Lessons from Lucy

Chris, Harrisburg PA — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:16:33 GMT

I guess it's kind of comforting to hear that we might stay pretty much as we are even over the eons. Not sure why... I have no reason to dislike us eventually changing but I guess I wonder why would we discounting severe environmental differences. Sharks I think haven't changed much so I really don't think change is a given especially when our tech can adapt for us. Um... Maybe spots like on Dax from DS9?? Wouldn't mind those at all :)

I was hoping I could interject something perhaps even as a partial question for Native Americans believe that we can find things like fossils by simply following our gut feelings. You know "to look under that rock, instead of this one, or just to keep pressing on. Things almost call to each other sometimes and I was wondering if any of this sort of thing played a part in Don's discovery of Lucy? It's a trust in one's intuition. Natives believe that as simple as it sounds, our intuition ties us to the greater whole that interconnects us and all things. Just a basic thought... I guess I'm hoping that people like archaeologists can find more and more, if they simply know to try and follow this inner gut feeling :)!

Lessons from Lucy

a p garcia — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:02:36 GMT

Studying "Cell Biology" I can guarantee you that evolution is going on. Sometimes it is a dead end and something that shouldn't exist,like children with their hearts outside the body. The mutation rate is about 1:10^-9 cells. Some mutations serve no purpose, but look pretty like eye colors or thinning hair. Some mutation are successful and permit man to excell over other mutations like black skin color for the tropics.

Lessons from Lucy

Serge, Atlanta, GA — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:15:14 GMT

The cool thing about this sort of science is that we can visualize it happening. Surely there is a lot of relevant science that is more abstract, but nothing substitutes the ability to paint a picture in your mind of these hominids living their lives in an ancient land, and try to compare that picture to the fossils and how they were found.
This sort of science really captures the imagination in a different way.

Lessons from Lucy

Eric, Salinas, CA — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:19:43 GMT

An excellent article Alan! Just love reading about our evolutionary path from the distant past to now. It's a shame we'll never find all of the missing pieces to be able to trace the exact path of evolution but it is so gratifying that archaeologists have uncovered so much that we now have definitive proof of evolution. I can't wait to see what they unearth next that will further advance the reality of evolution and verfies Darwin.

Hip Hip Hurray for Darwin!

Lessons from Lucy

R, Seattle WA — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:49:23 GMT

I don't understand why they claim they "recovered an incredible 40 percent of the complete skeleton" of Lucy. Look at the Lucy bones on wiki and compare with a human skeleton on wiki. Then judge for yourself if you think it is 40% complete. I think Lucy is being hyped. She has been around for 35 years but the marketing people are suddenly selling her big time on Darwin's anniversary.

Lessons from Lucy

Carl Garcia — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:08:25 GMT

Evolution is a bunch of garbage. God created the universe and everything in it.

Go watch Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed by Ben Stein. Great movie that exposes these lying scientists for the wackos they are.

Lessons from Lucy

Curt, Houston, TX — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:21:46 GMT

Carl,
Why can't Evolution be the manner in which God created living things? Why does God and Evolution have to be mutually exclusive ideas?

Also, why would all the anthropologists of the world be involved in a conspiracy to lie to the public and discount God? That seems to be what you are saying is going on.

I think everyone should have the right to their own beliefs, but I have trouble with people who make wild accusations about others ("these lying scientists") with no defined basis in fact.

Lessons from Lucy

Floyd Prather, Midland, TX — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:34:02 GMT

Because our environment has changed and we don't have the natural enemies that have been with us throughout our existence, has evolution of humans become stagnant? Weaker or different humans can all live to a ripe age... survival of the fittest just doesn't apply anymore.

Our evolution from here on may be determined by the advancement of our immune systems during worldwide pandemics.

Or through genetic engineering? Just because we have a distaste for altering ourselves today doesn't mean that we will always fear genetic engineering... sounds kind of science fiction, but might that be the next phase of human evolution?

Lessons from Lucy

C Jones, Tulsa, Oklahoma — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:53:01 GMT

Go do some research on the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and you'll see the deceipt practiced behind the scenes to get that movie out and the disingenuous portrayal of some of the "expelled" scientists.

I, am a Christian, but I was extremely embarrased when I read about the tactics used by the film's producers to achieve their goal and the misleading information it contained.

