by Satanus 47 Replies latest jw friends
Yes, there could still be ongoing evolution, though we can't observe the macro kind.
Yes, how could you see "macro" evolution happening before your eyes? It takes thousands of years for macro evolution to produce noticable change. To see evolution you need to look at an enormous time scale.
Also, we did not evolve from monkeys. Rather, todays monkeys and homo sapiens had a common ancestor. We evolved from something that was very much like a homo sapien.
Some reasons I do not believe we are specially created by a superior being: we have junk DNA, vestigal organs, etc.
SS....Why humans and apes evolved differently from a common ancestor is of course the very premise of evolution. The combination of genetic drift and natural selection. There is no mytery about why it happened, tho there will likely always be some debate about the specific environmental presssures. Gould I believe used the expression "contingency" to describe the unique and irrepeatable influences upon each organism at any given time that determines the success or failure of a body plan.
As a "recent" example the bonobos are a separate subspecies of Chimpanzees and likely separated only a hundred thousand years ago or so. The physiology is similar tho the bonobos are smaller but the social and behavior traits are worlds apart. Why do females have a greater role in bonobo society? Why do they engage in sexual play for social purpose alone? Why are they nonviolent? These traits were selected due to the different environmental pressures upon an isolated group of chimpanzees. It is summized that the simple difference of the food sources available , in trees rather than on ground, may have fostered this great divergence in personality and behavior. Very simple catalysts have given rise to great unforseen evolutionary products. Human evolution did not take place quickly. Over a period of 4-5 million years we went from an upright walking average intelligent social ape to an above average intelligent upright walking ape.
Nice try but no Banana!
1. Can anyone out there in computer land create a human being or for that matter, a "monkey" from dirt?
2. Can anyone evolve a monkey into a human being?
3. Can anyone create dirt from "nothing?"
No, I don't think so either!
Just stirring the pot..................... (and turning up the heat!)
Mr. KIM
1. Can anyone out there in computer land create a human being or for that matter, a "monkey" from dirt? 2. Can anyone evolve a monkey into a human being? 3. Can anyone create dirt from "nothing?"
Can you create a black hole? Or a star? No?! Well I guess those things don't exist.
Can you create something that normally takes eons to form? Like the Grand Canyon? Or a diamond? No?
Can you create a god out of nothing?
I watched Conan O’Brien a couple nights ago; one guest was an animal expert of some kind. Zoology maybe? Anyway, he brought a monkey on the show and claimed it was a species or the only species of monkey that evolved from man. I was waiting for him to expand a bit more on that comment but the subject was changed quickly and they went on to the sloth...
Has anyone else heard of this and if so, can you comment on it? I am curious and haven't read anything about it before.
plum
Mr kim
Well, no, but often, if you put together two humans of different sex, they often produce another one.
Peaceful pete
Over a period of 4-5 million years we went from an upright walking average intelligent social ape to an above average intelligent upright walking ape.
Due to graduated equalibrium, and the lack of intermediate links, it could well have taken a lot less time.
Plum
I have met a few animals that descended from humans. Seriously, no conscience, have sex w anything, tamed by food. Anyway, maybe somebody will come up w your answer.
Xena
Hi.
SS
Alan F;
No they don't. Acupuncturists have no clue as to why their methods work. Furthermore, they only work sometimes and on some people. I know, because my wife had acupuncture treatments from a prominent local practioner and, after a few sessions, nothing whatsoever happened, which leads me to conclude that the little benefit my wife thought she got the first few times was the placebo effect.
Actually, accupunture works (in terms of changing a recipients body chemistry) just as well as 'conventional' drugs;
http://www.csicop.org/si/2003-03/acupuncture.html
New research has replaced this mystical sham medical procedure with a simple evidence-based no-needle treatment that stimulates motor points and nerve junctures and induces gene-expression of neurochemicals and activates brain areas important for healing.
Essentially the old method worked (as in inducing biocemical change by stimulating points on the body). You can do exactly the same thing without needles, using the little conductive plastic discs they use to attach ECGs et. al..
The ancient theory behind it was fanciful and added a lot of bollocks that does nothing, but it does work.
It's just like a Shaman using willow salic to relieve pain would be adding a lot of bollocks (with the rattling stick and chanting) to what we now call Asprin, and have a fanciful theory behind it (the infusion drove the evil spirits out).
Of course, that fact that this research is not yet widely known, and there isn't a massive research effort going into it might have something to do with the fact that drugs are a great way to make money, and developing a virtually zero cost option for certain conditions is not a great way to make money.
I'm sure there are other folk-beliefs that will, upon investigation, turn out to be based on something that does work, or is real, but with a support structure of supersticion and misconception.
Homeopathy is still to be 'proved' (I know anecdotally lots of people feel it doesn;t need proving); if it is, it will be quite a thing; proving acupuncture was just good scientific research methodolgy. Proving homeopathy means you have to show how something that isn't there can effect something; if proved, it would indicate H2O has some property of 'memory', or that somehow the fluid associated with the original additive have retained some active characteristic that we cannot measure at this time.
Here's the above quoted page; it's a great article.
Hi Abaddon,
Alan F;
No they don't. Acupuncturists have no clue as to why their methods work. Furthermore, they only work sometimes and on some people. I know, because my wife had acupuncture treatments from a prominent local practioner and, after a few sessions, nothing whatsoever happened, which leads me to conclude that the little benefit my wife thought she got the first few times was the placebo effect.Actually, accupunture works (in terms of changing a recipients body chemistry) just as well as 'conventional' drugs;
Alan didn't say acupuncture doesn't work, just that it works sometimes and on some people. My wife is a qualified acupuncturist and more than once my boys and I have been her guinea pigs. We always felt better from our maladies afterwards - though there can be side effects even from acupuncture, such as diarrhoea, depending on where the needles are inserted (and two areas, especially, can be extremely uncomfortable - one on the hand and another on the foot). Acquaintances I've known my wife treat have always said they've been helped/cured!
AlanF,
When you speak of evolution, do you subscribe to the teaching of birds evolving from reptiles, man from apes, etc? I really don't know. I can accept adaptation, where something changes, such as forms changing sufficiently in a species to give them separate species status but keeping them in the same genus, and which is what some people term 'evolution'. But from one species to evolve completely from another is something I find difficult to comprehend. I'm open to presented evidence...........
Dansk