Game Theory: Pokemon vs. Creationists (Pokemon, Part 1)

Welcome to Game Theory, described as the rare candy of your web video experience. The episode introduces the Pokemon series as an adorable game where 10-year-old trainers receive a starter animal and travel to meet people, engage in tournaments, and collect animals.

• Creationist groups claim Pokemon brainwashes children into believing in Evolution and that the Pokemon rap contains satanic messages • Parent groups say it teaches violence and brutality towards animals • Ethnic groups claim the games embrace racial stereotypes and are pro-Nazi • Two 99-year-old boys sued Nintendo claiming Pokemon caused their gambling addiction

Due to the extensive controversies, the video dedicates three episodes to uncovering the truth behind the supposed evils of the Pokemon Universe. This first episode focuses on the Evolution vs. Creationism debate.

Is Pokemon brainwashing children into thinking humans are descendants of apes, or is the game simply misrepresenting scientific concepts?

Polls over the last 5 years show approximately 40% of Americans believe in creationism (God created humans on Earth within 10,000 years), while at most 40% believe in Evolution, leaving about 20% undecided.

Of the 51 contestants competing in that year's Miss USA pageant, only two unequivocally supported Darwin's Origin of the Species, showing that a significant proportion of Americans do not accept evolutionary theory.

Evolution is defined as the change over time in inherited traits found within a population. Creatures with inherited traits better equipped for survival produce more offspring than those without such traits.

Understanding the scientific definition of evolution is necessary to evaluate whether Pokemon actually promotes evolutionary theory to children.

When a Pokemon evolves in the game, a single Pokemon changes forms instantly, not across generations. Biological evolution requires inherited traits to pass from parent to offspring generation after generation.

Pokemon evolution doesn't involve mating at all. Queen and Neo King exercising their Royal Duty results in a Neo Ran, not another Neo King. This fundamental mechanism contradicts actual biological evolution.

• Voltorb's colors switch halves when evolving into Electrode with no survival advantage • Litwick evolves into Chandelure, transforming from a candle into a chandelier • Lickitung evolving into Lickilicky becomes fatter with more useless arms and a shorter tongue • Vanillite, Vanillish, and Vanilite transformations result in designs that would make the Pokemon more edible, not more fit for survival

Creationists should actually complain that Pokemon misinforms children about biological evolution, since the game's mechanics contradict evolutionary principles rather than promote them.

Most Pokemon evolution actually represents metamorphosis, an abrupt change in an animal's behavior and body structure. Weedle to Kakuna to Beedrill mirrors the complete metamorphosis of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, where immature larval stages look extremely different from the adult form.

Some evolutions like Petilil to Parasect and Scyther to Scizor represent incomplete metamorphosis, where the immature stage (nymph) looks similar to the adult but is smaller and lacks certain features like wings or sexual organs.

• Metamorphosis occurs in amphibians, crustaceans, and even some fish in real life • Poliwag evolving into Poliwrath mirrors the complete metamorphosis of tadpoles to frogs • Plants may undergo a type of metamorphosis • Burmy to Wormadam experience hyper-metamorphosis with multiple very distinct larval stages

Ghost Pokemon can change shape, robotic Pokemon like Magnemite follow different rules, and mammal Pokemon like Mankey and Teddiursa undergo growth spurts or puberty, leaving evolution scientifically off the table.

Creationists claim that if you play the Pokemon rap backwards, the phrase 'Got to catch them all' translates to 'I love Satan.'

To say 'I love Satan' requires an 'S' sound and a 'V' sound. The phrase 'Got to catch them all' contains none of the sounds needed to produce 'I love Satan' unless someone has a speech impediment where they hiss every time pronouncing a 'CH' sound.

When the Pokemon rap is played backwards, it sounds like the chorus from Hell itself because human speech played backwards produces unintelligible sounds, not satanic messages.

The claim has no scientific basis. Pokemon is not intentionally promoting satanic messages; the backwards tape phenomenon is simply an artifact of how human speech sounds when reversed.

Pokemon is not pro-science or anti-God; it simply skipped seventh grade biology and has a catchy theme song.

The first major attack on Pokemon (the creationism claim) has been addressed and refuted through analysis of actual evolutionary theory versus Pokemon mechanics.

The next episodes will tackle animal rights activism to determine who the biggest threat is in the Pokemon Universe: the trainers or the villainous teams you battle.

This is a multi-part series, so viewers should catch them all because they currently have only one-third of the theory.