Lessons from Lucy

Bill Smith, Flint MI — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:21:13 GMT

I have always found "Lucy" to be a facinating stretch of science. The result of someone want so badly to believe something or get ahead they will say or do anything.

If you really study the Lucy "find" you will discover that Lucy was found at multiple layers in the ground. If digging at different layers is truely an accepted practice I am sure I can come up with a dog that has a human head and viola... the missing link.

Lessons from Lucy

K Brown, Charleston, WV — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:23:09 GMT

I am a Christian and a science student for over 15 years. Science is the pursuance of facts through repeatable experiements that can be reproduced with the same result every time. Evolution is a theory - not proven fact. The skeletal remains of "Lucy" just prove the fact that she/it existed. Friends in the science realm, you have taken a notion and run amuck with it. If you believe in true science, then there cannot be a true belief in evolution. It is not proven by any real scientific standard.

To look at a cell under the microscope and see its function and beauty shows that there is no doubt that life is not by mere chance or evolved. The odds of chemical combinations coming together to produce life are mind boggling. Now lets add to those odds that the chemical combinations would "evolve" to make all the animals, reptiles, bugs, and of course, humans. The fact that scientists would put more faith in a gamble of odds like that rather than the God of nature, creator of all the universe is even more mind boggling.

Lucy is not my ancestor. God is my father.

Lessons from Lucy

B, Vancouver, Canada — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:59:02 GMT

Carl, do you go through the entire day covering your ears, yelling "LALALALALALALA", with your eyes squeezed shut?

Lessons from Lucy

WWPdlr Chicago — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:11:43 GMT

We'll be extremely lucky to 'remain as we are'. Once Europeans invented ships capable of circumnavigating the planet, we as a species hit the cuttoff in human evolutionary development. That's because we immediately began interbreeding with whatever people we encountered, irrespective of size, shape, color, or belief. That's not to say it was done willingly. It just was. And I'll apply the term 'superior' to the european explorers because they were the ones who reached across oceans with the most technologically advanced inventions of their day - those marvelous sailing ships. I submit that whatever beneficial differences existed in their genes, the likelihood was/is that the explorers had more of them than the other way around (consider that the europeans took 40K years to colonize northern Europe, a goodly portion of which was during the last ice age, when conditions were ripe for eliminating inferiors). Interbreeding resulted, therefore, in offspring that were equal to or less than their parents, a situation that is perpetuated even toady (humans aren't smarter than we were then, just better educated, creationists not included). More importantly, the majority of factors that had culled the human species throughout its development have and are now being eliminated and/or subverted. Our stunning technological cababilities are now used to maintain vast numbers of individuals who not long ago would not have lived to puberty. Most folks think that's a wonderful thing. I'm not so sure. Before technology, you really did have to be better/smarter than the other guy to survive. Today your mother simply needs to make it to the hospital. Are humans evolving? Yeah, sort of. With the way we're applying our technological prowess, today we're devolving.

Lessons from Lucy

William Hunt — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:34:24 GMT

I've never quite understood why a chimpanzee skeleton is subjected to such hype. One would think that if such "missing links" existed, then they would be plentiful in the fossil record- after all they should be close to us in time.
-W.H. M.S.EE(Cons.Biology), B.S.Geology., B.S.C.E.T.

Lessons from Lucy

Chip, Parker, CO — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:05:49 GMT

The idea of a "Missing Link" is a quaint 19th century idea. There is no single missing link of any species. The fossil record is a beautiful example of a continuum of change not only for pre-human to human but for many species and is solid (pun intended). Its tangable, measurable and predictable based on current knowledge. Lucy "fits" nicely into this continuum and adds to the knowledge base that has been built up to know.
And...here are two of my favorite quotes
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” ~Philip K. Dick
Dont be baited into going off track (Lucy and her legacy) by the haters above...ignor them

Lessons from Lucy

map, wisconsin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:10:46 GMT

Humans may have seen their evolution stall. Another catastrophic event, either our own making or natural, may provide the catalyst for further changes. We are, unfortunately, about due.

As to Science and faith...When I study a painting I can learn much about the artist: the period in which she worked, the pigments available, the style of stroke and brush and so forth. This is the work of science.

