Did humans descend from other primates?

McCulloch · Post by **McCulloch** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 9:46 am

otseng wrote: Man did not descend from the primates.

Did humans descend from other primates?
Are humans primates or should there be special biological taxonomy for humanity?
Please cite evidence.

Goat · Post by **Goat** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:20 pm

Wootah wrote:
bernee51 wrote:On what basis do you assume the letter were randomly formed?
I guess the comic got unfunny for you ....

No, but perhaps it is your response that was unfunny.

It shows the typical creationist misrepresention of evolution, to be sure.

bernee51 · Post by **bernee51** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:23 pm

Wootah wrote:
bernee51 wrote:On what basis do you assume the letter were randomly formed?
I guess the comic got unfunny for you ....

I thought the cartoon was great. Apologies if you were just continuing the 'joke'.

I assumed (bad of me I know) that you were making a 'creationist' jibe based on the perception that the emergence of life as we know it was somehow a random occurence.

Wootah · Post by **Wootah** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:13 pm

Goat wrote:No, but perhaps it is your response that was unfunny.

It shows the typical creationist misrepresention of evolution, to be sure.

A lot of humour does come from misrepresentation ....

bernee51 wrote:I assumed (bad of me I know) that you were making a 'creationist' jibe based on the perception that the emergence of life as we know it was somehow a random occurence.

Creationists make jibes, atheists make jokes. My mistake.

bernee51 · Post by **bernee51** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:23 pm

Wootah wrote:
Goat wrote:No, but perhaps it is your response that was unfunny.

It shows the typical creationist misrepresention of evolution, to be sure.
A lot of humour does come from misrepresentation ....

bernee51 wrote:I assumed (bad of me I know) that you were making a 'creationist' jibe based on the perception that the emergence of life as we know it was somehow a random occurence.
Creationists make jibes, atheists make jokes. My mistake.

I am pleased that you are able to recognise a mistake.

It is all perspective.

Wootah · Post by **Wootah** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:58 pm

bernee51 wrote:I am pleased that you are able to recognise a mistake.

And I appreciate all jokes

bernee51 · Post by **bernee51** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:00 pm

Wootah wrote:
bernee51 wrote:I am pleased that you are able to recognise a mistake.
And I appreciate all jokes

And can obviously recognise irony.

Berny · Post by **Berny** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 1:43 am

I started reading this thread this morning but after about 18 posts I realised it was too big a task to read it all but I do have one question;
If we don't know exactly what 'life' is, and as I understand it we don't, how is it we are game to speculate on how it all started?

nygreenguy · Post by **nygreenguy** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:10 am

Berny wrote:I started reading this thread this morning but after about 18 posts I realised it was too big a task to read it all but I do have one question;
If we don't know exactly what 'life' is, and as I understand it we don't, how is it we are game to speculate on how it all started?

Who ever said we dont know what life is? Much like everything in biology there are exceptions and gray areas. It has more to do with definitions than anything. It doesnt prevent us from searching for life's origins.

bernee51 · Post by **bernee51** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 6:25 pm

Berny wrote:I started reading this thread this morning but after about 18 posts I realised it was too big a task to read it all but I do have one question;
If we don't know exactly what 'life' is, and as I understand it we don't, how is it we are game to speculate on how it all started?

Erwin Schrodinger wrote a wonderful littel book called What is Life?...that might be a good place to start. You can read it online.

Berny · Post by **Berny** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 11:03 pm

nygreenguy wrote:
Berny wrote:I started reading this thread this morning but after about 18 posts I realised it was too big a task to read it all but I do have one question;
If we don't know exactly what 'life' is, and as I understand it we don't, how is it we are game to speculate on how it all started?
Who ever said we dont know what life is? Much like everything in biology there are exceptions and gray areas. It has more to do with definitions than anything. It doesn't prevent us from searching for life's origins.

Then please tell me what it is because as I understood it we don't know. Certainly not nearly enough to be able to 'produce' it?
No I guess it doesn't mean we can't search for it's origins but it might be easier if we knew exactly what it is.
I read the Wiki ref and found;
"...living matter, while not eluding the "laws of physics" as established up to date, is likely to involve "other laws of physics" hitherto unknown, which however, once they have been revealed, will form just as integral a part of science as the former."
Which is enough to satisfy me that Schrdinger could only hypothesise, not exactly what I was looking for.