Evolution is horse SH***! something is horribly wrong with the brains of simpletons who believe that stuff. It's just too complex for it to happen. You are all confusing DESIGNED ADAPTATION with evolution. I mean if God has the power to design all of us, dont you think he would also be smart enough to make us able to adapt to our environment. Besides, even if you have a pile of living bacteria, they never join together into one life form. It dont happen today, why would it happen a million years ago? I mean a single cell dont really know what it's doing in comparison to the big picture of the entire body. Do you think cells say to themselves, "hmm I gotta take this oxygen to the heart so that the rest of the billion cells in here can live". It just happens to be doing this and that, and the result is a living being, what are the chances of that?

If we are breeding ouselves stupid then soon technology will take over all of us.

The fact we're eliminating being prey for other species and that we need fewer and fewer defense mechanisms doesn't suggest we're halting our evolution, but that we're evolving into a less defensive creature.  We no longer need to be as agile, keen-eyed, or quick to flee.  We needed those while out in the wild.  Now that we're gaining control of our living space, I'm not sure how we'll evolve.  But we certainly WON'T stand pat.  Maybe we'll get a bit more cranial capacity, or gain another digit on our hands and feet.  The scary part is if we live long enough to breed into one major gene pool (all one race, same DNA), then one disease could wipe us all out.  As we are, in segmented mini-regions, another plague wouldn't end our species at all.  So we'll see.

Neanderthal was supposed to have a larger brain than modern man, and cro-magnon man - also larger. Once we became domesticated (civilized) our brains actually started to shrink! The same thing happend when the wild wolf was transformed into the domestic dog. Nature gives the brain we need, not the one we want

N Smith, get yourself acquainted with chaos theory, then get back to us. Random things happen randomly, even something as complicated as the human circulatory system. People (such as yourself and other fanatics) are far too egotistical to accept the fact that you and everyone else in existence are just random cosmic accidents.

To N.Smith
"Evolution is horse SH***! something is horribly wrong with the brains of simpletons who believe that stuff. It's just too complex for it to happen. You are all confusing DESIGNED ADAPTATION with evolution."

Despite your opinion that evolution is too complex to have happened, it certainly seems to have.  This isn't just some crackpot idea invented by teenagers smoking pot. It is THE SINGLE MOST THOROUGHLY DOCUMENTED SCIENTIFIC THEORY IN THE WORLD. The amount of research that supports the theory of evolution -  fossil record, radiocarbon dating, genetics, astronomy, geology, geography, etc. is so large an entire encyclopedia couldn't contain it. The Intelligent Design Hypothesis, which you seem to support has NO supporting evidence. NONE. It is a HUNCH. Nothing more. So don't call the Theory of Evolution horse sh**. It is not. I won't insult your personal opinion by calling ID horse sh**, but until somebody comes up with even a single small piece of POSITIVE EVIDENCE to support ID, I won't feel the urge to seriously consider it. I'm not saying I will never seriously consider ID, but until there is some actual EVIDENCE to support it, why should I?

You could benefit from a little more objectivity and a little less reliance on what is essentially an emotional reaction to research which threatens your religious beliefs.

[...]  Evolution is fueled by natural selection which states that superior genes are more likely to survive and get passed on.  Mutations happen randomly when the DNA within cells replilcates itself.  Most times, mutations are bad and decrease that organisms chances of survival.  But sometimes, the mutation helps the organism which increases it's chance of survival.  Then these genes are passed to the next generation.  Over billions of years, these changes have produced the billions of different species that have thrived on earth.  Stop trying to explain evolution on a scale of a human's perception of time.  

If the entire history of earth was 24 hours, then humans have only been here since one second before the ball drops on New Year's eve.  Or maybe we have been here for only 6,000 years like certain blindly-believed documents state?

Intelligence may be a self limiting trait in a species – in the time scale of life on this planet humans may just be a very brief evolutionary dead end.

