To the religious zealot denouncing evolution in Santa Monica

If you haven’t been to Santa Monica there is an area called the Third Street Promenade where some people go to shop and others try to make a few bucks by “performing” on the street.

Last night I was on the promenade and a few guys had a microphone and projector set up, challenging anyone to “refute evolution.” I saw a teenage boy give it a shot. He noted the similarities between chimpanzees and humans (opposable thumbs, etc.) and asked the presenter to give an alternate explanation if evolution wasn’t responsible for the resemblance.

The head whackjob said something like “That is a complete non sequitur, have you ever taken a logic class? That doesn’t even make sense. One does not follow from the other. Next!”

Don’t get me wrong, I hate evolution just as much as the next ethnocentric, illiterate, imbecile but there’s a pretty big problem with what Mr. straight-from-god-himself was doing.

The theory of evolution is an empirical theory, meaning it is a system of belief based on physical evidence. It is not a logical or a priori truth which can be proven independently of sense experience like 1+1=2. The fact that the theory of evolution is not a logical truth has nothing to do with whether it is actually right or wrong.

Now, our anti-evolution friend was asking for a logical proof for evolution. There is no logical proof for evolution because there is no logical proof for any empirical theory. It is a matter of definition. Asking for a logical proof of evolution is akin to challenging someone to draw a square circle. It is impossible to draw a square circle but that doesn’t mean squares and circles don’t exist. Douche bag

Update: after writing this post I saw this picture on digg.com and thought it was rather appropriate