1st okcupid test, need takers

So, I got bored this weekend… (alright, I was procrastinating, just like I am now) :wink:

Anyway, I made my first OKCupid test - The Creation/Evolution Continuum Test. One of the things I don’t like about their system is that I am not getting meaningful feedback from the takers. My test touches on a potentially touchy subject, and I have no idea how accurate it really is. I know this shouldn’t be rocket science, but I still want the test to be pretty realistic. So I need takers who can tell me if their results are accurate. If you’ve got a minute, please take my test, then drop a message here telling me what you thought and how accurate it was.
Thanks, all.

Plus, you know, I get a better rating if more people take the test… Momma didn’t raise no fools!

It says I am a “Day Age Creationist.” I have no idea what that means. The test seemed to read well enough, if that helps any.

Rated me as believing in “Theistic Evolution”. It’s not how I’d catagorize myself (I’m fairly agnostic), but it is how I deal with the strict creationists I have to get along with (family of one stripe or another).

There were a few questions that may have changed my result, at least one I can think of off hand, regarding the fossil record and it’s completeness.

Hope that helps.

Yeah, changing that one question got me “Agnostic Evolution”, which is much more inline with where I’d put me. And considering I was waffling (types of rock got me to pick one over the other)…

Good point. I removed the word ‘all’ so that it reads:

I imagine you were (rightly) objecting to choice three on the grounds that not all species have been preserved. That would have affected your score (and you would have classified as an Agnostic Evolutionist.)

A Day-Age Creationist generally believes that
1.) the Genesis creation story is a good allegory to scientific version.
2.) A God is necessary to explain life on Earth.
3.) God created “types” of creatures and those types gave us the different species.

There is very little to differentiate a DACist from a Gap Creationist or a Pregressive; they are all considered “Old-Earth Creationists”. The major difference between a OECist and a Young Earth Creationist is what age of Earth do the ists believe. The major difference between an OECist and an Intelligent Design Creationist is that the IDCist believes that science will prove that God was necessary.

:dubious: I got a “Theistic Evolution”. WTF? I am a strong atheist and even though I can’t prove it rationally believe there is no God and there will never be proof of one. How did I get here?

Other than that, the test was well-written.

Thanks for the positive input, gang.

Hmmmm… maybe it will help if I post questions and responses; that way, people can actually show me what they pick. But to <cough><cough> encourage people to take the test, I will put it all in a spoiler box.

  1. We live on a spherical Earth.
    a.) Of course. Are you kidding me?
    b.) Nope; Earth has four corners.

  2. The Earth revolves around a star (our sun, Sol, etc.)
    a.) Duh! Yeah!
    b.) Nope; we are the center.

  3. Earth is…
    a.) 6,000 to 10,000 years old. Just like the Good Book says.
    b.) I’m not sure…
    c.) 4.5 billion years old. The Good Book does not give an age of Earth.
    d.) 4.5 billion years old. Period. It’s been radio-something or other dated.

  4. Overall, the fossil record shows…
    a.) how creatures died during the Flood.
    b.) how species were formed.
    c.) the evolutionary record of life on earth.

  5. Does the evidence show that, for example, a dog has evolved from a wolf (or wolf-like creature)?
    Yup; my doggie is decended from a wolf.
    Nope; dogs and wolves are were created separately.

  6. Does the evidence show that, for example, whales and elephants have a common ancestor?
    a.) Yes; it’s a big guy from about 70 million years ago.
    b.) I guess…
    c.) No. Species of one kind may have evolved from an “archetype,” but to dissimilar species do not share an ancestor.
    d.) No; they were created separately.

  7. There is “proof” of some entity’s (God’s, the Designer’s, etc.) work in the mechanisms of macro-evolution (interspecie-evolution; the concept that one specie’s descendants can become another specie). Or, put another way, “irreducible complexity is a fact.”
    a.) True; the evidence has been found.
    b.) False; God does not work that way.
    c.) False.
    d.) Misleading question; there is no evidence of macro-evolution

  8. Human’s have a soul/lifeforce that cannot have been created solely by physical (non-supernatural) evolutionary processes.
    a.) You bet; we’re more than meat machines.
    b.) Not sure; I’m still thinking on that one.
    c.) No; all human behaviors can be explained (eventually) by evolutionary behaviors.

If you got a result that doesn’t actually fit you, please let me know (in a spoiler box, if you like) what question & answer you think is not quite spot on.

I got 100% Scientific or somesuch. There were a couple of questions I thought were not as clear as they could be, around the one with whales and elephants (I’d have gone with elephants and manatees, myself – call it regional bias) and the one right after that sounded a bit flippant.

ShibbOleth: Would this sound better for q7?
There is evidence of some entity’s (God’s, the Designer’s, etc.) work in the mechanisms of macro-evolution (interspecie-evolution; the concept that one specie’s descendants can become another specie). Or, put another way, “irreducible complexity is a viable scientific theory.”


