Since I was thinking about this on the way here (where here is, you don't kneed to know) it may be valid to add another writeup.

The confusion evident in the node The theory of evolution is not a valid theory is probably because of the different meanings of the word evolution. Here is the simplest definition:

Evolution = Change over time

In this sense, everything evolves - yes even Everything :) Rocks evolve, cars evolve, keyboards evolve. I don't just mean successive keyboards are different (and possibly better). It also covers change to an individual object - the gradual rusting of a wrecked car, the weathering of a rock.

However the evolution of a system is much more complex than that of a 'simple' object. If you watch a rock for 100 years you will not learn very much about rocks. Watch a paramecium for five minutes and a whole range of behaviours is visible. 'Natural' evolution could be the movement of a single cell as much as it is change of a global ecosystem. The most important feature of life is that it operates on a range of scales - both time and space. Similar principles apply to cells as apply to organisms or superorganisms. Biological systems both respond to external changes (the weather) and to internal ones (hunger).

If life was predictable, it wouldn't be complex enough.


tdent points out that laws of nature don't evolve.

See : Evolution is only a theory; it hasn't been proved.