well put.

[–] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago

In addition to what The Bard In Green said, while we know that evolution does happen, there is a lot of debate over what is its main driving force. Darwin argued that the main force was natural selection, and most biologists agree with him. But there are also other schools, such as Kimura's neutral theory (evolution is caused primarily by luck) and Margulis's symbiosis theory (evolution is caused primarily by mutualism).