Why do people consistantly misunderstand evolution?
To me is it such a simple premis that the response should be - what took us so long?
Humans reproduce.
Traits are inherited in a particulate fashion.
These are copied pretty much but not completely accurately.
Therefor variety in a population.
Good traits = longer lives, more offspring.
Those offspring have the good traits.
Over time changes in environment = changes in what is a good trait.
Over time the traits of a species change eventually so much so that a new species is born.
Maybe because of the numbers involved. The time scale we have from the origin of life is in the billions of years. This number is incomprehensable to most people. We deal in decades, centuries maybe. This large time scale has to be understood to grasp that tiny little changes, which would most likely go unnoticed at the time, can accumulate to produce the eye, the backbone and every other characteristic displayed by an organism.
Maybe because it shows us we are not special, and that we are just one of many ways evolution has thrown up to solve the problem of surviving long enough to reproduce.
Maybe it is because evolution is taught as a ladder of being - this, on closer examination, does not hold true. With this idea in their head people are right to question why are there still chimps when humans evolved from them.
Humans did not evolve from chimps - Humans and chimp evolved from a common ancestor. This ancestor was not the best solution to life in its environment, both modern chimp and modern man were equally viable better adapatations. Not that they were being aimed for. Natural selection happens one generation at a time with no goal. It just changes as time goes on. Today is not an end point.
Maybe it is the religious thing. Not only do many religions teach against evolution because it does away with the need for god, but they teach against critical thought. They teach that if it doesn't sound right then it can't be so. They also teach that a happier easier answer is a better more truer one. It is nice to think of a benevolant good making the world for us, and not so to think that we came from a simple process that also produced slime moulds, sponges and deadly viruses. It may be nicer to think this - that does not make it true.
Maybe it is because it is acceptable to have an ignorance in science - It is not looked upon as bad to say I do not know how the basic principles of the world around me work. It is also acceptable to admit that you have not tried and do not care.
I am not sure why so many people fail to get evolution but I think it is time something concerted was done about it. Schools need to teach it from such an early stage that is understood, not just that people can recite it.
For anyone who wants to truely grasp the power and wonder of evolution I recommend two books.
The Ancestors Tale - Richard Dawkins
Almost Like a Whale - Steve Jones