As I am nearing completion of my Master's thesis on chaos theory, I am amused by all of your comments.

Our intelligence isn't the problem. It's what we choose to do with it. We live out a myth that we are the most important thing in the universe, a psycho-pathological delusion of grandeur. We choose to believe that we have the right to use all the resources of the earth solely for our benefit. This is not true of most of the other societies that existed for most of our 3 million year history. Most Western and Eastern culture features the beliefs that the world will end, are we subconsciously willing ourselves there?

It seems to me that we really have not fully exploited the brains potential. Aside from natural selection, we can use gene therapy to enhance intelligence or simply institute a eugenics program of breeding persons of higher intelligence. Or a combination of both. After multiple generations I would assume the result would be people who by todays standards exhibit amazing abilities of intelligence and cognition.

Lots of funny and interesting statements are being made here.

It seems highly difficult to determine if we are slowing in the intelligence evolution or not. We are here presently, have relatively little information from our past and no information on the future. Debates on humans getting smarter will likely go on forever and maybe in a million years we can get these questions answered. Then again, in a million years humans may still wonder if they are evolving higher intelligence. Of course, my point here is relativity.

I am not guessing...I know many animals have different levels of what we call higher intelligence. One of my cats shows the ability to anticipate and even ask for something. This means that you are using past learned experiences to determine what might happen next. He likes to hang out in the restroom or the kitchen with me, but as soon at I wash my hands and turn off the water, he walks a few feet away so he doesn't get hit by the water droplets. I didn't have to teach this to him...he simply decided this was not pleasurable and moves every time. He also anticipates our crazy Golden Retriever stepping on him and will position himself accordingly. A number of times he has used the word "out" to get out of a room with a closed door. He has looked at me and used a long "owwww" sound with a guttural blast of air at the end that gives the "t" sound. I noticed it was difficult for him and he does it without the "t" sound sometimes, but I believe he senses that I understand his body language and doesn't attempt it much anymore. In a sense, he has trained me to anticipate his needs and wants. My cat is 13 years old and my wife of 5 years is always amazed at the communication and understanding between us. She has even learned to communicate and is also picking up on his nuances as well. He used to ignore her, but now they are very close. She wasn't a cat person, but now says she will never go without having one. Dogs do the same thing as well as other pets. The "cop out" is using the word instinct to describe actions such as these. We learn exactly the same way to avoid the situations that are undesirable. There will always be scientists arguing over things like this, but if you have a pet, you know that there is some higher intelligence going on there. No doubt we all have some instinct, but we all have higher intelligence as well. Genetically, apes and monkeys happen to be closer to us then cats or dogs, so we will relate better to them in the communication aspect...they do have similar hands and faces. Their grasp of our language will be different from ours and there are differences even among our species. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that if a chimp is teaching her baby sign language and that baby gets additional stimulation from his or her human friends, he or she will be slightly more educated than the parents. Eventually, there may be a better grasp of grammar as vocabulary is developed. Humans didn't develop language in a day...it took thousands maybe millions of years. It was likely a baby step process starting with thoughts that couldn't be expressed physically, then physically expressed thoughts that could be understood, then vocals that accompanied those understood expressions, then expressed vocals that could be understood, then language. First vocabulary...food, bear, fire, etc. Then more words together...fire come, eat now. Then possibly, we go eat now and so on. Eventually a large vocabulary gets tied together to increase accuracy...Let's go to the Outback Steakhouse for a great steak. In my view, our cats and dogs among others are at the beginning of the verbally expressed and understood language level and if they had hands, they might even be able to express some things in sign language. They do attempt physical and vocal expression/communication and we do sometimes understand them as they do us.

My point is that species relevant expression/communication is probably our biggest stepping stone in communicating with other species. Basically, we can only see and hear understandable communication from other humans and it is very difficult for us to "put ourselves in the shoes" of other species. After all, interspecies communication is a relatively new concept and will take time to develop. Interspecies communication may be a present example of the ongoing evolution of the human brain and many other species may be experiencing the same thing. Maybe we will eventually all meet in the middle and become the "Earth's Interspecies Collective". By that time we should get a visit from a new evolutionary motivator...Extraterrestrials.