I happen to believe there is a mind behind all this. Those who like Darwin have examined the artistry of the universe are simply describing what they see. Their insights can provide more information about the artisan. My only objection is when the scientist makes statements about "ultimate things." Which they cannot examine.

The same applies to those who use Biblical poetry and parable to make scientific claims. The issue is "not is the Bible true," but "is our grasp of what the Bible is about adequate." Had Darwin lived with a church that opened its eyes to the possiblity that God is bigger than their exegesis he may have turned out to be a man of greater faith.

As a student of Scripture, a country pastor (as Darwin once thought to be) and a fairly conservative follower of Christ, I, too, celebrate the birthday of Darwin and stand in awe as I look at the world around us. Thank God for insightful minds like Charles Darwin!

The truth is always the truth! Despite our small vision.

Lessons from Lucy

Jaycubed — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:26:26 GMT

It's always fun to check out the crackpot's web-pages. Might I suggest clicking on William Hunt's (M.S.EE(Cons.Biology), B.S.Geology., B.S.C.E.T.) name (in blue above) to see his Gung-Ho Tribulation/Rapture fiction and anti-global-warming tract.
"Best described as a cross between Hal Lindsey and Tom Clancy."
As for the degrees, I'm sure the B.S. is real!

Lessons from Lucy

Slash, Pensacola, Florida — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:27:57 GMT

Some of the less-educated fairy-tale believers here should learn the definition of scientific theory before spouting your 'it's just a theory' nonsense.

Evolution is both fact and theory---fact in that we have observable evidence of it (the most readily-accessible being the rise of drug-resistant bacteria as a result antibiotic use) and theory in that the hypothesis fits all the observable evidence with no contradictions. Layman often confuse scientific theory with scientific hypothesis.

For other 'mere theories' scientists have the gall to portray as facts and force on your God-fearing children, see plate tectonics, gravity, and the germ theory of disease.

Lessons from Lucy

Fiona64 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:36:15 GMT

KBrown, you and many others make the mistake of confusing scientific theory with the common usage of the word. Scientific theory is not "an idea" or "a hunch" -- those belong to the realm of hypothesis, which is what you test in order to develop a scientific theory. Gravity is a scientific theory, and yet none of us go spinning off into space.

Lessons from Lucy

Frank Glover, Rochester, NY — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:39:43 GMT

"Evolution is a bunch of garbage. God created the universe and everything in it."

In one grand swoop, a relatively short time ago, with everything pretty much as we see it now? Or with that which we call the Big Bang?

Too much evidence points to an Earth that's very old, in a Universe that's much older, with a great many things having changed along the way.

You can believe that...or you can believe God created it to *look* that way.

I refuse to accept such a capricious deity. Isn't deception what one would expect of the Devil, instead?

It's not a game, not a test of fundamentalist faith, the world is what it seems. It has changed (and will continue to change) over a long period of time...and, within that thin slice of time humans have existed in it, so have we.

If there's a God, take His Universe at face value.

Lessons from Lucy

Thomas Ashby, Calgary — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:52:37 GMT

It's too bad they can't retrieve intact cell chromosomes from such fossils. The apes have 24 pairs of chromosomes while humans have 23. The discovery that human chromosome 2 is actually a fusion of the ape variety is direct genetic evidence that humans are connected to ancestral apes. Chromosome 2 displays centromere and telomere characteristics that only point to a fusion event or mutation having occured.

It would be something to actually see if Lucy type fossils have 23 or 24 pairs of chromosomes.

Lessons from Lucy

riogrande, brownsville, Tx. — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:15:19 GMT

I'm not an educated person in the area of evolution, but if we evolved from the apes, chimpanzee's, ect. why do they (apes, chimpanzee's, gorllias, ect.)still exist? shouldn't they have vanished from the face of the earth when they became humans?

[ALAN ADDS: First of all, the theory says present-day apes and present-day humans descended from a common ancestor that didn't necessarily look like either present-day species. Secondly, the creation of new species does not require the disappearance of old species. For example, I and a lot of other Americans are descended from Irish and German folks, and yet how can the Irish and the Germans yet exist? Of course, the ancestors I share with my Irish kin have disappeared, but their Irish descendants are still doing quite well.]

