Did We Evolve From Humans?

[mental-escher]

Cyberpunkradio # 6
http://www.mental-escher.net/cyberpunkradio/podcasts/cpr_2005-06-17_episode6-devolution.mp3

Evolution or Devolution?

Did we evolve from monkeys, or are we evolving to monkeys?

TTBC.com officially sponsoring cyberpunkradio!

Planet of the Apes.

Musical interlude by capteredbyrobots.

http://www.mental-escher.net/cyberpunkradio/index.html

http://www.mental-escher.net/images/lavalamp_stoned.jpg

[Craig]

One vote for devolution here! Here we are at our peak:

http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/devo.htm

Craig

[bazookajoeshow]

Personally, I find the idea that we evolved from humans repugnant.

I still can't find the graphic you used for your avatar.

Bazooka Joe

[ferg]

I know I've seen that before...seems like it's from a movie or something...
Aren't there image searches out there that search for an image based on an image?

[dcolanduno]

Evolution or Devolution?

Since, scientifically, Evolution isn't an 'improvement' or an event that has an 'upward' slope.

I am trying to figure out what De-Evolution would look like. Since, I know you could 'techniclally' stop evolving. Or, evolve slower. But de-evolving would be like...

De-Dancing

Either you are dancing or you are not.

Did we evolve from monkeys, or are we evolving to monkeys?

Ahhh, THAT is more like it. That makes a bit more sense. But, one correction, we didn't evolve from 'monkeys'. We just happened to share a common root ancestor way, way, way, back in the evolutionary tree. That ancestor, might have looked like some cross between man, ape, and something bizarre, but it wasn't a 'monkey', maybe closer to an 'ape'. But, by the time either Apes or Monkeys came about, we were completely different branches of the evolutionary map.

Oh I could keep going... but... I'm just messing with you... the show was pretty funny, keep it up!

[mental-escher]

If monkeys embryos were (have been, actually) injected with human DNA, and then had intelligence augmentation experiments successfully done to them (yep, been done already! but Shhhhh....), and became smarter than humans (some chimps might already claim that over some humans!) then it's no longer a linear question of one species evolving from another, but "devolution" is an imprecise, non-linear, yet possible, "evolutionary" outcome!

Hahah!

It's a classic Mental-Escher :wink:

(BTW - BJ, Avatar source hint was only that, a hint... keep searching)

[PupuStudios]

Does anyone else think Bush might possibly be that missing link?
http://www.upl.cs.wisc.edu/~lakowske/personality2/images/bush_monkey.jpg

[PupuStudios]

and became smarter than humans (some chimps might already claim that over some humans!) then it's no longer a linear question of one species evolving from another, but "devolution" is an imprecise, non-linear, yet possible, "evolutionary" outcome!

But I don't think one can say we've 'devolved' if chimps exceed us in evolution. They've just evolved faster than we have. we're still evolving, just not as fast. Evolution is simply adapting to one's environment through physical and mental changes (even if it is over eons of time).

Maintaining Homeostasis baby! Woo!

[dcolanduno]

Evolution is simply adapting to one's environment through physical and mental changes (even if it is over eons of time).

You win the, "I understand one of the most mis-represented concepts in science" award. :)

[mental-escher]

Does anyone else think Bush might possibly be that missing link?

Thats what I though at first, but it turned out to be a clever ruse...
The real bush has been exposed:

http://www.mental-escher.net/images/bush-bot.jpg

[bazookajoeshow]

Are we not men?

Bazooka Joe

[John and Wendy]

Are we not men?

Bazooka Joe

OK, I'll take the bait....

WE ARE DEVO!

Devolution at it's 80's finest!

[PupuStudios]

Yay, an award!

"In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve. Biological evolution ... is change in the properties of populations of organisms that transcend the lifetime of a single individual. The ontogeny of an individual is not considered evolution; individual organisms do not evolve. The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are inheritable via the genetic material from one generation to the next. Biological evolution may be slight or substantial; it embraces everything from slight changes in the proportion of different alleles within a population (such as those determining blood types) to the successive alterations that led from the earliest protoorganism to snails, bees, giraffes, and dandelions."

change to fit one's environment... it may be misrepresented for the most part due to the inability of scientists to convey it to the general public, but that doesn't mean I don't understand the theory of evolution.

[dcolanduno]

change to fit one's environment... it may be misrepresented for the most part due to the inability of scientists to convey it to the general public, but that doesn't mean I don't understand the theory of evolution.

Haha, that is why I gave you the award!

Yea... one of the points of our podcast is to try to talk about some of the science that people don't hear about, talk about, or mostly don't understand. For that very reason.

[mental-escher]

Yea... one of the points of our podcast is to try to talk about some of the science that people don't hear about, talk about, or mostly don't understand. For that very reason.

:idea: The Peoples Scientists! (er, you are scientists, right?!)