As our society has grown, have we changed the meaning of "natural selection" and it's impact on us? Seems like we are concerned about survival of individuals and groups. As medical science has progressed - are we now capable of allowing more mutations to survive? Will this increase the number of avenues for further evolution?

i hope the brain implants become a reality soon. the smarter we get, the closer we get to figuring out how to live forever. living forever - that would be great. then we could finally really relax.

how did an innocent article about a strongly supported scientific theory, about the human brain of all things, result in this chain of self-indulgent proclamations and comparisons between evolution, a term referring to a process that takes literally millions of years, and mental disorders, a genetic disorder, not mutation from the normal, that i work with on a day to day basis with set parameters and a definate set of possible outcomes (down syndrome isn't an attempt to split into two human races! its a freaking disorder! but these people are still human!). and how does an article on the human brain end in such adolescent arguements as "my god is better than your well documented and widely accepted by people with a higher IQ than myself because its MY god!" ('evil'ution? come on, enough with the hate!) If you can't read a scientific essay without feeling like you as a person are under attack because you prefer the supernatural to the tangeable, then don't waste your time reading the essay! the knowledge is apparently not being passed along, and those of us who find passion in the sciences would be much obliged if we could read JUST ONE thesis published online without having to read your undeveloped, spur-of-the-moment, angst-riddled "thats stupid you're stupid" arguements. write to your local paper's editor or opinion columnist for your own christ's sake

I don't believe the the theory that man came from apes. I think this is all B.S.

I've seen pictures of fifty feet human beings, all ranging from 12 to 15 or even 50 feet. But since the media hasn't reported it, I don't know weather it's really true or not, since everything is starting to make a lot more sense in my mind. And isn't that were it happens, the connection, to "let the poor eat." So, now that all the things about evolution not just “being an accident” so to say have opened up understanding that dwells in me. To me as a Christian in my heart, it really helps me. It all sounds to be true. So is it that maybe divine creation was involved. Since science is opening it's mind to new understanding, are they going to study Christ that exists in an open minded environment, with out corruption. And I’m not being preachy im just unloading that we exist in a pretty great world, with everything we basically need. I feel it’s the gain people feel or not feel that lead to advance in their wisdom, in this vast, stretched out universe. People are here in this perfect universe, we exist in what ever it is that is out there. Our brain is the most complex organism within millions of galaxies, that we can see..  Yet we find people that actually see things within their mind, they perceive this world in a certain way, and therefor see images in their brains . Typical society calls them crazy. However, do we have the same seeing capabilities as an eagle? Can we see things they can see? Pictures and intuition jumps into people  I study all the science sections and space discovers of MSNBC.com. I’m up on the current events. And thru my truth of understanding this world from my “eye to brain” picture, I reasoned with we a connection that is divine. And He saves the soul that is in me, THAT science fails to understand, scientist should ask where and why to the question about “the spirit of the man”. What makes each individual define himself in this vast society. And during the process of that acceptance, I’ve accepted a lot of people don’t see what I see, and don’t have what’s in this heart that makes me,  me. Even tho a lot of those very people fill the churches. I guess I’m just waitin for science to accept that time is not an issue with what’s going on here. Strickly becuz the Bible says that God doesn’t see time as we do, time was to advance us and it was a gift. And am I right to say that science at msnbc shows we might have came from the trees and we can trace no further back. And science said that we came from water swaying back and forth on dirt and rocks for millions of years. All now disproved by credible organizations. So everything we believed about origins of man and the psychology of man, have all been flipped. Wow. I’m impressed by man kind and the brilliance of His mind and understanding. But for all of the things to happen so perfectly in such variation is profound. Can science answer the ultimate question in their human hearts, that are basically no different than mine, though our knowledge is different? What are the odds that a supreme world leading power would have arrose from simple human beings, to discover all the knowledge we are learning. Situations and actions harmonizing so brilliantly to come to perfect society, that gains the understanding to live eternally in our souls. And the belief in our mind provides great understanding. And as science SAID evolves us. Not evolution, the unfolding thru prophecy, happens and leads to eternal life, but it comes from the heart that our advancement continues on. And our gov’t is still allowing school to preach the lie of evolution. The correlation of thought and love advance the human race. Will the government answer to lies being taught to our children now that science and the media are reporting it as truths. We learn information and that sews great understanding within us some how, further more advancing us, then what is bringing us down? What brings mankind into war if we started feeding others that couldn’t survive. Symbolically that links to the bible thru Jesus teaching us to feed the poor dispite circumstance. Could it be a great evil. Such a perfect human being kills another one, and yet as msnbc journalism puts it we started off peacefully, from giving our food to others being done but by nothing more than love, Does a dog share his food for the most part unless the dog has a discipline regimen. No from the beginning, once he understands thru discipline does he change and advance and become a great loving dog. For the most part. There are bad seeds every where, even within the human race. Look around, they exist. Jesus said we do not exist by bread alone. Im pretty sure science just said, we exist by Love also. And creationism is a huge slap in the face as science as an organization, with certain so-called pull. But they won’t advance unless they drop the politics from the situation that will say their wrong. They hold information behind the forefront. The Truth is soon to be seen so that we all my understand. Prophecies in the Bible happening through out history proven all the way through, including the part about giant huge human beings(My first sentence). The bible says giants, not just tall people, but giants We were made for Love, and this existence as we know it will come to pass, and we will think   we were, but in our hearts we had a great yearning for something more, Let me ask.   Science will you prove that something greater exists. Or will we still create this war over creation vs. evolution. How many impossible variables come into the “scientific court.”in human physiological aspects, and the human race creates a world leader of the whole world that governs humans on vast scales and percentages. And science said we were “by chance.”

