I believe in both. I believe evolution has brought us to where we are today, but I do not believe totally in evolution. I believe the human race is here by God's grace. If humans were truly here solely based on evolution, wouldn't we see some of the "in-between" around us? Yes, we are VERY similar to Chimps, etc...BUT there are so many differences. In my opinion, the only reasoning for things such as the little percentage of our brain we actually use...is God.
The "in-betweens" that we have found are in fossils. The reason why you would not see in betweens around us, is that a while back our ancestors split off onto a different evolutionary branch from the chimps. The "in-betweens" continued to evolve differently, they would not just stay the same. Certain branches of evolution, such as the Neanderthal, die out, while humans and chimpanzees are the result of different paths of evolution that have survived. And if you believe the human ancestral fossils found to just be different creatures created by God, why have no human fossils been found millions of years ago? Carbon dating has found them to be approximately 200,000 years old, yet the earliest human ancestor has been dated to be 6 million years old. According to the Bible, God created man within the span of a few days. Now supposing that we take the Bible to be a parable, not to be taken literally, I doubt that a few days would equal millions of years. Some may argue that carbon dating is not accurate, but surely such a difference is a significant?
are you saying that all your ancestors died out? why did they did out? why did lesser animals like chimpanzee evolved from our ancestors when they can evolve to human beings? isnt that better?
You could say that different evolutionary chains from our ancestors died out because they were not able to survive the selective pressures. Our brain gave us the advantage over Neanderthals, who were bigger, stronger and faster. It was our ancestors that drove the Neanderthals to extinction. As for humans being better than chimpanzees, it depends on what your definition of better is. The Chimpanzee have evolved in a niche that is advantageous for them. Where chimpanzees live, they are technically "better" at it than us. Humans and chimpanzees evolved from the same ancestors. A portion of our ancestors stayed on a diet of fruit and vegetables, and lived in trees. Their descendants developed longer arms with leaner muscles. These ones evolved into chimpanzees, or other primates. Another portion of our ancestors became bipedal. The theory is, that they could see danger from further away when on the ground, and for other advantages. These ancestors also started to include meat in their diet, whether it was from scavenging or from hunting. Since meat generally has more energy in it then plants do, they were able to allocate more energy into brain development. We spend about four times more energy in brain use than certain primates, such as gorillas do. With bigger brains, our ancestors were than able to hunt more effectively, and think more. These ancestors were able to move to other areas without a dense cover of trees and survive, and also thrive. But I won't explain the entire human evolution, just how our ancestors differed. Yes, we have many advantages over chimpanzees. But a reason why chimpanzees haven't further evolved is because they haven't had a need to. Why change a thing that works? So it's pretty much that a part of our ancestors found a niche in the trees, and were able to thrive in that niche. While another portion of our ancestors found a living on the ground, and their bodies changed in a way that ensured greater survival.
Adaptation to environment is one of the cornerstones of the evolution theory, and it is what's used to explain the various "mutations", i.e. why there are so many "kinds" of monkeys etc. Another thing to keep in mind is the astronomical technological advances that were achieved in the last century. These advances led to medical advances, better health for all and all that. BUT, the problem comes in... suddenly "natural selection" amongst humans is only being done by the psycho's killing people off, basically. :lol: So by tampering in that way, we have totally unbalanced the natural order of what things should be in order to establish our human dominance, and that is in part why we're seeing so many socio-economic problems: that part of the evolutionary chain that says "adapt or die" and "survival of the fittest" and so on has been disturbed, and we're basically "freeloading", becoming older and older and having more and more babies.
Really? You are referring to the holocaust right? I think the number of people killed during the holocaust is too little to really change "the balance" of the natural evolution of human beings...
Nope, wasn't referring to that at all, actually... the point I'm trying to make is by using all kinds of technological and medical advances, we humans live longer, have more live births and less deaths because of illness and disease than ever before, there are more humans, who live longer and die later, and each one of these who would have died in the normal course of things but didn't, have their own kids, who go on to have *their* own kids... that is what I meant with the disruption of the natural order... and I think that is one of the reasons for such horrible situations we have in this world. By advancing too far too fast, we have kinda infringed on the balanced model of nature and evolution.
You have a valid point, though some may claim that the technological advances will be able to force evolution. We have implants of all kinds these days, we're actually able to improve a human being. If this isn't evolution, what is?
well, i've been raised to believe in God, been given all the proofs, but i still don't really understand the whole concept. they're making a telescope with such a powerful lens though, that they will be able to see back in space to where the universe was created (because the universe IS moving as time passes). what they see could either make or break most if not all world religions
True, like people who have a handicap. Normally they wouldn't get kids, but now some will. So that makes the gens of the humans worse. So we'll need genetical modification if we don't want the gens of the humans to become worse and worse. Which'd mean people really control evolution.
Fair enough, that may be true. I just have a problem (non-specific) with the way we humans go about with the earth and all that. But I haven't thought of it that way: we have evolved enough in terms of intelligence and inventive ability to be able to "make" the next steps of human evolution... interesting premise!
I am much more interested in genetic evolution of human beings though... i think only through genetic evolution can we really see the human life span to increase indefinetely
I agree that that is the most viable option for achieving the goal of lenghthening human lifespan... but would that be a wise idea? Looking holistically at the factors I pointed out previously, the only way that would lead to long-term benefit for the human race as a whole (I am not talking about individuality... of COURSE I want my grandparents to live to be 500, I love them to pieces!) in my view, the only way that could be a viable long-term course of action is if we find other habitable planets to colonize... and what would that make us, then? Parasites of the universe?
It may sound very rude, but the only way it'd benefit the humans would be if they only made the "profitable humans" able to be a lot older. The very smart people and such, who could do good for everyone.
Like the others can't do good for everyone. Who will decide who is going to be able to live longer than the others? It will still be unfair for the others, and most likely even wrong, since just cause some people think they are a benefit for mankind when they live longer, doesn't mean that is really true. And, damn, the people that ill live so long will sure take up alot of resources, will only make run out of everything faster, just for the sake of letting people be miserable since they live longer, i doubt anyone would actually want to live 500 years
we could execute the "people that ill" right? we already do that already since we have the death penalty is many states of USA already
Ok, here goes... I believe in both, because I am Christian, and was grown that way. Evolution makes sense, but it is not backed up by enough proof to be COMPLETLY real, and God just creating things has less proof, but it is still a theory as is evolution. One of the MAIN reasons I believe in God, is because of my Guardian Angel, most people think thats "mumbo-jumbo" but try to contact yours, go outside and ask for it to show you that its there, they long to help you, and ask for a certian sign, mine came, so don't think that I'm crazy, jut a 'lil nuts Those are my thoughts!
I think, maybe a bit of both. Although I'm not religious at all. Evolution makes sense, but something, somewhere, must have started it all in the first place. It may not have been 'God' but some form of other power, etc.
Why is there a need for a start? You can count from 0 and down infinite numbers as well as up, so why would the concept of time be any different?