I'm actually very curious as to what people think. I have my own reasons for asking these questions! I'll clarify later, but I don't want to get into a religious debate in this thread (feel free to start another thread for that if you want)!

It really would be great if people answered this poll WITHOUT READING OTHER PEOPLE'S ANSWER FIRST!

Please answer

a)Do you believe in evolution? (ie all life on Earth began from simple microbes, etc)
b)How old is the Earth?

(a) is really a yes/no question. Please don't go into a discourse.

For (b) give me your best idea. 5000 years? 10,000 years? 10 Million Years? Whatever you think.

thanks in advance everyone

cheers,

-astropi

It seems more plausible than the other stories I've heard, so, yeah, I do believe in it.

Judging from the evidence we have, the current consensus is somewhere around 4,6 billion years, I think.

A. Sure
B. No idea, but a few billion years sounds reasonable.

A) Believing implies uncertainty. I don't believe in evolution any more than I believe in my cat.
It's THERE.

B) I've read some books on the age of the universe and like DK said, scientists estimate it at 4,7 billion or something. Sounds acceptable. There's more than enough evidence that Earth is at least several hundred million years old.

LIKE THIS TOPIC OF DISCUSSION.
/jk

What I meant when I wrote that I "believe" in evolution is that from the limited information I've gathered on the subject throughout my life, the theory of evolution seems to me the best way to explain how life has developed. It is a belief and not absolute knowledge because there is (as in all theories) an amount of uncertainty there, both in the theory itself and in my acceptance of it. If I am to be philosophically frank, I wasn't there to see it happen, so I can't be absolutely sure of it. And while I believe the theory of evolution to be true, I'm still not as sure of it as I am of the existence of an individual cat (the cat being much easier to empirically verify, namely by playing with it).

A.) I vote yay for evolution; there's no way that this little focker has been here since Day One.

2.) I read that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old, while the starstuff we're all made of formed from the solar nebula around 4.55 billion years ago. But what do I know, I'm just some dork with astronomy textbooks and a monocular.

A) In spite of you demanding a yes or no, belief (or anything else) is rarely that simple. Evolution works for me as a starting point or part of a process but I'm not all that sure, to be honest.

B) No idea. All I can say from my experience is that it's at least 35 years old and even that I can't be certain of.

how can we have this thread without paying homage to Mr Garrison's explanation of evolution...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMRpa_W-YSg

1. Sure, in the sense that I believe things have evolved.  At what point it started or how is a little more uncertain.

2. If I remember correctly, it's estimated at 4 and a half billion years or something like that?

1.) Yes, I believe in evolution.
2.) I think it's about 4.5 billion years old.

Is that humanly possible? I mean so far so good but....

a) Yes, if I had to choose. The genetic evidence points strongly in that direction.

b) 4.5 billion as they say, though the methods used seem to assume certain constants over time. I haven't read too deeply on radiometric dating and the particulars of carbon decay, earth's magnetism, etc.

1) yes
2) 4.5-4.8 billion years old. This number is pretty consistent everywhere I've read (well, scientifically, anyway. ) and is supported well enough by findings.

1. Yes

2. I'm gonna agree with 4.6 Billion. I remember reading that in a book somewhere.

1) I pity the fools who don't believe in evolution.
2) I assume that world is atleast 26 years 11 months and few days old. Probably bit more. All depends how I look at things.

a) probably
b) idk

a) Yes.

b) 25 billion years. (just a wild guess)

a) Yes.
b) At least 4.5 billion years old (formation). I don't know how long it took for all the particles to accrete. It might be safest to say that the Earth, including the formative years, is the same age as the Sun (I would say that, if pressed).