What has the theory of evolution actually done to help humanity?

Question

I've tried to think of one but I can't. Learning how species are related is good to know, but it's not particularly helpful. And this is about the only thing that comes to mind since there isn't a working model (one that can make predictions) for evolution.

Help with this? And Please keep in mind that I'm strictly talking about the theory of evolution, not genetics, not bioengineering, just the theory itself.

Thanks!

Answer 1

It certainly is useful - it's the concept that ties all of biology together. Part of the problem is that nothing in science exists in isolation. You *can't* look at evolution without also considering genetics, physiology, biochemistry, or even "unrelated" fields like chemistry and physics.



Even if you narrow down the scope to the smallest possible level, evolution has still helped us. It's the basis for using animal models to investigate biology and advance medical science. It's how we understand antibiotic resistance, and come up with ways to get around it. It's incredibly useful in agriculture and breeding livestock.



The claim that we don't have a working model of evolution is also simply untrue. We make predictions based on the theory, and test them all the time. Often they are predictions about how something evolved in the past, and what evidence we will find. Most of the time, it involves actual population studies and lab experiments. If there was no model, then there would be no theory - and the thousands and thousands of papers on the subject could not exist.

Answer 2

Knowing that species have common ancestors doesn't have many applications to humans in particular. It's useful for predicting similarities, eg, if humans and guinea pigs produce identical insulin molecules then let's see whether pigs do too.



But the process of mutation + natural selection has been incredibly helpful to understand.



The acquired resistance in disease-causing bacteria to penicillin and other antibiotics is evolution. Because we know how it works, doctors are very careful about antibiotic prescriptions so as to minimize that resistance.



Every year there's a different flu vaccine, because flu viruses evolve to be immune to the previous year's vaccine. Researchers are (usually) able to predict which vaccine will be necessary each year.



Species in an ecosystem adapt to each other. But a species carried to a foreign ecosystem finds no predators or parasites, and therefore rapidly out-competes the native species. We know to prohibit the introduction of such invasive species and to destroy them quickly if we depend on a native plant or animal.

Answer 3

Well, mostly it is like the Plate Tectonic Theory, in that it does not do anything directly, but leads investigations into specific directions, and those investigations give benefits, both directly and indirectly. The main areas where direct benefits arise from the Theory of Evolution are genetics and ecology/species distribution-support-control. And, of course, understanding evolution leads to understanding biological functions: medical applications appear to be the dominant benefits from that research.

Answer 4

I am kept alive by insulin made by genetically-engineered bacteria. No one would have ever even thought to try to make such a thing - and the entire concept would never have worked at all - if not for the theory of evolution suggesting that E. coli and humans share enough commonality that a human gene could be expressed by a bacterium.

Answer 5

Yea, knowing how the organs evolved and why they are in there given position, and how much our ancestors looked like us AND how the hell we came to be us from a single cellular organism is not useful all at...

Btw Evolution is the theory that gave us a way to do artificial evolution

Answer 6

In order to predict the future, you have to understand and learn from your past.



Knowing evolution from history will guide how things will evolve in the future. It's how scientists can anticipate how breeding one dog with another will evolve into a new species (look at the Labridoodle!). It can be useful in anticipating how viruses like the flu or ebola could evolve based on what they evolved from.



There's a LOT of applications for the "theory of evolution".



It's not a perfect science...but really...nothing is perfect.

Answer 7

Let me get you started here. This poster often gives a very nice, short list of just a few of the accomplishments of the application of evolutionary theory. I'll look for one of his lists.





What is useful about Creationism?



"Young Earth creationist leaders are careful to do no actual science. This is indicated by the scarcity of patents with their names as inventors in any field of biotechnology or medical research. They never discover anything, they never invent anything. By contrast, genuine scientists in these fields have tens of thousands of patents spread across a wide range of topics.



Young Earth creationist leaders only preach to the public, they know if they tried to preach to the biotechnology, agrochemical, pharmaceutical, oil and mining industries among others they would be hurled out on their ears.



All young Earth creationists leaders are completely deluded or fraudulent and their followers have the insane idea that virtually all astronomers, cosmologists, planetary scientists, geologists, physicists, chemists, biologists etc in every country of the world are conspiring against a minority of mostly American sects." - Brigalow Bloke



Polio vaccine, injectable

Polio vaccine, oral

MMRV (Measles, Mumps, Rubella & Varicella) Vaccine

Influenza vaccine

Insulin from genetically modified bacteria

Most, if not all, drugs and medicines developed in the last 100 years



Matthew 7:16 and Medical Research



What are the “fruits” of Creation Science in Medical Research?