As for q6, the purpose is to differentiate those that believe that evolution created species from archetypes (that were created by God) and those that believe that evolution can create new archetypes (without the intervention of a God). I picked whales and elephants (and am not quite sure the factoid is 100% accurate) as they generally considered two different “types” by those that believe in this kind of creation.

I got “Progressive Creation.” I’m not a creationist.

Frankly, I didn’t care for the test. Some of the available answers were inconsistent with the questions, and 8 questions is way too short – especially since the first few questions are basic creation v. evolution things that no one needs a quiz to discover about themselves. I also felt like I couldn’t really answer some of the questions without in-depth knowledge of current evolutionary theories/discoveries – I think the questions should have been based more on what people think than what they know.

Three examples of questions I didn’t like:

In question #4, I still don’t like the available answers (or rather, how you interpret them). It’s not logical to say that because I believe fossils are records of evolution I also believe that God created life sequentially. I’m not sure what you mean by “records of how species were formed” – how is that different from evolution? – and the only other option involves the biblical flood.

In question #6, you ask whether evidence shows that whales and elephants have a common ancestor, but then only one of the available answers is about whales and elephants – the rest are about all species. It’s like being asked “do you choose the apple or the pear?” and having an available answer be “the banana.” I chose the “species may have evolved from an archetype but dissimilar species do not share an ancestor” option, because it was the only option that didn’t blatantly say either “yes, everything shares a common ancestor” or “no, God created everything separately.” How was I to know that your “archetype” was created by God, as you explained in this thread? Why are there only two choices? Is it not possible to believe that plants and fish probably don’t share an evolutionary genesis without being labeled a creationist? Also, this is an example of a question I felt I didn’t know enough to answer: I have no idea whether it’s been shown that whales and elephants have a common ancestor.

In question #8, you ask whether humans have souls/life forces that cannot have been created solely as the result of evolution. The “yes” and “maybe” options are ok, but the “no” option says that all human behaviours can be explained by evolution … again, an inconsistency with the question asked.

I know my criticisms sound a little harsh for what is ultimately just an OKCupid test, but you asked. Everyone else seems to like it well enough, so you can probably throw out this post as statistically insignificant. :wink:

To add a little more harshness, since I’m on a roll, I noted a few typos/spelling errors. The test is still ok if you don’t care about them, but if you’re interested I’ll provide a list.

Agnostic Evolution
You scored 95 Scientific View!

That’s pretty accurate for me.

Many of the q’s & a’s may seem silly, but they are deisgned to “split hairs” on purpose. E.g. q 4 allows someone who believes in specie evolution from archetypes and someone who believes in “interfamilial” evolution to be differentiated. I’m not on my home computer (and don’t have reliable access to OKC right now), so I can’t tell you what difference this would have on your score.

Why didn you not like option b (I guess…)? Scorewise, it would have lumped you in with option a (and allows one to not fully understand the example, but still agree with the concept.)

Sure it’s possible. It’s simply that the current understanding of evolutionary theory has all multicellular life evolving from a common ancestor. Were my examples so different you felt they could not have had a common ancestor?

::shrugs:: Generally, people argue either that there is a supernatural aspect to human life (soul/ spirit/ etc.), or our perception of a (soul/ spirit/ etc.) is simply due to the complexity of our evolutionary behaviors. This is designed to differentiate the three evolutionist groups.

Absolutely! That’s one reason whyI wanted testers!
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May I suggest that you try to retake the test and pick option b for question 6? I think you will find yourself closer to where you belong.

I got “Agnostic Evolutionist,” which sounds about right.

Question 5 may need to be reworded a bit (anyone else chime in if I’m wrong here). I don’t think it’s correct to say that dogs descended from wolves–wouldn’t they have both descended from a common ancestor?

Yup, that’s what it was.

1.-a
2.-a
3.-d.
4.-c
5.-yup
6.-a
7.-c
8.-c

Material Evolution
You scored 100 Scientific View!

I came out an Intelligent Designer, when I actually think ID is rather stupid. And I even scored in the 99th percentile for Scientificness, whatever that is. :confused:

Lok, if you have a sec, could run through my spoiler box and let me know what your answers were and what category you think you should fall under? (That’ll help me refine the test.)

Thanks,
Geek

Thanks for saving me the trouble of writing this post on my own! :cool:

Not that it has anything to do with you, JustAnotherGeek, but I don’t like the fact that I couldn’t use Sternvogel as both my OKCupid screen name and e-mail address. Since I may decide to create a quiz, however, my newly-minted alias on the site is **OnceIn1959]/b], a play on my year of birth and a certain SDMB running gag that evokes 1960.

Theistic Evolutionist.

Couldn’t make heads or tails of #7 though. Please use real human words.