Evolutionist, I have a few questions, would you be kind with your answers?

Question

Because 98% of you are rude and I just thought it would be nice to show that not ALL evolutionist are mean and nasty.

So here are my quesitons.

When did that wonderful feeling we when we love, evolve?

When did our emotions, evolve?

When did the ability to think, reason and plan, evolve?

How is that it takes many more muscles to frown then it does to smile?

For those who are convinced that we evolved from fish, where did our hair come from?

How is it that we have two eyes,ears,legs,arms,hands, why not 3 or 4?

Why is that we do not have one piece of writen history that shows the evolution of man?
(nothing to show that once upon a time we only had one leg or 7 toes or 4 fingers,etc)

PLEASE, honest, polite, serious answers only. If you can't be nice, please don't bother us with your rudeness.

At this point there are 10 answers, almost all are polite, thank you very much!

I don't think that any of the answers give reason to believe in evolution. To say animals have emotions too, does not prove evolution. To say no writen history because we didnt evolve enough yet, that is pure fiction. But I understand why you say that, after all, what else could you say? After reading your answers, I just can't understand how anyone could firmly believe in evolution.

Answer 1

When you say "when did.." I'm assuming you mean "how did.." since when these things happened seems to be irrelevent to your point.

A caveat, I am not an ethologist, but I'm pretty sure I have a decent understanding of how natural selection works so I will try to give you my best educated guess. Don't mistake my uncertainty for doubt. I'm not arrogant enough to assume I know the exact answers to these questions, but I am sure ethologists do.

"How did the feeling of love evolve"

There are two sides to this. The physical sensation of love, ie, "the butterflies" and the idea of love.

The butterflies are part of an emotional feedback loop. When considering how natural selection affects behavior, one should must look at the alternatives and see which behavior would pose an advantage. In this case, an alternative could be the lack of butterflies. If two creatures meet and are inclined to mate, there are a number of possibilities found in nature. In humans, and other species, the male and female tend to form a monogamous relationship which allows the couple to take good care of their children. This happens because the deal works well for all parties involved, both parents and the children. If, for example, a female human cut off the head of a male mate and built a crib out of his rib cage, that would not work nearly as well. Suppose there were three competing genes involved... a gene "for rib cribbing" as described above, a gene "providing the butterflies" which encourage cooperation in childrearing, and a gene "providing a feeling of disgust" which might discourage cooperation in childrearing. The "butterflies gene" would promote a behavior which, of the three, would provide the most successful childrearing. Thus, it would spread throughout the gene pool and pretty much eliminate genes for behavior that would be less successful.

In terms of the idea of love, this can vary from culture to culture and even person to person. Philosophers have been playing with the idea of love for a long time because it is memetic, not genetic. See first source link for a description of what a meme is.

How did our emotions evolve?

More positive/negative feedback loops. If we did not feel guilt when we stole something, we would be more inclined to steal, and that type of "social contract" would not work as well for humans as the one we have now. So a gene or meme "for guilt" would be more successful in the gene pool than it's counterpart. Humans have more complex emotions than any other single species, but it is pretty easy to look at the emotions (or lack of certain emotions) found in other species and see how those emotions are beneficial to the species.

How did the ability to think, reason and plan evolve?

Humans are omnivores, meaning we eat meat and plants. We share a food source with ferocious carnivores like lions and bears. We are/were in competition with them. We also were the prey for quite a few carnivorous species. We could not match the bear in strength or the lion in speed (or strength).. we don't have sharp claws, massive size or particularly powerful jaws with sharp teeth. How on earth could we possibly compete with a lion with a lions total physical dominance? The tactics of a lion would not have worked well for us, though they work great for lions. We have one thing going for us versus a lion though, we have a brain more suited to adaptation, learning and technology. Our ancestors who used their brains better were more successful than our anscestors who didn't. The successful ancestors survived and their traits spread through the gene pool. Generations upon generations of this process and our ancestors became quite good at making and using tools and weapons, making plans, cooperating and communicating the plan with other members of the tribe, etc, etc, etc.

"...More muscles to frown then it does to smile.."

I'm not sure how this matters really and it isn't as deep a question as the others you asked, but it could have something to do with frowning and anger being possible indications that a fight might happen. So your muscles better be prepared.

"Where did the hair come from..."

You realize you're talking about hundreds of millions of years of evolution right? Animals have hair for a few different reasons, protection and warmth. In humans, we have hair naturally in two general areas. The first, like the head, underarms and genitals, are places sensitive to heat loss. A little hair traps the heat in (or out) to regulate our body temperature. The second area is around the eyes which is essentially protecting the eyes from dirt and other objects that would make it difficult for us to see.

