Debate Do you believe in evolution?

[Num7]

Although not believing in evolution can imply concepts that have to do with God, or Godlike entities, I don't want this discussion to turn into a debate about religion only.

What about evolution? Are humans descending from monkeys that happened to evolved, or were we creating by artificial means? Perhaps we're inside one huge setup that never had and will never have anything to do with natural selection, evolution and the miracles of life.

Compared to monkeys, we are very much evolved, but has it always been that way? What happened to us that allowed our specie to evolve in such a magnificent way and dominate our planet? Isn't becoming a planet's dominant specie a pretty incredible achievement? Although we've been dominating the Earth as a specie for a very short time compared to our planet's existence, it doesn't change the fact that here we are now.

Did we become how we are now naturally, from a bunch of single cell organisms to human beings as we know them in 2013 and beyond? Or did someone, something helped us out a little bit on the way... or a whole lot? What happened?

I'm really curious to know how you guys feel about this.

 

[Traveler Malaki]

Well considering evolution is a fact and I believe in scientific facts I would say yes. I do think recently as in the past 5000yrs that our evolution has been altered or changed by outside forces however.

 

[BlastTyrant]

Yes i do believe in natural Evolution, Is our Evolution natural? No, i believe we have been being advanced unknowingly for a very very long time.

Had we been left to Evolve on our own, who knows where we would be! I don't think we would be to far behind but by no means where we are at now.

 

[Khaos]

Evolution exists, its fact. A lot of people attempt to deny it and debunk it, but you really cannot. Science has proven that reptiles in our period of history, are evolved forms of reptiles back in the dinosaur age. Just because something evolves, doesn't make it better, or bigger or stronger. Evolution can be just about anything. I don't go as far to say a plant growing is evolution, as some people claim, in a defense of evolution, that is actually metamorphosis.

Evolution takes a long time to happen. We as humans are currently evolving. The changes are not instant, they take a while. Look at humans from 10,000 years ago. Now look at humans today. See the difference. Look at humans from 100 years ago, and humans from today. No difference.

In regards to us? I believe we are evolving naturally, as everything else, but I think something engineered us, it directed us down a different path. You can say that is not natural evolution, but I think regardless of it being engineered, the process is still natural, the outcome of our evolution may be engineered, but how we evolve, is just about the same for everything else on the planet. Like I said in another post, I believe in the Ancient Astronaut theory. I think something helped us in the beginning...

 

[PaulaJedi]

What about evolution? Are humans descending from monkeys that happened to evolved, or were we creating by artificial means? Perhaps we're inside one huge setup that never had and will never have anything to do with natural selection, evolution and the miracles of life.

We have evidence of evolution. Bones. It is a cut and dry case for me, personally.

Compared to monkeys, we are very much evolved, but has it always been that way?

From the human and Earth perspective, it is a very slow process. (From the perspective of the universe, it is barely a blink of an eye.) Other animals evolved, too.

Interesting, though:

Gorillas are intelligent. I believe they are akin to a 3 year old human without the skill of speech. They do possess language skills, which is why they can do sign language. In several billion years, will there be another type of human or will Gorillas become extinct because of humanity? If humans manage to survive this far, will we still treat them like animals and hold them in captivity?

Parakeets - the language portion of their brain is developing and they can also do basic math. Are very intelligent parakeets going to be roaming the earth in several billion years? Why is evolution giving them speech? How is it going to
help them survive?

Dolphins - Very intelligent. We do know that their communication skills are used for finding food and evading enemies under water. They have their own language and they appear to display emotion. (Most animals, do.)

I personally believe evolution is NOT random. I believe we change in response to our environment. Survival.

What happened to us that allowed our specie sto evolve in such a magnificent way and dominate our planet?

Good question. Is it just coincidence that we as humans are one of the few species that have developed this much? I have shown
evidence above that a few other species may also become highly significant.

Did we humans really evolve as much as we think we did? We have a different kind of intelligence. The problem is, if we are so
smart, why are we neglecting eachother, treating eachother like crap, judging eachother, and blowing eachother up? I don't see
cats, for example, doing this to eachother. In fact, cats and other animals will take in other species' babies. They only fight to ensure
their own survival, not have an all out war because one cat meowed wrong or another cat tribe is orange instead of black.

Maybe humans are NOT the most evolved species on the planet. Maybe we are NOT the most intelligent. FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

Isn't becoming a planet's dominant specie a pretty incredible achievement?

Earth takes care of itself. We overpopulate the planet, so evolution gave us enough stupidity to blow ourselves up. Problem solved.
Renewal.

Did we become how we are now naturally, from a bunch of single cell organisms to human beings as we know them in 2013 and beyond? Or did someone, something helped us out a little bit on the way... or a whole lot? What happened?

I could use some more help if they are listening. LOL!!!!

Human bodies did not evolve perfectly. WE ARE DESIGNED POORLY. Half of our organs don't work properly ---- or are we in the middle of
an evolutionary process?

I'm really curious to know how you guys feel about this.

Great topic, Num.

 

[HDRKID]

Languages evolve and we have evidence that this is occurring. However, this is a gradual process. It requires hundreds of years. Still, there are many languages going extinct and new ones arise. Also, there is a group of words slowly becoming obsolete like:

Hoddypeak a simpleton, fool, blockhead, or moron.

Other words like gay, change their meaning.

People notice changes, as new words are added in. Look at all the words connected to the internet now. Most of those did not exist years ago.

However, what we do not see is a sudden jump. For example, a person who speaks mandarin goes to sleep and wakes up speaking german.

In fact, the changes are so gradual that you could time travel back 100 years to 1913 and still talk to every one.

Old books often contain words that you understand, but are no longer common. These words slowly are on their way out.

It is possible to see how one language grew into many. For example, Latin grew into - {Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian}.

Typically, a language will develop a dialect and over time that evolves into a new language with few words in common.

 

[Khaos]

A good example of that would be this. Back in my time "shit" used to mean something awful. But these days, I hear people say "this shit is the shit" and that means something awesome... Oo

 

[PaulaJedi]

I said language as a whole, not languages individually.