[Moiraine]

Originally posted by Yorick: A rats DNA is also very similar to a humans. That is meaninless. We are also similar to trees in that we're alive and we grow. It doesn't mean we must have come from a shared ancestor to a tree.

Nah, isn't it interesting that the closest to us living things look, the more genes they share with us ? We share 99.5 % of our genes with Chimpanzees, and 70 % with bananas. Were it the other way around, I would be the first to agree with you that it is (probably) meaningless.

Showing a photo of a skull that bears little resemblence to a humans does little in my book either. It is an old skull of a creature with a huge mouth and small brain. Hardly proof of evolution.

Of course, you would have to look at ALL the skulls and skeletons on our evolutional tree as scientists have constructed so far for the continuity of our evolution to seem more plausible. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Co-operative behaviour is not the exclusive domain of chimps and humans. Hyenas, dolphins, lions, ants and many other animals work co-operatively. Again, not conclusive proof.

Chimpanzees have exhibited much more than simple cooperative behaviour - they live in societies with cultures - they CARE for each others (refer to the story about the cripple I mentioned earlier). And dolphins are known to be extremely intelligent too.

Again I repeat. Using a rock or simple tool is like reinvention of the wheel. Humans alone use compounded knowledge and invention. We communicate our discoveries and inventions to each other and build upon that. The result is an engine driven car, not simply another wheel. Human inventiveness, consrtuction and artistic expression far outsurpasses any other lifeforms, in terms of complexity, scope, permanence and communicative significance.

So we humans seem to be the only species that ACTS on its environment to suit it, instead of dancing with it. So far, anyway : we have been able to modify the world on large scales using mechanical tools for only 2 centuries, and on the world scale for 50 years, which is VERY short in view of humanity history.

The question I ask is : do we have the collective wisdom matching our technological prowesses ?

We don't have the knowledge to say for sure if the chimpanzees and dolphins don't follow our path because they can't or because they don't need/want to. I don't see why their own evolutionary paths should follow ours. You are measuring apples and oranges - measuring foreign species with human scales.

Also, humans collectively and individually have adapted to every environment on the planet. Apes have not.

LOL I recently watched a documentary about a kind of mouse who has managed to travel at some point in the past to a surprising amount of locations all over the world, and managed to adapt to survive everywhere it went. I'll try to find the name of that Survivor Mouse for you. That is hardly a human specialty ! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Well that's where we disagree Claude. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Ah ... I agree. [img]smile.gif[/img]

For the sake of humour, Yorick Bard, may I say that that skull up there looks a lot more human to me than an egg bouncing on two orange legs ?

Oh, and I see you are all talking about 'chimps'. Are we 'hums' then ? [img]smile.gif[/img]

EDIT : Damn spelling mishaps !

[ 01-23-2003, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: Moiraine ]