I accept evolution, BUT why are we sooooo damn different from other animals ?

Discussion in 'Religion & Philosophy' started by Channe, Jul 15, 2017.

  1. Channe

    Channe Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    When scientists list the most intelligent non-human animals, here's the typical list;
    1. Chimpanzee
    2. Gorilla
    3. Orangutan
    4. Baboon
    5. Gibbon
    6. Monkey
    7. Killer whale and several other so-called toothed whale species
    8. Dolphin
    9. Elephant
    10. Pig

      Can we really say any of these animals have created anything, discovered anything, or live in a society as complicated as the ones we have created throughout the world ?

      The religions say we are different than animals for this reason - I'm curious how we evolution accepters truly explain this hyper evolution we are seeing in humans. Even more recently, we have seen man go from having horse drawn carriages to putting a man on the moon within 100 years. It just doesn't make sense, sometimes.
     
  2. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    The reality is that there are very few truly intelligent people. A lot of people are smart and clever but are not truly intelligent. Countless people are no more intelligent than pigs.
     
  3. Ronstar

    Ronstar Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    several other hominids use tools.
     
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  4. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    Crows can plan ahead.
     
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  5. Ronstar

    Ronstar Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    elephants mourn their dead
     
  6. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    Chimps can cook with fire.
     
  7. Swensson

    Swensson Devil's advocate

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    It makes perfect sense. Our intelligence is very useful, so evolution favours it. Our intelligence lets us not only use tools, but construct complex strategies, chains of tools, refining tools, and explicit learning is extremely helpful, both in getting food and avoiding being eaten.

    As for the last 100 years or so, that's not really biological evolution, at least not directly. Evolution has developed our intelligence to the point that we can learn from others and from history (and in large quantities). This means that we can accumulate knowledge fast, even if our biology stays the same.

    Newton and Galileo were smarter than whoever came up with the moon landing, but the people who came up with the moon landing had learned more from history (Newton and Galileo included). That's not the biological evolution of humanity, that's just accumulation of knowledge.
     
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  8. Distraff

    Distraff Well-Known Member

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    What set us apart was:
    1: Bipedalism which allowed us to walk on two legs and freeing our hands.
    2: Highly functional hands previously used by apes for climbing to make good tools.
    3: Apes had traces of this evolution. Chimps often use primitive tools like sticks to do things, have brains advanced enough to learn basic sign language, are able to lie and are somewhat clever, and have more advanced brains than almost all other animals.
    4: Human evolution expanded the frontal lobe and greatly expanded higher intelligence.
    5: We became intelligent enough to pass down discoveries to the next generation. This is important because often every generation of animals often have to re-learn stuff which stifles advancement.
     
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  9. yabberefugee

    yabberefugee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Sounds like a lot of chance to me. Solution?? Just keep adding a few billion years.
     
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  10. Diablo

    Diablo Well-Known Member

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    We may be intelligent, but I'm sure we're more advanced. Look at the wars, destruction, killing and raping that we do, the destruction of our planet, the lying cheating and stealing. Chimps would be ashamed to be human.
     
  11. HonestJoe

    HonestJoe Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    We’re not all that different from other animals when you consider how different they can be from each other. All of the human achievements you highlight are really a consequence of a single difference we have, the nature and extent of our intelligence. It’s obviously had some real significant consequences (at least from our point of view, though we’re biased :) ) but it’s still based on that single physiological difference. If you compare, say, blue whales, pigeons and black ants, you can find loads of differences that are fundamentally as significant even if the practical consequences haven’t (yet!) been as expansive.
     
  12. Distraff

    Distraff Well-Known Member

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    No its not chance, its natural selection. Evolution runs with natural selection and mutations together, not just random mutations.
     
  13. Matt84

    Matt84 Well-Known Member

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    Sweeet.........
     
  14. yabberefugee

    yabberefugee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I do believe in natural selection. It is very obvious. Zebras came from horses. They can interbreed with each other. Starfish came from sea urchins, buffalo came cattle and they interbreed as well. Each one is within it's own kind. Natural selection does not deal with tadpoles becoming mankind. Evolution is still a theory. Until it is proven, it requires faith.......or as has been shown, the adding of an infinite # of years.
     
  15. Distraff

    Distraff Well-Known Member

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    Natural selection doesn't add anything new because the only purpose for it is to remove bad mutations. Mutations are what evolve things. The problem is that they are random, some are good and some are bad, and most are neutral. Natural selection removes the bad ones so that the good mutations build up to evolve new things.
     
  16. yguy

    yguy Well-Known Member

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    Only if one employs a metric which takes no account of uniquely human attributes.

    Intelligence does not motivate. That's why it's common among humans, whereas genius is not.
     
  17. VietVet

    VietVet Well-Known Member

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    I watched a show about tests with an octupus. It was very good at solving problems - like unscrewing a jar, and remembered a solution.
    I think man's main advantage is communication - speech and writing - so advancements can be shared and built upon by others. That's why our advancement accelerates.
     
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  18. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Those who argue in favor of evolution always err by starting with the more recent of the animals and compare those to humans.

    Fact is, the term evolution means to evolve. The first form of life was bacteria. So how can you explain to the lovely crowd here at the forum how bacteria changes to animals as well as fish and other forms of life?
     
  19. Distraff

    Distraff Well-Known Member

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    They changed through natural selection and mutations. Natural selection selected good mutations and these build up over long periods of time leading to long-term improvement.
     
  20. Deckel

    Deckel Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    My cat lays around doing nothing while I work to earn money to feed it and then shows its appreciation by clawing at me. Doesn't sound that different than many humans these days.
     
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  21. HonestJoe

    HonestJoe Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    All animals have unique abilities though, that’s the point. Why should the human ones be given special consideration?

    The kind of human social advancements and discoveries didn’t require genius though, “just” intelligence.
     
  22. Nerd of Liberty

    Nerd of Liberty Active Member

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    True, animals don't live in as complicated a society as we do, but several animals (mainly the ones you listed), have shown the ability to use tools. Chimps, for example, use sticks to "fish" termites out of termite mounds. Crows and Ravens have figured out that cars, (yes cars!) can be used to crack nuts, so they throw nuts onto the road and wait for our car wheels to crack the nuts for them. Dolphins have also been shown to blow bubble rings on a school of fish to catch them (almost like fishing). http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141107-incredible-tool-use-in-the-animal-world So, toolmaking isn't just exclusive to humans.

    The "hyper evolution" of humans that you talk about is simply the result of millions of years of evolution. Throughout Earth's history, animals had to adapt to a changing environment. For example, the Oligocene epoch is characterized by wide open spaces. To adapt, prey animals became faster in order to escape predators, and likewise, predators developed larger brains in order to figure out the best way of performing a successful hunt. Likewise, evolution gifted us with a large brain that gave us the ability to learn, make tools, and adapt. Scientists believe we split from a common ancestor that we share with the Great Apes, and that resulted in us, Homo sapiens. This is why, according to scientists, we share 98% of our DNA with our closest relative, the chimpanzee.
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2017
  23. maat

    maat Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yeah, my dog is worthless. I even have to pickup his poop. Just who is the master?
     
  24. VotreAltesse

    VotreAltesse Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Before they were multicellular life, they were only unicellular life. Then one day, multicellular life appeared, that's why we're so different, a new step of complexity in life that didn't existed before.
     
  25. Deckel

    Deckel Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    My dog just uses the litter box to spite the cats.
     
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