people who believe in evolution..?

Question

i have no problem with your opinions... but i was just wondering, if we evolved from apes, why is it that we do not see humans evolving from apes today?? and why is it that we cant find the missing link? it all seems a little weird to me. but it also does make some sense. anyone have some insight here?

thank you for all your answers! i do somewhat believe in evolution. some of the concepts confuse me a little, thats all. im 14, so i really wouldnt know much about the history of it and everything.. so i wouldnt know about the chromosomes and stuff. but thank you for all your answers!! greatly appreciated!

peace && love!

Answer 1

Before I answer your question, take a look at my point of view by using a puzzle as an analogy.

Let's say we are putting together an image of a ship on the ocean. Now, let's say, we are most of the way done with that puzzle and you and I come to an agreement that it is a ship on an ocean because we only need about 10% of the pieces to finish the puzzle.

Moments later, someone else comes into the room and stares very closely at a few pieces of the puzzle and says "What is this a picture of?"

So, you go about explaining to them logically that it is a puzzle with an image of a ship on the ocean.

But, they keep looking too closely at the few pieces and reply, "No it isn't, its just pieces of funny shaped colors."

So, you then tell them that if they stand back, they can see what it is and when they do, they look for flaws and reply, "No, its not a picture of a ship on the ocean, because look... There's holes in it."

Next, you show them the cover of the puzzle box, but they refuse to look at it. However, they stay in their position and stare closely at the unfinnished puzzle while you explain that you will find each remaining piece.


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OK, you asked this question in the Religion and Spirituality section so this tells me that your family or peers may have a conflict of interest because they may believe they have to give up their religious doctrine to comprehend evolution, and this couldn't be further from the case.... Unless you read about evolution on creationist propoganda sites, then your just as myopic as the person staring at the puzzle too closely because they can't see the entire picture.

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Here is my direct answer:

No one ever said that humans and apes or any animal for that matter are not still evolving or going through evolution as we speak. Mirco evolutions are taking place right now with smaller life forms or we wouldn't have medicine, vaccines or genetically modified food crops.

Here's another concept you need to comprehend...

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The concept is TIME

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Time is a word not to be taken lightly in scientific reasoning.

In order to understand or fathom exactly "how much time" is needed, you must get your mind out of

1. Mythological time. As found in stories from ancient civilizations which have found their way into the bible.

2. Man made stories to make sense out of what science could not during ancient times which have found their way into the bible.

3. Theologian time which is the bible.

I'm being dogmatic because I really need for you to comprehend the reality that the earth is old... Really, really, really old.

I mean old!

Scientifically measured time is very accurate and it does fit into the big puzzle to explain formations of the earth to fossils to how we are in relation to the universe. So, evolution is just one piece of the puzzle of science, not a belief. It is a form of measurement to help explain our origins.

Being that we've established that the earth is billions of years old and our local universe is billions and billions of years old... Let's put this into a concept you can understand.

Scientists divided up the formation of our planet and evolution in a 24 hour time scale. Man did not evolve until a fraction of a second at the very end of those 24 hours. That's how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of time.

Once you clear those two concepts up:

Evolving and time...

Then and only then, are you ready to discover what scientists have worked so hard to discover before you...

That humans did branch off from a very complex evolutionary branch of life, which did come from ape like creatures and our kissing cousins survived and are alive to this day perfectly formed for their paradise that we so arrogantly destroy.

Here is what I recommend so that this same rhetoric of questions you ask don't make it to the frontol lobes of your brain when you reach adult hood, let alone the tip of your tongue as some 30 year olds I know... Geesh!

Because, any adult asking what you have asked really tries someone's patience while they are in the middle of putting together their puzzle of a ship on the ocean.

