Quora – What evidence would falsify the theory of evolution?
First, one needs to be explicitly clear about the question, then one can answer it.
Evolution, the process, is not theory, it is fact.
If the idea of “fact” has any meaning at all, then the process of evolution is a fact. The evidence is that strong.
What is theory, is that the process of evolution by natural selection, with all of the variants on themes present in the modern synthesis, is solely responsible for all the life forms we see on earth.
That assertion is one that applies to the deep time of history, and as such has no direct evidence, only indirect evidence. That is so because by the terms of the theory, there can have been no one there to make direct observations. Ken Saladin and Torbjörn Larsson give excellent explanations of that indirect evidence, and the sorts of things that might disprove it which have not been found.
Thus for someone like myself, who has spent 50+ years looking at the evidence from biochemistry, systems, cosmology, etc the case for the theory of evolution is proven beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt. The only thing I can think of that might cast it into doubt is some alien race showing up and saying (with lots of evidence) – sorry guys, we have a really weird sense of humour and we set this whole system up 30,000 years ago just as a test of what might happen. But even that, while it might disprove the theory that life on earth is solely the result of evolution, doesn’t disprove evolution the process, and it would just get me wondering about the sort of evolutionary process that would give rise to such a race of aliens.