Relating this to when our very distant ancestors lived in the oceans, compared to air, water his a high specific heat capacity, which means it takes more energy gain/loss to raise/lower the temperature. It takes a great deal to change the temperature of the oceans even a couple degrees. Compare that to the hourly change of temperature we find on land. Land-based creatures needed temperature regulation systems far more than ocean-based creatures do, which is why fish don't have hair. Now, when the first creatures started hanging around on land, if they wanted to stay there, they had to adapt to the new environment. The ones whose genes mutated to include a gene "for hair" would have been more successful and their genes would have spread throughout the gene pool.

How is it that we have two eyes, ears, etc?

Our bodies, by the way, have evolved to be good physical vehicles for our adaptive brain. We're not the best climbers, or the best swimmers, or the best runners, but we can do it all. We have two eyes, two ears, two arms, two legs because that's what works for us the same way six legs works for ants, eight for spiders, etc etc.

If you understand evolution, the "what works for us" answer should be good enough. For those who don't, I'll take one example (two eyes) and explain why two eyes works well for us.

For any creature that hunts or is hunted, one eye isn't very good (though certainly it is better than no eyes at all) for the very simple reason of depth perception. With one eye, you can't see in 3D making it very difficult to judge depth or how far away something is. Having two eyes allows you to see in 3D making it much easier to be more agile, quicker, more precise, more aware of danger, better at tracking prey, etc, etc.

A third eye, or fourth, our sixteenth, etc, would be rather redundant for our purposes. Another eye in the front of our face wouldn't drastically improve our vision the same way the second eye did. Another set in the back of the head would be nice, but considering we were once on all fours I'm not sure where that set could be (our ***?) that would make them as valuable as the two eyes we have. There is also the issue of our mobility. We are built to run forward, isn't it best to concentrate our vision in the direction we're heading? The point I'm making here is that having more than two eyes just isn't efficient for us. Two is all we need for our purposes. Sure having 360 degree vision would be great, but natural selection isn't about perfection, or what is best, it is simply about what works.

Why is (it) that we do not have one piece of written history that shows the evolution of man?

I assume you mean ancient writings and not anything in the post-Darwin world. Anyway...

The answer to this question should be quite obvious. This planet is billions of years old. Life has existed on this planet for over 500 Million years, and that's only what we have fossil records for. Writing has only been around for about 6000 years and for the first couple thousand it was incredibly primitive. While natural selection is happening every day, it can take tens or hundreds of thousands of years for something drastic like a change in bone structure to be visible. Scientists have predicted, by the way, that the next drastic change in our own evolution will be that we will lose our toes.

Writing is an extension of the communication skills we learned as described in the section above on thinkiing, reasoning and planning. By that time, we already had our opposable thumbs (which evolved 1 mya) and other physiological characteristics as we have today. In other words, we haven't physiologically changed much since we started writing things down.

Answer 2

1) When did that wonderful feeling we when we love, evolve?

Who knows. Obviously way before humans were around as many animals experience similar emotions. That said, its a cultural thing as much as an evolved thing.

2) When did our emotions, evolve?

As above.

3) When did the ability to think, reason and plan, evolve?

As above.

4) How is that it takes many more muscles to frown then it does to smile?

Who knows. Why does the eyeball have 6 muscles to move it when 3 would be adequate? These things develop because there is no target form, things just develop because they do - there is no purpose apart from survival. Nobody said evolution was particularly efficient.

5) For those who are convinced that we evolved from fish, where did our hair come from?

Hair is made of the same type of protein that nails, claws, beaks, horns, shells, scales, feathers and baleen (whale teeth) are made of. It's likely that somewhere in the transition from amphibian/reptile to mammal the scales simply became thin and flexible.

6) How is it that we have two eyes,ears,legs,arms,hands, why not 3 or 4?

All vertebrate life has two arms, eyes, ears, legs, hands, etc. There are no non-mutant vertebrates than go outside of these boundries.

7)Why is that we do not have one piece of writen history that shows the evolution of man?
(nothing to show that once upon a time we only had one leg or 7 toes or 4 fingers,etc)

There is no written evidence because we didn't start writting until about 100 thousands years ago - albeit limited to pictures. It's safe to say that there is no surviving written history that goes back far enough to cover any changes in human biology.

You mentioned 7 toes/4 fingers. The 5 digit hand/foot is actually a shared trait with most vertebrates. Few animals go outside this except those that have lost digits through lack of need, and the Giant Panda which has developed a "thumb" from one of the bones of the wrist/palm.

All in all, if you're serious about learning about evolution, you should really read up on it with an open mind. You don't have to be an "evolutionist" to understand it, just as I've read up on several religious & philosophical ideas that I don't accept as true but I still understand them.

Also, one more point - unless you're obsessed with turning acceptance of evolution theory into a religion, don't use the word evolutionist, it's un becoming of anyone with a brain.

