I'm sure you've heard of "Lucy", you know the little ape, the first human? Here excerpts from the U.K. National History Museum:
Early hominin Australopithecus afarensis may not be our human ancestor after all
While Australopithecus afarensis has long been considered an ancestor of all later human species, including our own, new research suggests that might not be the case.
One of the most recognisable names in human evolution might not be as related to us as we thought. When it was discovered in 1974, the Australopithecus afarensis fossil that came to be called ‘Lucy’ was heralded as one of the first humans. ... ...
It now seems more likely that this species is instead descended from an earlier member of the family, Australopithecus anamensis. If that’s the case, then A. afarensis might not be the ancestor of all later human species. Dr Fred Spoor, one of our Research Leaders in human evolution, says that this idea “will cause quite a stir” among scientists.
“For decades, we’ve been inundated with textbooks and documentaries that say that Lucy and her relatives are our ancestors,” Fred explains. “Even when A. anamensis was named, it was seen as the ideal ancestor for A. afarensis so was slotted into the evolutionary tree behind it.” ..... ... ...
This unexpected result suggests that, contrary to decades of scientific thought, Lucy’s species might not have been the ancestor of all later Australopithecus and our own genus, Homo. More fossils will be needed to confirm exactly how this finding affects the wider hominin family tree.
I don't believe we evolved as science suggests as there's to many things that don't add up.
I think we came from an organism from elsewhere that could thrive on this planet. The religious people call it creation but I don't believe in the bible's version of how we got here but I do believe we originated as humans and we didn't evolve from something else.
Just like a horse didn't come from a moose, we didn't come from monkeys or apes.
@mark I never believed it really, even in school it didn't make sense to me... If we evolved from apes then why where there still have apes and n the planet at all? But not just that, why would we evolve in such a way that left us much less protected from the elements? Our bodies aren't particularly built to live in the wild like most animals.
I've always believed we were literally created, as were every other creature on the planet... Not so simplistic as God said so and so it was.. but more akin to association to scientist today, a gradual process, bugs, birds, beast, and eventually they decided "Hey, let's make one that more resembles us and make it smarter than any of the other creatures we've made so far.
You know, kinda like it says in Genesis.
Oh, there's plenty of scientific evidence for evolution, natural selection and human ancestry. Since Darwin, in fact.
But what isn't known is how life on Earth got started in the first place. I find it difficult to believe that you take a bunch of chemicals, the right temperature, add lightning, and voila, you get life. Sort of like Frankenstein.
The law of entropy says that even if that happens, whatever is created will likely fall apart immediately. Things tend towards disorder, and life is all about order.
Unless there is some sort of natural law or force that suspends entropy, and favors the creation of life. The opposite of entropy. Call it 'God' if you want. If that is the case, then life in the universe is likely plentiful.
If not, then it may be exceedingly rare.
I think the 'seeding' theory for life on Earth has merit. Not entire life forms such as humans (although possible, I guess) but primitive life - single cell for example. Then where did that life come from? How was it created? Was the seeding just part of existence in the universe or was it intentional? Another 'God'?
If life was ubiquitous, we would be seeing it everywhere in our little corner of the Milky Way. Or, at least, evidence of its existence. Unfortunately, so far, that has not been the case. That favors the life is rare hypothesis.
But we on Earth certainly aren't treating life that way. We act as if the Earth's biosphere is invincible, and that life is cheap.
Intelligent life in the universe? Maybe, but as Eric Idle of Monty Python sang in the Meaning of Life, "bugger all down here on Earth".
@artisan-radio Here's my questions on the accuracy of the science of evolution. And Darwin.
Nobody thinks of things like this. We are too different from all other creatures to have evolved from anything else.
Consider....compared to all other animals, we are weak, slow, not near as strong don't see, hear, smell near as good. We cannot live in the wild. The water holes that the lions, zebras, buffalo, hippos, just to name a few drink from in Africa, teaming with parasites, viruses, and other deadly things doesn't hurt them but if you drank that water you wouldn't live out the week and it would be a painful suffering death. Why is that? How come other animals don't have to watch their blood pressure, cholesterol, they don't get heart attacks, diseases that we get for no reason, ever seen an ape or a lion, or a wolf, or a bear with parkinson's?
How come monkeys and apes can climb trees, do acrobatics with ease swinging from tree to tree with one arm? And they don't pull muscles and need therapy? How can a Cheetah at 75 miles an hour pull down an antelope running at 60 miles an hour, and at that speed do a triple flip and don't get hurt? They don't pull muscles. How come if we even play sports we get so many injuries? How come tennis players have never ending injuries and surgeries to repair things? But animals can do what they do and they don't get injured? Have you ever heard of a monkey that can't climb a tree because they have a bad shoulder? A deer can smell you 2 miles away. An eagle can see a mouse from 1000ft in the air. A bear or a hyena or a raccoon can eat garbage, rotting carcasses in the hot sun and they don't get sick. What would happen if we did that? Why can't we see, smell and hear like animals can?
How come other animals can live in the wild, in subzero temperatures, and they don't freeze? How come if you went out and the temperature is -10 celsius just for an example how come you would freeze and die without clothes on? How come birds like blue jays don't freeze? How come deer, wolves, horses, and too many more to mention, even domestic dogs don't? Why don't their feet freeze? How come they don't need clothing or get hypothermia?
And even in the tropics or the African climate where we supposedly originated we wouldn't survive in the wild there either. Go drink at that water hole and see what happens to you!
And here is the best of all. We are the only species that has to cook our food to eat it! How come no other creature has to cook their food to eat it? Purify the water to drink it. And I can go on and on....why are we so inferior to all other creatures except for our intelligence?
This is what doesn't add up with the theory of evolution and we had to be created separately from all other creatures as we are not like any other creatures. How did we get the intelligence if we evolved from something else that doesn't have the intelligence?
We were created I believe, how we were is up for debate but we had to come from an organism separate from anything else. The only way we survived is we had intelligence to build a house to not have to live in the wild. Or we wouldn't survive.
@mark I don't entirely disagree with you.
But DNA and bone evidence clearly suggests that we evolved. It's survival of the fittest, and intelligence is perhaps the greatest survival trait.
The thing I have most trouble with, just like the initial creation of life, is that it's supposed to be random. I find it difficult to believe that there isn't something, call it what you will, that guides things along. The opposite of entropy, so to speak. Perhaps that's what life is. Just like there are anti-protons to balance out protons, etc.
But it's difficult to argue away natural selection and evolution. Even in recent times, humans are evolving to become larger physically, while at the same time our brains are shrinking. I can believe that.
@mark I don't entirely disagree with you.
But DNA and bone evidence clearly suggests that we evolved...
Or clearly suggest that the same methods and techniques were employed for all mammal creations. The ape to man evidence indicates evolvement, but rather than spontaneous, it makes more sense that evolvement was intentionally directed. I agree with both of you.
They still can't explain consciousness, nor where it resides. Implications are it resides outside the bodies, essentially meaning our bodies are but avatars and our existence is actually outside this realm
@mark I don't entirely disagree with you.
But DNA and bone evidence clearly suggests that we evolved.
The information contained therein just happened there, completely by chance. Of course.
- A Coke can has no designer and is filled entirely by accident.
- The palace of Versailles had no architect.
And presumably you have no purpose in the universe because you are an accident of atoms.
But it is not astronomical chance, and you do have purpose.
Genesis is True Truth. We all need to be forgiven by the "God who is there", as Dr. Francis Shaeffer put it.
"For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Jesus) Matthew 7:14 ESV
And I think we should shut down this thread now, before it goes too far off the rails (even for Everything Else).