Lessons from Lucy

s barnes, hendersonville, nc — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:27:52 GMT

apparently K Brown in his 'study' of science didn't bother to learn what theory actually means.. thus using the fundie fall back notion of theory.. not fact. Gravity is a theory.. electricity is a theory and are facts. A theory is a group of facts used to explain a natural phenomena

Lessons from Lucy

TheFallibleFiend, LORTON, VA — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:53:30 GMT

Evolution continues, but it dominant mechanisms are different. There are at least 3 mechanisms for evolution: natural selection, sexual selection, and genetic drift. Our societies have altered the environments and created new environments, changing the selection criteria.

Of course Lucy was not a chimpanzee. Evolution has nothing to do with religion. It neither confirms nor disproves the existence of God. The rejection of evolution requires a comic book understanding of science and evolution. Typically, creationists spread rumors and the rest of them who are not capable of distinguishing urban legend from fact just keep spreading those rumors.

Lessons from Lucy

drklassen, Media, PA — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:26:18 GMT

K Brown: Science is not the pursuit of facts. It is the combining of facts (data/measurables) into a coherent narrative or explanation, or theory. I'm amazed that a "student of science" would try to imply that a theory is just a hypothesis. Also, science, and evolution, are not about belief---that's religion. Evolution has been proven; it is the only narrative that can explain all the given data and can even make predictions that allow for the creation of new antibiotics.

As for probability theory and evolution, your statement is utterly false. It assumes that evolution is a purely random sequence of events. It isn't. It is controlled by natural selection.

I put my faith in God for my morals and ethics. But I'll continues to science to understand the universe around us. I would think God would want no less of me.

Lessons from Lucy

Jake — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:26:27 GMT

Ben Stein is a class A idiot. Ignore him.

Lessons from Lucy

Misha, Atlanta — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:29:23 GMT

William,

[...] First, Lucy is taxonomically NOT a chimp. She has the hips and femurs more closely resembling a human. Those hips and femurs are shaped in a way that would indicate bipedality.

Secondly, fossils are rare. They aren't as easy to make as the plaster of paris molds we made in elementary school. The likelihood of any fossil existing is dependent on many factors including burial method, material, climate and absence of scavengers. YET, there are still over 4,000 known hominid fossils. I'd say that's plentiful.

Tell me, is your back yard filled with fossils? Can you dig one up and show it to me? My guess is, probably not. Its not because nothing has ever died in your back yard in the past but rather that fossils are extremely rare to begin with.

I would suggest you make your old professors proud and actually do some research and math. Don't toss out an explanation just because it doesn't fit YOUR interpretation of Scripture.

Lessons from Lucy

C. Moran, Independence, Missouri — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:31:55 GMT

To K. Brown - Gravity is only a theory, and less understood than evolution, as is relativity. We would ignore both at our peril, as we would evolution. Semi-alive things such as virus and small living things like bacteria can evolve at such a rate as to be harmless now and fatal to us in a generation. Don't call this "micro-evolution" and deny that over billions of years this mechanism can't create great changes in multicellular organisms -unless you're going to argue the young earth theory (good luck with that!) You might do better than place small, human-imagined limits on what God can do.

Lessons from Lucy

Frank Glover, Rochester, NY — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:47:54 GMT

"I'm not an educated person in the area of evolution, but if we evolved from the apes, chimpanzee's, ect. why do they (apes, chimpanzee's, gorllias, ect.)still exist? shouldn't they have vanished from the face of the earth when they became humans?"

Evolution isn't linear, as the notion of a missing 'link' (as if in a chain) implies, it branches, more like a tree. A branch doesn't necessairily mean the limb from which it diverged disappeared....

Lessons from Lucy

Chris HBG PA — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:08:11 GMT

Frank and Alan, ...sorta think what we are running into is actually not such a bad trait. In some ways people who deny science are just not open, but I'm sure thoughout our evolution, such "dedication" to an ideal has proved invaluable. Religion is perfectly natural from a humanitarian perspective especially when you have no tools to show otherwise. I also think there is a basis for spirituality which is probably why it's lasted as long as it has. Even the new String-net liquid theory from MIT suggests a reality far different than what we might expect. All told, I've learned that we should try not to preach just as much as we don't wish to be preached to. I think there are "in-roads" to getting people to be open to more ideas... Often as with global warming, we often aren't bumping heads with the bible, but people who have a genuine seemingly ambiguous concept they just can't quite get their head around and often times just the simplicity of proof allows them to say Aw.... Humans coming from apes or bacteria isn't very obvious but I'd almost bet that if presented at say a museum in a step by step process, many--if not most-- people would be able to get their head around it. I myself always had a terrible time envisioning how "fish" might find a way to be on land and it wasn't until I heard about how salt water fish slowly made their way up into the rivers and creeks where the shallow water favored legs instead of fins that I was FINALLY able to envision this for myself. It truly is beautiful to learn about these historic first steps and I've sometimes said that even if humanity were to die out tomorrow, the path to learning what got us here and finally knowing would have made the trip worth it!