Answer 3

Emotions are a part of the brain. The brain evolved from more simple brain, which evolved from something simpler, etc. You can't put an exact date on "Here is Where LOVE began!" and I think you know that.

You should know, if you don't already, that scientists don't claim to have all the answers when it comes to evolution. Evolution is the best idea so far, the one that has been the most verified and studied, so it is our best model.

Smiling question: It is more evolutionarily beneficial to smile (I suppose you could say happy people have sex more often, but this may just be a stereotype), smiling in itself makes one happy.

We evolved hair from a genetic mutation. Like everything else.

We didn't get a genetic mutation for 3 or 4, or some organisms did and it was not beneficial, like 2.

Written history only goes back so far, I would estimate about 7000 years but I could be off. I do know that it is no more than 11 or 12000 though. The evolution of our species, homo sapiens, occurred before this. MUCH before this. A couple hundred thousands years before this, I believe.

There is written history of some things though: longer lifespan, being taller, etc.

As far as when a new branch of speciation will occur in the homo genus, that is impossible to say. Probably not for a long long while.

Answer 4

"When did that wonderful feeling we when we love, evolve?"
"When did our emotions, evolve?"

I've got the same answer for both of these, since they're basically the same question: we don't know. Emotions have their place, though, and are useful for survival, especially when considered in a social setting. Something like emotions are hard to quantify, though if we could measure the level of emotions in other cognisant animals, we could get a better idea of when they crop up.

"When did the ability to think, reason and plan, evolve?"

Well, chimps appear to have the ability to think and plan, as well as dolphins, elephants, crows/ravens, dogs, rats, and octopi. So, it was either before these species diverged or it evolved several times.

"How is that it takes many more muscles to frown then it does to smile?"

I'm not a physiologist, so I don't know. Just know that this isn't an argument against evolution, if that was your intention.

"For those who are convinced that we evolved from fish, where did our hair come from?"

Well, we've been evolving a long time since fish. I guess I'd say our hair came from the same place the hair on all other mammals came from.

"How is it that we have two eyes,ears,legs,arms,hands, why not 3 or 4?"

If we had three or four, you'd just ask why we didn't have two. There has to be some number! More than that, there is usually a struggle to get the best results efficiently. Sure a third eye would help us see better, but would it be enough to justify the use of energy and resources on it?

"Why is that we do not have one piece of writen history that shows the evolution of man?"

Written history varies from culture to culture, but the most distant writings we have are about 10,000 years old. Even this is not enough time to witness the change in a species with a long generation time such as humans. Go back 200 times that, and you might start to see the change in species (not to mention that we never had only one leg, we evolved from tetrapods!).



EDIT: If your intention was to find reason to accept evolution, you're asking the wrong questions. There could be no answer to all of these, but you still wouldn't have reason to doubt evolution.

And no, human evolution is not noticeable in 10,000 years, I don't know where you get your info.

Answer 5

Your questions generally take a full textbook to answer properly. There's explanation of what the theory is, how it was arrived at, what evidence was used, how that evidence was authenticated, how it all fits into the theory, how the theory has changed over time, why the basic theory hasn't, and on and on.

Answers in order:

Millions of years ago. Love, particularly maternal, is the only real means of survival that mammalian babies have.

Millions of years ago. Emotions fuel many chemicals in a tremendous variety of species that are necessary for survival. Fear, for example, is the primary catalyst for the release of adrenaline, which fuels the flight or fight response. The adrenaline can be a life or death deal breaker for prey.

Millions of years ago. Those that think, live and make babies. Those that don't, die and make no more babies.

Because frowning involves drawing the brows down and smiling only necessarily involves the mouth. If you smile with more than your mouth, it uses just as many muscles as a frown.

Creatures that did not have adequate protection from the elements did not survive to pass on their genes.

Stereoscopic vision requires two eyes, no more or less. Balance requires two ears, no more or less. Legs and arms (and consequently hands) are in the number they are for the purposes of counterbalance. That's not only walking upright, but being able to do anything. Humanoids that were malformed or improperly counterbalanced were unable to survive and therefore pass down their genes.

Proto-writing, which are marks that have meaning, but don't necessary constitute language, doesn't appear prior to 7,000 BCE. Evolution takes millions upon millions of years to enact distinct changes in a species. No one knew how to write back then.

If you (or anyone else) would like to learn about evolution, there are plenty of books on the subject in the library. There are religion-based books on evolution which assume that evolution is a distinctly possible mechanism by which a creator used to, well, create humans.


Edit:
The answers to these questions circumstantially prove and disprove (to borrow a legal turn of phrase) evolution. If you want proof of evolution theory on the origins of species, then you'll need to examine the fossil record. That's where proof lies. There are contemporary considerations regarding evolution, as well, but the fossil record is where it's at for the direction this discussion is headed.