Evolution is a Foundation Science that makes progress in the Biological Sciences possible. "Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution." - Theodosius Dobzhansky



Creationists are well funded. Is any of that money directed into Medical Research? Name an advance in medical science made in the last 100 years that is based on Creationism, Intelligent Design or any other theory for the diversity of life that we see and insight into how biology works. What has been Creation Sciences contribution to the human race? Are any Creation Scientists working on a general cure for cancer, an Ebola Vaccine, any thing like that? (NOTE: I am NOT asking, “Are there any Christian medical researchers?” There are a lot of those and every one of them apply the principles of and understanding of biology from Evolutionary Theory. I am asking, “Are there any Creationists medical researchers that apply the principles of and understanding of biology from Creation Theory?”)





EDIT:



Creationists well funded? I wish.

CRR · 13 hours ago





Gee, CRR, you mean the faithful don't send money to their Fundamentalist Preachers? Sorry, I guess I was wrong. They live a Christ like life style? Really?



Doesn't the rest of the money the faithful donate go to colleges to train Creation Theory Medical Researchers and fund private Creation Theory Medical Research Foundations? Do any of those exist? If not, why not? Why are Creation Theorists not bringing their superior understanding of how biology works to the rest of us.



If Creation Theory is useful, you need to tell us how. We keep asking for a list of Creation Theory accomplishments and you keep ducking the question. Come on, show us your stuff (This, of course, assumes there exists something to show.)

Answer 8

Let's put it this way, the biotechnology / pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries would not work without it.



Now, here's a copy and paste of one of my standard answers for questions like this.



Some "evolutionist" scientific achievements since 1961 -



1961 Crick, Brenner et al discover that three nucleotide bases are needed to code for amino acids, confirming a suggestion by nuclear physicist George Gamow.

1963 Effective measles vaccine.

About 1964 Har Gobind Khorana and others work out the genetic code.

1969 Arber and Meselson confirm that restriction enzymes cleave DNA.

1969 Rubella vaccine.

1971 Measles, mumps, rubella combination vaccine.

1972 Berg produces the first artificial recombinant DNA molecules.

1973 Boyer and Cohen make the first transgenic organism.

1978 Riggs and Itakura make the first genetically engineered insulin.

1978 Fred. Sanger et al publish the dideoxy chain termination analysis of DNA.

1980 Frank Fenner oversees the eradication of smallpox.

1980 Robert Gallo et al identify the first human retrovirus.

1983 Recombinant insulin placed on market.

1988 Kary Mullis et al publish the polymerase chain reaction.

1988 Richard Lenski begins long term Escherichia coli experiment.

2000 Craig Venter et al publish a rough draft of human genome.

2005 Rough draft of chimpanzee genome published.

2006 Final draft of first human genome project completed.

2007 Horse genome completed.

2007 Anti-herpes vaccine.

2012 Richard Lenski's long term experiment continues, having demonstrated evolution of citrate metabolism in E. coli.



Thousands of patents in various forms of biotechnology outlining useful or potentially useful inventions.



In 1961 creationist Henry Morris founded the Institute for Creation Research. In 1978 Ken Ham and a few others founded the Creation Science Foundation, which broke up to form Creation Ministries International and Answers in Genesis about 2006. Others have also started their own organisations. Taken together, these ministries have hundreds of employees.



Some "conservative Christian" scientific achievements since 1961 -



About 1970 Henry Morris misrepresents the probability of producing a protein.

1970s Duane Gish lies about the laws of thermodynamics.

1980 Barry Setterfield lies about the velocity of light.

1980s The Creation Research Foundation lies about a fibrous mineral being paper.

1982 Duane Gish lies about the Australopithecus fossil "Lucy" and Lord Solly Zuckerman. Though corrected on at least four occasions through the 1980s, he continues to lie about the matter until at least 1995.

1985 Duane Gish lies about Eugene Dubois, the Wadjak skulls and Java man.

1961 - 2015 Creationists persistently lie about what biological evolution actually is.



No identifiable patents. Creationism has led nowhere except an orchestrated litany of lies.



Matthew Chapter 7, Verse 16. "By their fruits shall ye know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"

Answer 9

The theory of evolution has actually done quite a bit to help humanity.



Evolutionary theory has proved itself to be of enormous benefit to humanity because of the advancements it has produced in its application in genetics, medicine, agriculture, etc.



http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2009/02/evolutionary-co.html

http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA215.html

http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/pigliucci.html



So, evolutionary theory has proved itself to be of considerable benefit to humanity.



And that is in stark contrast to creationism, which has absolutely no scientific evidence in support of it and is not the basis for ANY scientific advancements that has helped humanity. Furthermore, the promoters of creationism resort to to falsehoods, misrepresentation, and outright lies in their attempts to promote their beliefs, which certainly is of no benefit to humanity, particularly when creationists try to get their crap taught in schools.



As for your "...there isn't a working model (one that can make predictions) for evolution." You are wrong there. Numerous predictions have been derived from evolutionary theory and have been verified.



See my answer here concerning the prediction of what should be found in the fossil record.



https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20140412230820AAuqb22

Answer 10

Very little, although some like to claim things that have a superficial and tenuous relation to the theory.



