- 01 Sep 2017 23:17
#14839507
Closely related means they share a common ancestor. Chimpanzees and humans share a common ancestor, one group did not evolve from the other in this case.
But thanks for bringing up the subject of human evolution. This presents another example of the importance of contingency. The apes, to which we belong, were very common and diverse in the Miocene. With the change in climate due to topographic changes resulting from plate tectonics, the great rain forests of the Miocene gave way to cooler and drier environments. The cercopithicenes (old world monkeys) were better able to cope in the austere conditions than apes and today are more abundant. Apes only managed to hang on in residue forests in Asia plus a derived group in Africa. That latter group, chimps, humans and gorillas, adapted to terrestrial niches. But they only just hung on.
One group, the human linage, underwent significant evolution and managed to hit on a new survival strategy. But it was a near thing. The hominids came close to extinction. At one point it was down to homo habilis, restricted to a small location in East Africa. This group shows a lot of variation in a small population, suggesting rapid evolution. So they were being subject to severe selection and on the point of extinction. But they managed to emerge as homo erectus, which was a successful species. There was enough potential in the variation available that they could just hang in there long enough to reach a stable new form.
Again, luck. The recent human linage was as much of a fluke as the longer term mammal linage. This very lucky story has implications for the assessment of the likelihood of sentient life elsewhere in the universe.
Tell me, Hindsight, as a Christian, what are your views on the subject of intelligent alien life?
Hindsite wrote:Being closely related does not mean evolved and in no way proves the theory of evolution. They also say man is closely related to Chimpanzees, but that does not mean man evolved from Chimpanzees or the Chimpanzees evolved from Man. It is all a silly notion to begin with. Any person with common sense would not believe such nonsense. Only those that are stupid enough to allow themselves to be brainwashed and propagandize would even think such crap.
Closely related means they share a common ancestor. Chimpanzees and humans share a common ancestor, one group did not evolve from the other in this case.
But thanks for bringing up the subject of human evolution. This presents another example of the importance of contingency. The apes, to which we belong, were very common and diverse in the Miocene. With the change in climate due to topographic changes resulting from plate tectonics, the great rain forests of the Miocene gave way to cooler and drier environments. The cercopithicenes (old world monkeys) were better able to cope in the austere conditions than apes and today are more abundant. Apes only managed to hang on in residue forests in Asia plus a derived group in Africa. That latter group, chimps, humans and gorillas, adapted to terrestrial niches. But they only just hung on.
One group, the human linage, underwent significant evolution and managed to hit on a new survival strategy. But it was a near thing. The hominids came close to extinction. At one point it was down to homo habilis, restricted to a small location in East Africa. This group shows a lot of variation in a small population, suggesting rapid evolution. So they were being subject to severe selection and on the point of extinction. But they managed to emerge as homo erectus, which was a successful species. There was enough potential in the variation available that they could just hang in there long enough to reach a stable new form.
Again, luck. The recent human linage was as much of a fluke as the longer term mammal linage. This very lucky story has implications for the assessment of the likelihood of sentient life elsewhere in the universe.
Tell me, Hindsight, as a Christian, what are your views on the subject of intelligent alien life?