Evoloution and Humans: Does it stop?

That's the problem, there is a complete lack of actual evidence. There is more evidence pointing to the fact that we did not evolve from lesser primates, such as, as I said, the fact that we have 2 less chromosomes. The fact that there is no transitional species. The fact that humans have been around for a great amount of the era.

Consider the fossil record for a moment. While it is not as continous as we might like it to be it is still possible to map out clear lines of decent. These can be verified by DNA evidence.

Evolution by artificial selection is known to occur, and natural selection is known to occur. Why would evolution by natural selection not occur? If you agree that evolution by natural selection does occur, why do you not think the process can explain the available evidence?

I'm going to bed now, hope to see you around.

Hi Jimi, welcome to A2K



Correct. Evoution doesn't work this way. One species never gives birth to another species within a single generation. Evoution affects populations, not individuals.

What usually happens is that a population will be split repeatedly by environmental forces. Each split puts different selective forces on the different populations and they begin to diverge. Any new genes which occur in the split population are not passed to the other population due to the isolation, and the groups begin to diverge. Over time, these divergences get very large. Eventually, enough differentiation has built up in a population that it can no longer breed with the original population, even if that original population still exists (which it may not because it too has also changed over time). Then what you have are two differnet species with a common ancestor.

Several years ago, a scientist traced the aboriginies of Australia by DNA back to Africa. People who still question the realities of evolution needs to look for that research paper.

I suspect that climate change and the appearance of a dominant species has a bit to do with it.

The relationship in population densities betwixt the vegetation, rabbits, foxes and rabies has been well observed.

When there are a lot of rabbits foxes do well UNTIL the population density of foxes becomes high enough to support a rabies epidemic. now with fewer rabbits and fewer foxes vegetation does well. With plenty to eat and few foxes rabbits do well. With plent of rabbits the foxes do well. with plenty of foxes the rabies does well.

Thats a population cycle. I see no reason why similar ones don't occur over the eons. With bacteria, humans or societies

In even works on lower forms also. Consider the cycle of fleas and other species specific parasites.

Or humans, rats,dogs and cattle. for that matter

Thats the way things work, size of tools not withstanding!!! But you'd better know how to use your tool if you wish to change anything to your percieved benefit. :wink:

Sorry, I failed to connect the dots with Population cycles

The more of anything (denser the population) the more likely that two abnormal sexually reproducing organisms will find each other.

For instance A mule is neither horse nor donkey. From the point of view of the horse or the donkey the mule has a chromosomatic abnormality. But the mule doesn't know this! He just runs around looking a bit like a horse and acting a bit like a jackass. Since most jackasses don't care much who they mate with our friendly mule mates with and equally chromasamaticly abnormal filly. The horse doesn't know that shes a bit different but the offspring is definitly a different species Thats normally where it would end. But if a similar occurrence has happened to another pair and the offspring of the two pairs happen to get together, and if they are like a mule (a 2% survival advantage) then in a thousand years there will no longer be horses and donkeys in a given geographic area.

I have often been surprised, when you run the numbers, how quick (relatively speaking) things can happen.

IF a given chromosomatic abnormality only occurs once in a trillion times then the odds against two sympathetic chrosomatic abnormalities sexually occurring are once in a trillionXa trillion then the average speed with which a specie will occur is largely dependent opon the population density.

If you run the experiment with a few billion viruses it'll take some time. It's no wonder we havent done it yet! Since the AIDS virus and the influenza virus has been shown to mutate (specieate) successfully on practically an annual basis somebody had ought to be able to figure out how many individual viruses are sharing Earth with us.

Obviously they have reached the population densities where specieation does occur in asexually reproducing animals.

The converse is aparently true with opossums and cockroaches.

Just a little indication of how large (relatively) we are in the scheme of things. Were we in an astronomical discussion I'd argue the converse :wink:

Re: Evoloution and Humans: Does it stop?


Is anyone here a christian? If so, have any of you ever heard the theory of; ''God created the Earth to last 6000 years, and that in 3000 AD Christ will come down form heaven and a 1000-year reign of peace will take place'' ???

Personally, I don't believe that the Earth was only created 5000+ years ago, as history and science has said otherwise. But seeing as we will never really have the answers, we cannot know for sure can we?

The religious tolerance site gives more ensight to theory I presented above.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/

(More precise to what I was rambling on about)
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_date.htm

Re: Evoloution and Humans: Does it stop?


Tollerance is a great thing, but it has nothing to do with accuracy.

In as much as we humans can know anything, we know the Earth is much much older than 6000 years. To say "we will never really have the answers, and we cannot know for sure" is just philosophical sophistry.

I think the current evolution of humans change the brain at most.
The anthropologists unearth bones like ours 100K ago, but cuture had appeared only 40K or so. It is plausible that 100K ago there were humanoids exactly like we are, except the brain. Then there was a mutation in some persons (Adam and Eve) that made them clever. Through inbreeding they proliferate and wage war against the rest of humanoids, including Neandertas, pushing them out of existence.