Creation vs. Evolution

[Soggy]

I don't think it was a miracle at all. See if you can (using critical thinking skills) come up with a solution.

Hint: think outside the box.

There is no box, there is only a spoon.

 

[MikeFerrara]

you guys are missing the point

if it was a miracle, all of that gets taken care of

that's not the problem

the problem is the credulity and lack of critical thinking that would allow an educated adult in America today to look at the Noah's Ark story and not see it for the allegory it is.

blows the mind that there can be such lack of critical thinking skills in otherwise intelligent people

You make it sound like you really expect critical thinking to be the norm. You can't possibly believe that unless you just got off the ark yourself.

If one believes in God, it doesn't take much to believe that He could cause a flood and have a guy build a boat.

If one doesn't believe in God, I guess you have to believe that the 2% difference in DNA explains all the differences between people and chimps.

 

[Hank49]

you guys are missing the point

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Andy, you've stated many times that we have evolved from apes and you've posted when we first appeared. I asked about this "time factor" a few posts back as to why or how to "create evolution" in a controlled environment. There is a post from Thall about salamanders and seagulls and greenbirds but with the exception of the two gulls not being able to breed off of England (and this is assuming that they DID in fact evolve from the same species and then differentiated, which isn't definite) the other examples CAN still breed.
So, if we all came from an ape in Africa, 400,000 years ago and have split off into groups from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego to Australia etc etc, and lived for generations in different environments, why are we still the same? Why is there no new human type as different as we are from chimps? OK, not enough time? It's easy to say, that to fill in the gap, but given our nature to move about, we should have speeded up the process. Why can Eskimos still breed with Aboriginies?

 

[ClevelandDiver]

Start by observing that the simple question has three complex answers. The real answer is determined by how you ask the question. I.e., only real numbers. Here’s a scientific oxymoron, imaginary numbers.

Science is bound by time, creation (God) is not. This debate is apples and oranges.

No doubt that animals “evolve” over time; no doubt that we have models that fit observation, and no doubt science (as a whole) is at best incomplete. Science can figure out the orbit of a planet; but it can not tell me when I will die, or who built the pyramids, or stone hinge, or answer the question is light a particle or wave? How about parallel universes? Do you remember Phelix the cat? This is all heavy scientific speculation that takes a great deal of faith to believe.

Time is the issue. If science figures it out, then we will all have the answers. We can go back and take a look and our single celled ancestors happily playing in the pond (if this really happened), or we can see God making Adam and Eve (if this really happened). Till then, creation and a superior being not bound by time is the only logical approach.

My 2psi

Translation: if something is too complex to understand and doesn't come neatly packaged with a bow on it, accept a simple, easy to swallow, explanation written for simple people thousands of years ago as the truth.

 

[Soggy]

OK, not enough time? It's easy to say, that to fill in the gap, but given our nature to move about, we should have speeded up the process. Why can Eskimos still breed with Aboriginies?

No, not enough time and not enough isolation. The very fact that we do move around so much helps keep us all similar.

It's isolated populations that tend to evolve faster. Think Galapagos.

 

[Hank49]

No, not enough time and not enough isolation. The very fact that we do move around so much helps keep us all similar.

It's isolated populations that tend to evolve faster. Think Galapagos.

There are differences in race that probably are results of isolation. Aboriginies are much different looking than Vikings. Yet not different enough.....yet? Today we are much more mobile. 500 years ago there wasn't much racial interbreeding due to the isolation. But we're talking 400,000 years, correct?

 

[Midnight Star]

Why can Eskimos still breed with Aboriginies?

(taking big puff smokum of whacky tobaky ... make that two ... this is some good stuff)

I wonder what exactly governs change in a species (other than random chance), environment maybe? Due to their location, the eskimos should be really hairy by now ... hairy like everywhere. Clothing might be a factor, but doubtful since skin color isnt governed by clothing; food perhaps?.

(another big puffum)

but how about their faces? Which are always exposed? Shouldn't they "adapt" and be all hairy?

*cough* this is REALLY some good stuff ... (puffing some more) ...

-----

Mike.

 

[Soggy]

There are differences in race that probably are results of isolation. Aboriginies are much different looking than Vikings. Yet not different enough.....yet? Today we are much more mobile. 500 years ago there wasn't much racial interbreeding due to the isolation. But we're talking 400,000 years, correct?

I don't understand what your point is. Various races of humans have not evolved away from each other enough so that we can no longer interbreed? Yes, we are still close enough that new species of the genus homo has not yet evolved yet. Some species can interbreed, like horses and donkeys, so the fact that we can still mate with various other humans means very little, especially given the short timespan.

 

[Soggy]

but how about their faces? Which are always exposed? Shouldn't they "adapt" and be all hairy?

Maybe, maybe not. The adaptation is the brain, which allowed us to learn how to make clothing and shelter, so the hair is no longer a trait that would be deterministic regarding survival.

That being said, have you noticed that black people have very little facial and body hair and Inuit have heavy eyebrows, and a thick black hair? They are evolutionary traits.

 

[aquanuts...]

One issue with evolution theory that has always puzzled me is, if we evolved from apes, and there are still apes present, then there should still be some intermediate ape/human present.