Lessons from Lucy

Dr LLoyd Gordon,Kingston 05, Jamaica,Caribbean — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 01:50:15 GMT

The evidence supporting Lucy's authenticity isvery well documented and her geometry certainly suggests humanoid, if not human stature. This, taken together with the single chromosome difference in the haploid,(viz germ-cell), condition of man and chimpanzee also the fused appearance of chromosome#2 in man would suggest that man and chimpanzee are closely related.I am in fact a firm beleiver in the existence of a creative intelligence and personality who whether acting individually, or with others of its kind (recall the staement in Genesis:" Let us create man in our image.."), brought about a change in selected samples of the early hominids of a chimpanzee-like character to create a new family member,namely man. Reading between the lines of the factual bits of evidence for evolution which appear to be impeccable and several biblical statement clues I find the suggestion of subsequent sexual union between the transformed chimpazoids,(viz the Lucy type)living in the land of Nod and a descendant(viz Cain) of a genetically cloned human (viz Mother Eve).The clearly sexual overtones of the "Apple Story" might even suggest that the cloned mother Eve participated in consensual sex with one of the transformed hominids who acting under the influence of a fallen spiritual being convinced her to experiment with him (viz bite the apple).Their son Cain most naturally would have been in a different mental state to that of his brother Abel who was a genuine father Adam and Mother Eve offspring.The manner in which Cain railed upon Abel suggests an extraordinary psychological antipathy for one sibling to have for another hence hinting at the possibility of dual paternity.Possibly a blending of Creation(intervention by a superhuman personality and intelligence in modifying the genomes of evolving terrestrial life-forms) and Evolution( the evidence based upon findings of fossilized material or information in the layers of the EARTH arguing for transformations in life forms under the influence of processess taking place naturally on the Earth).The ineluctable appeal of this hybrid approach in our thinking as scientists or simply intelligent humans seeking to reconcile a handwritten account with information "written in Nature", as it were,might surely have appealed to Minister Darwin were he alive in our present time period.

Lessons from Lucy

Henry Burns, San Francisco, CA — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:25:21 GMT

Scientific research recently had a 'D'oh' moment when it came to human evolution. Rather than human evolution stagnating ,as was generally accepted, it appears that human evolution is actually accelerating. The 'D'oh' moment was when it was realized that we should have known this all along. Darwin himself pointed out that tiny variations are the engine of evolution and with an excess of 6 billion humans on planet Earth, there is obviously a lot of variety.

Lessons from Lucy

Gerald Skoog, Lubbock, TX — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:18:22 GMT

I had an awesome feeling and a connection with the past when I viewed Lucy in a Houston museum in 2007. One has to be in a state of denial to view Lucy and consider other fossil and molecular evidence and continue to reject to the reality that humans have evolved.

Lessons from Lucy

paul stanton, philadelphia,pa — Sun, 24 May 2009 22:12:35 GMT

i believe in creation by God. it all happened in one God day. man and woman were given the breath of life on the sixth day like the bible says.

Lessons from Lucy

Allison, Roanoke, Virginia — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:12:38 GMT

If evolution is so real then why are there still chimpanzees on earth and they haven't evolved yet? God created the Earth get over evolution it's not real!

Lessons from Lucy

Dorothy Derrigan, Knoxville TN — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:59:06 GMT

"And God said" and bang! The universe came into being. Yes, creatures evolve, but i cannot understand why people are so willing to believe we just happened by some incredibly stroke of luck not to mention all the other life. The Bible is consistant with the necessary order things would need to be created in for life to exist. How could the writers have known that so long ago? Have you read the book? Too many people discount it without reading it for themselves!

