I used to take a real hard stance against arguments like yours, because, they are pure ignorance.
But, I have seen enough bullshit in the last 5 years or so that I am willing to entertain your point.
You are demonstrably wrong but you are ABSOLUTELY correct about not trusting any authority on anything. Humans are full of shit and those in positions of power are only marginally better at knowing what is true about their field than a layman.
So, obviously:
1) Evolution is real. Evolution is the math of imprecise and dirty systems. The universe is an imprecise and dirty systems, evolution is just the accumulation of change over time * adaptive pressure (read: death).
This is as much theore as the idea that 2 + 2 = 4 is a theory.
2) Where I start to take exception to archeologists and standard narrative is the assumption that you can take a set of archeological finds and organize them into an evolutionary tree with only one possible organization.
I agree with the general arechological position that their existing theories are true until better theories are proposed and evaluated, I'm fine with them being impermiable to change. That I dont' care about.
So, in a way it doesn't matter that they aren't open to new interpretations, but it it is blindingly obvious that you can re-arrange the human archeological finds in many many many different ways that could imply all sorts of things.
But, that is just a quibble. Evolution is real, BUT, I support your idea of not trusting authority and will keep on reading for evidence of their failures and biases.
The key to evolution is the ratchet effect: random changes, with the good ones locked in and reproduced more than the bad ones. Then you don't need the eye to suddenly form, you just need slightly better and better eyes. The fucking thing has evolved multiple times! Our eyes have the light-gathering parts on the back side. Some animals have it on the front, where it gathers more light.
This is not to rule out other things, but we can see evolution in our lifetimes. You can do it with fruit flies and other organisms (see: super bugs). I remember reading about it happening with the soot on trees during the industrial revolution. The birds adapted to match the color of it, since the ones that stood out got eaten.
That is incredibly well worded. Right, the ratchet effect.
That concept actually explains most of the cultural drift that we see today. Yes it was curated to some extent, but in reality we allowed the ratchet effect to control our culture as opposed to the other way around and those that were ready took the opportunities presented to them by the evolution of our culture.
I read a similar description in a programming forum the other day talking about what common lisp is not a popular programming language. Once guy summarized it basically as not having that killer app that is making so much money forcing people to come to the ecosystem and then have the programmers version of the stockholm syndrome keep them there until critical mass is reached.
Ratchet effect. Thanks for that.
on Info Galactic (Google won't even show you the site in search results, even if you name it).
Thinking about culture, the ratchet effect would explain the often-repeated quote
Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.
The ratchet effect is only active during hard times, so people have to get their shit together or die. But then when times are good, there's less selection pressure so bad things can flourish. We need some way to keep pressure so only the good, beneficial aspects of culture endure. In nature the pressure is always on so it doesn't degenerate as much.
But I never said that Evolution, Medicine or Space is not real.
What I said, is that it is ok to challenge the orthodoxy and once you stop dismissing all of your opponents as Flat Earthers, you might be able to find some common ground.
I just didn't expand on it, because this place is already full of people that challenge orthodoxy and full blown schizos.
Space is real. Coll stuff is out there, But its ok to argue that Richard Branson (the Virgin guy) or even Elon Mask are full of shit
Vaccines are real. They saved lives and eradicated disease...but its ok to argue that some vaccines are not necessary , are unsafe or whatever.
Doctors save lives. But they also mutilate penises, prescribe cancerous chemical hormone coctails to teens, drugs, circumsize babies, maybe even female babies(!), advocate that AIDS is OK and do all sorts of retarded shit (in the past they even lobotomised people and recommended smoking).
Dinosaurs are real.But that fucking Pterodactyl cant fly for shit.
https://jssocial.pw/ppkey/fget/pic8/upload/wDZCcvMhDh.png
This pterodactyl is hands down the most retarded shit I've ever seen.
I find it easier to believe in the IronMan nano suite than the existence of this Pterodactyl.
Why does it even have such a massive beak? Is it because it needs to eat the gigantic nectar from the gigantic 17 meter tall flowers?
I said unbalanced...can you imagine an Airbus where 99% of its total weight is in the front and its wings are in the rear?
Look at those fucking toes....can you imagine a giraffe without hooves?
The more you look at it, the more retarded it gets.
Can you even imagine this thing mating?
This is a great great answer.
Ha! Agreed on all points. I honestly have to say that it never occured to me to question if that thing could fly, I just took it for granted.
I now agree with you. It's the size of a giraffe, that isn't flying anywhere. It might be an example divergent evolution where a species develops flight but evolutionary pressures force it to maybe re-adapt back to land. Kind of like seals originally evolving into a bear / wolf like create from a fish / amphibian but then went into water.
I have to admit, I too now am far more open to just listening to everyone, including flat earthers.
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