First Female Republican V.P. Candidate

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But what proof is there that they've evolved? Because they share similarities? Because they've got comparable DNA? What does that prove, other than the fact that they've got comparable DNA?

I can show you two beings with an apple in their hand, and that doesn't mean one evolved from the other, it means they both picked up an apple.

What's more, where did the DNA come from? What CREATED the DNA?

The fact that humans have DNA very comparable to chimpanzees proves nothing, if it weren't for the fact that we can also compare the traits of humans and chimps. Does it surprise you that the DNA of humans and chimps is 98% the same when you look at all their similar structure(also called homologous structures)? It shouldn't. Similarly, we share 85% of our DNA with Zebra Fish. At first glance fish and humans don't seem similar, but relative to the rest of the animal kingdom they are. Both are vertebrae, and vertebrae animals are a small percentage of species in the animal kingdom. They have also developed bilateral symmetry, which is one of the first ways to divide species in the animal kingdom.

Now look at a cladogram, which has a "branch" where each species loses a common trait. So in this case, the chimpanzee has all of the branch traits, and the hagfish has none.

Can you look at this picture and see that as organisms on the cladogram have more in common with chimpanzees, the percentage of DNA they share with humans would increase? A mouse is a mammal, and shares many characteristics with humans. They have four limbs, live berth, teeth, hair, cephalization (a trait common in many animals), live on land, and many more traits.

As for the origin of DNA, there are ideas for where it cam from, but none of those is relevant to the function of DNA. The fact that I don't know where DNA came from doesn't mean the entire Theory of Evolution is null and void. The argument for saying "it's just a theory" is also pretty ridiculous, look up the definition of scientific theory and you'll find that in order to become a theory a "scientific idea" must undergo rigorous testing. In science a theory is a testable model for a natural phenomena. A theory must be able to make predictions about what will happen, and must be able to withstand the rigors of scientific experiments. So far no legitimate scientific experiments have disproved evolution.

Some reading material:
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Hu...info.shtml - This will help you understand just how much DNA we have and how much it codes for.

http://www.thetech.org/genetics/common.php - how much DNA we share with some well known species.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topi...7/homology - homology and its application in evolution

...hopefully this doesn't make me sound "pretentious", and provides SOME explanation for my beliefs.