Vaccination was invented first by Jenner in 1796 based on observation and without any benefit of the theory of evolution. Pasteur also developed vaccines but again without relying on evolution. Natural selection explains antibiotic resistance but no new bacteria has ever been observed to evolve.



Modern evolution theories incorporate genetics but genetics does not depend on evolution theory. Genetics was developed by Mendel although the understanding of DNA came much later. Darwin's theory of evolution was based on heritability but his followers were originally hostile to Mendel's ideas.



Genetics, not evolution, has given us such things as insulin made by genetically-engineered bacteria.



Genetics has also been helpful in agriculture and breeding livestock, but these have been practiced for millenia before evolution theory. Darwin based his theory on domestic breeding, not the other way around.



[edit] "@CRR

Jenner had the advantage of Cow Pox. He had no idea how or why it worked. Could we have used Jenner's method (?) to create a vaccine for Polio or Influenza? It is the understanding of that evolution supplies of how biology works that has powered medical research."

OldPilot · 9 hours ago



Precisely. Neither Jenner or Pasteur needed the theory of evolution to develop vaccines. Just because the theory of evolution (TOE) was proposed before some other vaccines were developed does not mean that it was necessary for their development. Microbiology and genetics have greatly assisted in development of vaccines but neither of these is dependent on the TOE. (Although TOE is dependent on genetics)



[edit] Can you match Metadata Brandis's list below? What have your guys done that even approaches that list?

OldPilot · 9 hours ago



First let Brandis show that each of those is beneficial and that TOE is a necessary precondition. E.g. as shown above TOE was not necessary for the development of vaccines.



What has Lenski's long term E. coli experiment done to help humanity? Contrary to what B says it did not even demonstrate the "evolution" of citrate metabolism since they already had the genes but normally don't use it in oxic environments. It happened due to a LOSS of regulation of those genes that allowed them to operate in oxic environments. Lenski's experiment provides support for what Creationists have been saying for years.



[edit]

"The Lenski E coli: Only 1 (count it, 1) culture is metabolizing citrate. If what you say is true, why are the rest of the cultures unable to metabolize citrate? So, a loss that allows an organism to prosper is NOT Survival of the Fittest. Ahh, do you think God turned those genes ON for that culture so it could prosper or do you think it happened through the mechanisms of evolution? Note, it takes 2 mutations in the E coli genome to get that result."

OldPilot · 14 hours ago



It is an adaptation to the environment but it did not come from evolution of new genes.



One population, designated Ara-3, evolved to use the citrate in oxic conditions. Normally ALL strains of E. coli can use citrate in anoxic conditions; i.e. the genes for citrate metabolism were already there but are normally inactivated when oxygen is present because it is inefficient. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_experiment.



NO NEW GENES! However in one strain the genes have been copied to an area where they are not under normal regulation which means they are permanently switched on. In normal environments this would be a harmful mutation and would be removed by natural selection. Only in the citrate rich laboratory culture is this an advantage.



Overall these are quite paltry results for an experiment which was designed to produce experimental evidence of evolution. So far it has only demonstrated the types of adaptation within the kind that are consistent with Creation.

Answer 11

NOTE PLEASE the affect it had on the monster Hitler & his genocide buddies , in their sick view of life:



*** g87 3/8 p. 14 Part 1—1920-1928 The Roaring Twenties—Lull Before a Storm ***



Darwin’s theory of evolution also helped erode belief in God and the Bible. Its effects upon world history should not be underestimated, as the book Europa zwischen den Kriegen (Europe Between the Wars) tells us. It calls Hitler a “genuine social Darwinist” WHO FIRMLY BELIEVED (my caps ) that "SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST" is a law of nature. “His concept of war,” explains its author, Hermann Graml, was that it “was a completely normal form of national intercourse necessary for strengthening ones own people, and which the true statesman would repeatedly try to bring about himself."



AS TO BENEFICIAL affects of Bible principles & hope on to people in outstanding ways , Note the VERY FIRST , motion color picture & sound drama on man's need of humanity! Beginning showing in January 11, 1914! THIS VIEWED by 9 million people in 1914!



SPREADING THE GOSPEL THROUGH MOTION PICTURES



".....The 1890’s introduced silent motion pictures to the public. As early as 1903, a religious film was shown in a New York City church. The motion-picture industry was thus in its infancy in 1912 when Russell boldly launched preparations for the “Photo-Drama.” He realized that this mode of communication could convey Bible truth in a way that the printed page alone could not...."



PLEASE NOTE the 3 min. synopsis of the 8 hr ."Photo-Drama of Creation"



http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20140215/photo-drama-of-creation/#?insight

Answer 12

Me neither

Darwin gave us Hitler, Stalin and Mao

oh yes

and Communism

Answer 13

Revealed the truth, just like any other well supported scientific discovery.

Answer 14

Does it matter. Being right does not hurt it .