Answer 2

Sadly, yes. I do not understand how they can handle the cognitive dissonance. You are not well-educated because you do not recognize that theory is the highest level in science. It's not a guess. It is ignorant to say "JUST a theory". The common ancestor of all apes (including humans and chimps) is a monkey and that can be proven to your satisfaction. It does not depend on the theory of evolution. It's a fact. Theories do not have proof which only applies in mathematics. Theories have evidence. There is no evidence of a god of any kind. Theories are falsifiable. That's a feature, not a bug. If evidence is produced that indicates another theory or this one needs modification, then we learned something and are thankful for it. Religion does not have that feature. And it is requred. So creation by a god is not capable of being a theory. Since the discovery of mitochodrial DNA ancestry can be determined by genetic mapping and we don't need bones to verify the theory. Theories make predictions and can be used to develop other theories and open up entirely new lines of inquiry. The theory of evolution is useful because is works, not necessarily because it is fact. Evolution is fact but natural selection is a theory. Bottom line is that it works. God as an explanation doesn't work for us and is not really an answer in that regard. Its an excuse not to think about it.

Answer 3

Evolution does not happen the same way twice. In other words, just because we evolved from a common ape ancestor so many years ago doesn't mean that humans will "again" evolve from apes.
We have found many missing links. But for each link found, they want the one in between now. Fossils are rare. We are not going to find them all.

If you are serious about learning a little evolution. This is a great site to start.

Answer 4

we didn't evolve from apes! why do non evolution believers always say that. we evolved from ancestors that speciated into what are now humans and apes. humans are one branch, and apes are another branch. this was 7 million years ago, so the difference can obviously be seen. we have bigger brains, and a different build.

sorry if i was a little rude, my family always brings it up. keep studying, you'll figure it out soon enough.

there are more modern examples of evolution if you want to know. think about medicine. it is always changing. we had medicine for tuberculosis in the 50's and 60's and the disease is now immuned/evolved to that medicine so we need a new medicine to be made. another example could be the effect of the bubonic plague on HIV. people evolved over time to the bubonic plague, and it also got weaker. the third and fourth time it came around, not many people who had it died. as a result, those who became immune to it, also now have a gene in their system that takes away a receptor for HIV to get inside a cell so it just dies in the blood stream. these people are evolved to withstand HIV.

Answer 5

I don't believe in anything, including evolution. I accept the theory of evolution as the best assembly of facts to explain biology. There are many different areas of biology, and all medical doctors must understand evolutionary biology or they are not admitted to medical school.

You're not thinking in deep time, but in hours, months, or decades. Evolution is a much slower process the higher up the species list we go. There is no need for apes to evolve into humans because they are suited for their environment. Other creatures are evolving, such as humans and the salamander called the Congo eel. It's a transitional species.

"The missing link" is a long gone construct. If I place a fossil that links two together, I've been told by creationists that creates two more missing links! New fossils are being found all the time.

There is no doubt among paleontologists and anthropologists about human evolution: we are apes who share a common ancestor with chimpanzees, a bit further back, gorillas.

Hmm, we learned about chromosomes when I was 12. Public schools, you see. They weren't afraid to teach evolution back then.

Answer 6

Science questions go in science section

but: By my understanding, Evolution takes place out of necessity over thousands, if not millions, of years. Apes might not have the same kind of urgency to evolve as they once did. And the missing link might've evolved in a slightly different way, and died off, forever being left as a mystery

Answer 7

We didn't evolve from apes. We evolved from a common ancestor to the apes. At one point, millions of years ago, the family tree forked.
What you refer to as a "missing link", scientists refer to as transitional forms and many have been found in the fossil record.

Answer 8

Well, thats not exactly how it worked. Apes and humans evolved from the same common ancestor. So apes are still evolving to adapt to their environment, and so are we. I can't see it, but then again I'm hardly an expert on primates. But one ape will die and another will live, and that is evolution!

Answer 9

Go and do the research, read the books about "evolution" , then you know the answer.

Be neutral, treat it like a learning process.

However, if you could not be neutral and keep denying all the facts and evidences, it is very meaningless fro you to fully understand it.

I do know some Christians, they would denying and rejecting all the evidences and facts if it is not "right" from Bible, I mean in their opinion or their church's opinion.

When you want to know the answer, ask questions regards about the subject, not questioning to prove that you are are right, get it?

Have a nice day.

Answer 10

I don't "believe in" Evolution, I accept it was fact. We didn't evolve from apes, we are apes. We and the rest of the modern apes share a common pre-ape ancestor. Check out the other modern apes in millions of years, I bet they will look like something that resembles man (even more than they resemble us now).