Lessons from Lucy

Elizabeth Crane, Cleveland OH — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:03:07 GMT

Most of this is written by cromagnons who wouldn't recognize thought if it were on fire. The spelling and grammar are prehistoric. Sentence structure is nonexistent. And then there's the redundancy - worldwide pandemic -

Religion has no place in the discussion and no place, really, in life except for the time you are actually in a church. Religion has done more harm than good and don't get me started

Dr. Johanson is too brilliant for any of you to comprehend. I worked with him for a short time. There is no point in attempting to drive home that fact because you can't argue with dull minds

I find him and the subject I majored in, anthropology, to be endlessly fascinating

Lessons from Lucy

Derek L — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:24:44 GMT

I am a graduate student in mechanical engineering and have a strong respect for science as a tool for explaining our world. Looking back through the last few hundred years, it is interesting to observe how our perceptions of nature and its workings have evolved (i.e. Newtonian mechanics to Einsteinian physics; basic algebra to multivariate calculus; Galileo's refractor to the Hubble telescope; the Bohr model of the atom to Quantum theory and String theory). Through history, human beings have devised theories that appeared to satisfactorily explain the phenomena which (s)he was physically capable of observing at that time. As technology developed, our capability of observation also increased, which in turn revealed the shortcomings of our prevailing scientific theories. It is therefore apparent that technological development and scientific development go hand in hand in a circular process, one advancing the other. It is important to note however that this process has not stopped since we appeared on the planet, and furthermore will not stop as long as we exist. Our innate curiosity, as well as our desire to explain our surroundings and ourselves, will drive us to even greater discoveries in the future.

My point is that there is no scientific theory/model which can truly be said to be "complete." We may believe that a model is complete, and certainly it may appear to be so, but it only takes one contradiction to disprove a model. When this occurs we must either revise the model or else begin again with a completely new model. Take Newton's "Laws" of Motion for instance: they only hold at very low velocities. How low is "very low," you might ask? Einstein answered that question with his theories of relativity. It turns out that Newtonian physics only hold when velocities are "relatively low" compared to the speed of light.

Now taking my argument back to creationism vs. evolution, we cannot truthfully say that either concept is complete. If we take the hard creationist stance in which God created everything as we know it in a literal 6-days (as laid out in the first chapter of Genesis), there remains much to be explained as to the physical, chemical, and biological phenomena that took place during this time. These are not given in the Bible, mainly because scientific understanding had not advanced sufficiently at the time during which those passages of the Bible were written. However that is not to discredit the account of creationism. It is merely to point out that the story is extremely general (from a scientific point of view) and is incomplete in itself. On the other hand, we may take the hard evolutionist view in which the universe emerged from a point in time and space in an enormous catastrophic explosion of energy and matter. This view asserts that all living matter evolved slowly over billions of years from a single-celled organism. This intricate organism was supposedly formed from just the right amounts of energy and matter combining in a precisely controlled manner, resulting in life. However, this theory also leaves much to be desired. It fails to explain the physical, chemical, and biological mechanics of both the Big Bang event and the evolutionary process as a whole. The theory merely states that these occurred without telling how.

I am not trying here to prove or disprove one theory or another; I am trying to hammer home the point that the creationist and evolutionist descriptions are both incomplete. I personally do not believe that we will ever prove/disprove one or the other. It seems to me that both theories require faith and a decision to either believe or disbelieve. And yet we continue to attack each other for our personal beliefs. Do we not all have the privilege and right to choose what we will or will not believe?

One last thing, I forgot to mention that not only am I a mechanical engineer - I am also a Christian and have chosen to accept the teachings of creationism. After all, it is my right to choose.

Lessons from Lucy

RB — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:34:16 GMT

First of all the "big bang" was not an explosion it was more like an unfolding. Its pretty naive to think we are the only ones that exist. The universe is bigger than we can even fathom...

Lessons from Lucy

Eros — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:28:24 GMT

I wish Humans told the truth, that 100 million yrs ago we crashed landed on this water planet you humans call dirt,there are 8 races living today, 4 races have died out about 10,000BC and lucy is how we made new humans with DNA and Geno and a little cloning,so today there are only 5 out of a billion of us left on this dirt world the rest where formed from genetic cloning and DNA altering so get over it human you are a Hybrd.