Answer 6

For questions 1 to 3 they evolved from we a brain was developed and emotions and stuff are used to keep us alive. It is the strongest of the fittest. The weak die off and the strong prosper. 4 to 6 i don't know the answer to but god made it that way too, possibly it evolved that way cause it suited humans best to survive (i have no clue how though). For question seven, it is because humans have been able to write a about one hundred thousand years and evolution can take place anywhere from a short amount of time to thousands and thousands of years. The changes would be too saw, and what would they write down? I suddenly grew another arm today? no, they didnt know what humans looked like in the past to see if they evolved

Answer 7

I believe that life forms evolved but I do not know the answers to your questions. I know this may look bad, or this may have been the point you were trying to make. A person could speculate and give you some possibilities. And that wouldn't satisfy you. There are people who have made it their life's work studying how things evolve. I can only tell you what I've read. There may be people who have good ideas about why the human turned into what it did. Maybe someone knowledgeable enough answered some of your questions. Again, I don't know.

There is a great deal that humans will never know. But I don't have to know a great deal to have an idea about the source of gods. I can SEE people, they need gods. Not because gods exist, but because they don't understand, we know so little and are comforted so little by the implications of what may be true that we're willing to invent anything and believe anything to make the headache go away. Admitting that you don't know is hard, because you want to know. You want to know where you came from and you want to know what happens when you die. I would like to be sure, but I never will. I can only speculate. I would very much like to know. but I will have to settle for finding out.

Answer 8

1. When emotions evolved. Chemical interactions in the brain. No one can give you the exact date or the exact amount of time. Heck, there is still debate among some scientists whether animals can feel, even though most of us are pretty convinced that they can.

2. See answer to 1.

3. See answer to 1.

4. Dunno. Cause it does.

5. Honey, you need to go learn science. Hair is made of the same thing your finger nails and fish's scales are from. Keratin. Learn the science.

6. Because thats how we evolved. There are niches in life and we fill one of them.

7. Because history has only been written down for roughly the last 10 000 years. We can barely understand the most ancient writings discovered. Heck, we can barely understand ancient egyptian and it was only 3000 years ago.

Now... if you bothered to study science and history at all, you'd know you're wrong. Here's a shocker.... things evolve. Humanity has evolved. Do you have an explanation why we're all a foot taller than we were in the 1500's? Hmm... could it be evolution? I wonder.

Please please PLEASE go and learn the truth. Study archaeology, history, anthropology, biology, chemistry, physics, and geology. For your own well being, go learn so that you don't ask such foolish questions anymore when you should already know the answer.

Answer 9

I hope you're not just throwing these questions out here to play "Stump the Evolutionist" I can't answer all these questions personally, but if you are seriously interested in questions such as these, take courses and read all the books you can in biology and evolution. Even Dawkins, he really is quite brilliant. There are answers which any person of average intelligence should be able to understand. Study it with an open mind without dismissing it as rubbish before you really know what you're talking about. That's not an attitude that anyone who wants to be taken seriously should ever take on any subject. Although I intuitively believe in the natural workings of evolution and natural selection, there is a whole universe of knowledge that I need to study more of for myself.

Answer 10

I don't know the answer to any of your questions, except the last one. But I am sure that the theory of evolution provides a good framework to think about how those things came about and to form some hypotheses. Then we could look for evidence supporting or refuting the hypotheses and perhaps move closer to know the answers. They are difficult questions so it won't be easy work.

As for the last one, the answer is trivial. Man did not develop the ability to write until very late in his evolution, about 10,000 years ago. Since we know that modern humans were around longer than that, it is a pretty good piece of evidence that our intellectual capabilities continue to evolve even as our physical changes don't change much.

Answer 11

So here are my quesitons.

When did that wonderful feeling we when we love, evolve?
This depends on your definition of love, every culture's is different.

When did our emotions, evolve?
Name an emotion. Animals most likely experience it.

When did the ability to think, reason and plan, evolve?
Thinking is different than planning. We could think about 550mya but planning evolved probably within the last 2my.

How is that it takes many more muscles to frown then it does to smile?
I don't understand the relevance of this question.

For those who are convinced that we evolved from fish, where did our hair come from?
Mutations.

How is it that we have two eyes,ears,legs,arms,hands, why not 3 or 4?
This is like asking why are you online instead of watching TV. It's just what happened.

Why is that we do not have one piece of writen history that shows the evolution of man?
(nothing to show that once upon a time we only had one leg or 7 toes or 4 fingers,etc)
Writting history is only a few thousand years old.

[edit] I haven't heard your objections to the theory? [e-mail]