Where Do We Come From

With technology and science being so advanced these days. I would really want to know if there's really some HARD evidence of we, the humans, are as a result of evolution from the apes...

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

Yes -- and no. There are a handful of complete, and a lot of partial analyses of human genomes. A recent article based on genetics concluded that there was one "Eve" who can be identified as the progenitor of all humans. A method was used which identifies female forbears, not male. Further studies concluded that the human race spread out, and then during an ice age contracted to as few as 2000 women, then spread out again. The headline was that "Early man near vanished in Africa."

There is a good, very readable book on what has been learned from genomic studies called Before the Dawn -- Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors. It shows what can be determined from these studies. There are also an increasing number of analyses of the genetics of animals. They show many similarities, but also many differences.

The science of Biology has classified the differences over many centuries. Before the microscope, there were only animals and plants. By 1977, the classifications had evolved to six kingdoms. The conclusion is that there are at least six dramatically different structures that support life as we know it.

One big argument in the U.S. is over whether "evolution" explains these variations, or whether God, or some other intelligence can explain it. Many of the people who attempt to argue such issues fail to define their terms. There is tremendous variation in the human genome. Nevertheless, people are basically very similar, biologically. Taking a step into greater variation, humans and apes are very similar, when contrasted with birds, worms and bacteria. Taking a further step, humans and bacteria are similar in makeup, when contrasted with archaebacteria and eubacteria. Some of these strange objects don't even have the same basic methods of functioning. These real strangers include the life that thrives at the bottom of the ocean near hydrothermal vents, using a very different form of body chemistry.

The fact is that no one has successfully explained how these highly varied life forms could have come from, for example, the chemical residues of a lightning strike, though progress is being made in that direction. The fundamental question, which is seldom addressed in such discussions is: Where did life begin? Science has not yet made a persuasive case that it actually arose "from the muck." It could have come from God. It could have come from some extra-terrestrial species, moving on long before anything we have yet examined. It may have come from the muck, but we cannot yet make a persuasive case for that.

In conclusion: It is clear that humans and apes are closely related; very close when compared with other species. However, there is nothing that conclusively demonstrates ancestry, and much that shows there are great variedies of life on Earth that clearly cannot be related by ancestry.

 

 

 

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

I believe we are the descendants of apes, but my question is: If one day, we can actually prove this, does that mean Christianity will seize to exist? At the rate at which technology is upgrading, I'm sure we will find something definitive soon. However, I'm not extremely eager to find out. Even though I don't believe in Religion, I am quite happy with the fact that people can believe what so if we never discover that man descended from apes, great. If we do, great.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

LOL This is ludicrous for numerous reasons.

1) First of all, it is not the theory of evolution that we are descended from the apes. We are primates and we and the apes have common ancestors that are a little more recent than the common ancestors that we have with other species.

2) The evidence is already over so overwhelming, that the only evidence that I can see that will make impact on the relgious is a loud God-like sounding voice coming from the sky saying, "the theory of evolution is correct because I God say so." On second thought, people will probably think that is just a man-made stunt so maybe something a little more spectacular would be needed, like God rearranging all the stars into letters to write this across the sky for all to see.

3)It is the nature of science that its discoveries always uncover new questions so for everything they explain there will always be new things that the Creationists can point to and say that evolution isn't proven. The arguments of docduke are a perfect example of this.

4)There are plenty of Christians like me who believe that evolution and abiogenesis are accurate objective descriptions of what happened. Many think that this does not contradict in the slightest the fact that God did create the universe, life, every species and every human being. There are even a few Christians like myself and John Polkinghorne who actually think that the evolution of the species is a description that is even more compatable with the Christian understanding of God and His realtionship to man than the Genesis story of a special creation or a creation of living things by design.

So in conclusion I would say that the only thing that would cease to exist as the result of this unimaginable proof you talk about, is the large group of people found in certain countries that use their religion as an excuse to make ignorance into some kind of virtue and to make the spread of ignorance into some kind of holy cause.



We cannot yet convince many people who would rather believe in fairy tales, but I would hardly consider that to be a very good measure of how persuasive the evidence is. As for muck, it is only the ignorant forms of life that go around saying "muck" like they are obsessed with the stuff (Ben Stein comes to mind), that I would theorize have risen from anything like that. But regardless of where the ignorant life forms actually come from it is unlikely that they will be able to comprehend any complex scientific theories that explain how life began on this planet.

The examples you gave of very different forms of life is rather suggestive that the idea that life came from an extra-terrestrial source is unviable, but this does absolutely nothing to make the theories of evolution or abiogenesis any less likely at all.

Since Christians believe that God changes their lives and cures illnesses and does all sorts of things in everyday life in answer to their prayers without revealing a single piece of corraborating scientific evidence or even one single example of a suspension of the laws of physics, I am at a complete loss to understand why these Chrisitans would think that God creating life on this planet would in any way conflict with the scientific theories of evolution and abiogenesis.


Total nonsense. We are 98.3% genetically identical with chimpanzees. "Closely related" just doesn't sum this up at all. When we study the benobos we are hard pressed to find significant differences. All this goes to show that the difference between man and the animals is not to be found in the biology of the human body at all. Our differences are all in the mind - no I don't mean that we imagine them - I mean that the differences are in the content of our conscious mind. I don't think that science has quite uncovered yet what it is that make us human. But religion continues to claim to have an answer to this question, and I think it is the correct answer.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

To be honest, I don't care where we come from. I just need to know where I'm heading. I like to live life, just as I am, I don't need an explanation of who I am or what I'm 'made of'. I mean, what would you get out of knowing where we come from? Sure, you know it now, but does it make you different from before you knew? Does it make you any bit different? Other than the fact you may be a bit smarter? I mean come on, there's really no point in knowing where you've come from, the only thing that actually matters is where you're going.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

I am pretty sure we are in fact descendent's of apes. However, my question is, why haven't the other Apes evolved, or begun to evolve yet? Shouldn't they, since we have, also become human beings, or evolve into the next stage on their way to being human beings. I know evolution is a slow process, but wouldn't we at least see a sign that they are slowly evolving into homo sapiens.

Also, with the deal about Christian religion and the conflict between religious ideas and the ideas involved in the theory of evolution: I do not think Christians will stop believing in their religion because of the conflict. Though, it is true some parts of the bible are nonfactual, there is still a lot left in that gigantic book for Christains to believe in.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

The apes did evolve just as we did. Therefore saying that we evolved from apes is exactly like saying that the apes evolved from humans. Both are of course wrong. We and the apes share a common ancestor that ancestor is probably a primate, and because it was a primate you could say that it was human-like for the same reason you could say that it was ape-like because both humans and apes are primates.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

Thing is that no matter what, we can mostly agree that we come from some type of primate along our ancestry since it's genetically proven regardless of your religion. However, one thing that no one tries to solve is: why are we here? What's our use and purpose in this world? Thinking of where we come from is one thing, but that's to know human history but not where we are going which is more appealing to more people because it can affect their course directly at any given time.

xboxrulz

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

I heard fish...

Seriously, we were watching a German disection video in Science a few weeks ago and aparantly we come from fish. That's why we have lungs in front of everything else.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

we come from even further if u keep tracing. We come from little tiny DNA in bubbles (that contains oil) then we turned into micro-organisms and then evolved within billions of years until our current form today. However, that's not the main question ... are there a distinction between monkeys and humans are the main question. If so, that means humans were definitely transformed from monkeys.

xboxrulz

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)