It would be so much easier to comprehend this stuff if we didn’t need to use a human brain to grasp it. Since we’re wired toward task-based and result-oriented thinking, it’s natural for some folks to conclude that the natural world has some type of deliberate guidance. Note that I said “some type” and not “God” as we know it.

The true answer to this is that it’s very likely to be a combination of the two positions. I like to think that since we can absolutely observe mutations in a species over time that aspects of the evolutionary theory are absolutely correct. What cannot be proven (or disproven) is that environmental forces are the guiding roulette wheel for this process. What also cannot be proven (or disproven) is that we may be getting a peek inside “the toolbox” as to how species evolve. Any entity that has the capability of altering a species is not going to build one from scratch like assembling a steam engine.

What’s an absolute certainty, though, is that within the next 50 years two things WILL occur.

1. There will eventually be satellite technology that will have detection capabilities for locating any fossil above a certain size and within a certain depth of rock. This will greatly help us with fleshing out the fossil record to locate additional transitional species. Will it be prohibitively expensive? Likely, but the technology will be there.

2. Computing power will also be strong enough to simulate enough of the natural world to mimic perfectly the conditions that evolution proponents maintain are causing natural selection. By the time that computing power arrives, we’ll also know if there’s another natural force that’s guiding this process that we’re currently unaware of.

We would all be better served, though, if scientific thinkers didn’t go out of their way to remove religion from society and religious people from going out of their way to insert their religious views into scientific discourse.

In short, the topic doesn’t need to resemble the abortion debate where both sides are guided by passion instead of reason and that’s precisely what’s occurring in this arena.