To Mike Maxwell, Laurel MD:

It is amazing that chimps have learned ANY portion of ASL.

Furthermore, chimps have been shown to exhibt the quite human characteristics of tool usage, lying and even murder.

You sound like a high school 7th grader who wants to divert the idea of the story, so people will listen to you whine and think you're right.

In reality, all you tried to do was hiijack the point of the story.

Get a grip.

Our civilization has essentially brought evolution to a halt, because no longer does physical competition for mates (and the resulting number of babies) determine which traits are getting passed down these days. Different families decide, independent of those factors, how mant children to have, and the natural selection result is fading with each passing generation.  What about how our brains could evolve?  Only if today's smarter, better-educated people consistently decided to have more children (which wuld survive, etc.) would any chance of a smarter genetic predisposition have to reflect itself over subsequent generations of people.  Since high-achieving professional people, if anything, are associated with lower children numbers, there is essentially zero chance in today's societies that any possible genetically-induced brain advantage is propagating advantageously down through the generations.
That is unfortunate; there could be a way through genetic analysis of the prospective parents, which could influence their decisions on the number of children they have over their life.
Richard D. Trifan
Ringwood, N.J.

if you've ever seen a bit of the "Jerry Springer Show", you might have an idea of how close we are to our relatives in the "animal world".  With our conscious mind, we really can "kid" ourselves into thinking humans are the top of the intellectual ladder.

I submit the proposal that we have already evolved from homo sapiens to another:  either homo superior or homo extinctus, depending on future events.  If we were to examine a petri dish in which many species were in general equilibrium over many generations, and suddenly one species exploded in numbers while others disappeared, we would surely suspect that the suddenly numerous species must have evolved.  Well?  Our technologies:  communication, computers, control, have permitted us to make radical changes world-wide in one of our generations.  Evolution can become the shared ability to augment by using technology.

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