[_ Old Earth _] Are Humans Unique?

[Pard]

Gonna have to figure out how I can get that myostatin facuet turned off. Then I can grow big and strong!

 

[Barbarian]

Gonna have to figure out how I can get that myostatin facuet turned off. Then I can grow big and strong!

That's happened.

Genetic mutationturns tot into superboy

 

[Asyncritus]

It would seem to me the answer is "yes, humans are unique". Which other species of animal has complex languages and many hundreds of them? Which other species has the brain development to not only support the spoken word but the written word? Which other species has the mental ability to take simply tools and create complex tools? Which other species creates vastly unique and complex cultures?

I could go on, however I'm really tired of the listing already...

I'm glad you take this POV.

You used the word UNIQUE, and you are perfectly correct to do so.

That is one major reason for my rejecting the theory of evolution. It cannot possibly account for any of those differences in the list above.

Anything UNIQUE does not have anything else like itself - and therefore cannot have descended from any 'common ancestor' by any evolutionary process.

Evolution cannot account for those listed differences. It cannot even account for the existence of women, nor can it account for the origin of the sexes or of sexual reproduction.

That's what I call BIGGGGGG trouble!

It is in BIGGGGGG trouble when trying to account for the existence of MEIOSIS, that wonderful form of cell division, which results in sex cells with exactly half the number of the chromosomes in the normal body (somatic) cell. Those cells with half the number of chromosomes become sperm and ova (eggs).

The sheer purposiveness of that division is staggering.

Why?

Let's say animal X has 48 chromosomes in it's normal body cells.

When the normal body cell divides to produce a sex cell (the sperms or the ova/ eggs) the chromosome number IS HALVED precisely - so an ovum will have 24 chromosomes, and a sperm will have 24 chromosomes too.

Why is that?

So that when the sperm and the ovum unite - the new cell, which will become the new individual, WILL HAVE THE EXACT NUMBER, 48, of chromosomes that the parents had!

That is the whole PURPOSE of meiosis.

It is intelligently designed and counted, so that the offspring will have the original number of chromosomes that the parents have.

Purpose is the opposite of evolution.

The whole idea of PURPOSE is completely contrary to any concept of evolution, which is alleged to be mindless, directionless, impersonal, random, and a host of words like that.

Since evolution cannot account for this most basic, purpose-driven function, then it is valueless.

Things do go wrong occasionally, but the number of times that happens is a vanishingly small percentage of the number of times the division actually takes place.

The copying process is a tribute to its Creator who did it so wonderfully well.

How did meiosis evolve, and from what?

Ask Barbarian. He can probably invent something really good!

 

[Free]

It is intelligently designed and counted, so that the offspring will have the original number of chromosomes that the parents have.

Purpose is the opposite of evolution.

The whole idea of PURPOSE is completely contrary to any concept of evolution, which is alleged to be mindless, directionless, impersonal, random, and a host of words like that.

Since evolution cannot account for this most basic, purpose-driven function, then it is valueless.

Things do go wrong occasionally, but the number of times that happens is a vanishingly small percentage of the number of times the division actually takes place.

The copying process is a tribute to its Creator who did it so wonderfully well.

I have mentioned to you before that you are erroneously pitting evolution against creation and the idea of a Creator. Both sides of the debate do this but it is error.

 

[Barbarian]

How did meiosis evolve, and from what?

Ask Barbarian. He can probably invent something really good!

Well, there is some evidence...

Primitive forms of meiosis: The possible evolution of meiosis*
ALBERTO J. SOLARI
Centro de Investigaciones en Reproducción, Facultad de Medicina (UBA), Buenos Aires (1121), ARGENTINA
ABSTRACT: Meiosis is a basic process of most eukaryotes, as it forms with conjugation the basis of sexual reproduction. As sex seems to be present in the vast majority of eukaryotes, the origin of meiosis is presently
unknown. Protists having optional or alternative sexual and asexual cycles seem to be the best targets for research on the evolution of meiosis. While the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae shows an elaborate and
well-known meiotic process, the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, has a much simpler meiosis, which may show some of the most primitive features of meiotic mechanisms. The present availability of whole genome
sequences of many bacteria and some protists is revealing that eukaryotic sexual reproduction has recruited some prokaryotic processes for its own development. Some of these processes are analyzed and the basic role of chromosome linearity and telomere constitution in the development of meiosis is underlined.

...

DAMIAN D. G. GESSLER* and SHIZHONG XU
Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, UniŠersity of California, RiŠerside, CA 92521, USA
(ReceiŠed 9 February 1998 and in reŠised form 10 June 1998 and 7 September 1998)
Summary
Theories on the evolution of recombination in regard to its ability to increase mean ®tness require a consistent source of negative linkage disequilibrium among loci affecting ®tness to show an advantage to recombination. Here we present evidence that, at least theoretically, genetic variation for recombination can spread in very large populations under a strictly multiplicative-®tness, deleterious-allele model. The model uses only Mendelian genetics in a multi-locus context to show that a dominant gene for recombination can spread when rare and resist invasion when common.
In non-equilibrium populations driven by Muller's ratchet, the gene increases its prob!ability of ®xation by increasing the probability of being associated with the best individuals. This occurs at an optimal level of recombination. Its action results in both an immediate and a long-term advantage to recombination amongst the proto-meiotic organisms modelled. The genetic
mechanism lends itself naturally to a model for the evolution of meiosis, where modern-day gametes are seen as derivative of ancient unicellular organisms.

...

There's more. Want to see more?

 

[lordkalvan]

That it?

That's your reply? Hmmm...

It seemed appropriate. I am sure Barbarian can point out your various and several misunderstandings and misrepresentations.

ETA See what I mean....

ETA 2 'UNIQUE', huh? Like this, maybe?

Switched off tail genes which are identical to a chimpanzee's
Broken vitamin C genes which are identical to a chimpanzee's
ERVs which are identical in form and place to a chimpanzee's
Chromosome 2 which is identical to the fusion of two chimpanzee chromosomes

My thanks to cloudsrider on another discussion board for this partial list of common traits between humans and chimpanzees.