What we lost

I'm not entirely sure what point was intended here: that some subjective list is evidence that humans did not evolve? That there is some kind of qualitative gap between humans and great apes? That we've actually lost something that is important for our survival? Or what?

Whatever, but the "scenario" presented is grossly oversimplified and it is difficult to understand why it should be taken seriously as evidence of anything to do with biology.

Humans are primates, and primates (and in particular anthropoid primates) are generally smarter than other mammals of similar body size. Primates have increased manual dexterity, and color vision.

Hominoids (great and lesser apes and humans) are quite large for primates. They live in complex social groups and must maintain intricate social relationships in order to maintain their society. Their communication is likewise complex. we know that apes can understand abstractions, even if they cannot communicate them via linguistic symbolism. Great apes are self-aware.

Chimpanzees hunt co-operatively and preplan their strategy. They create tools out of their surroundings and can solve rather complicated problems. Orangs have elaborate and intricate mental maps of their three-dimensional environment and know exactly where they need to be and when in order to maximize feeding and mating. Orangs are consummate escape artists and are very difficult for zoos to keep in their enclosures.

Humans display all these necessary attributes. Of course, increased intelligence is bound to have enabled even better enhancements and permutations, and if a primate is smarter, taller, able to anticipate and plan, it probably can devise other ways of acquiring subsistence and avoiding predators than mere running away.

Humans are also pretty much generalists--we eat anything, and we have the ability to adapt our environment to us. This seems to have been the case even when extinct humans were only a bit smarter than modern chimps are now.

Of course, this too is oversimplified, but it at least has the merit of being based on some kind of evidence and not just personal amazement.

 

Helen on humans:

I notice that my dog can't tolerate the Texas heat the way I do. I wonder if it's that thick coat of hair. Bare skin, with numerous sweat glands, is a highly efficient radiator.

We are considerably better in many ways. Our hearing is much better than more primitive primates, although I'm not sure if it's much better than our fellow apes. In all large apes, high frequency response is relatively poor, partially a consequence of size.

http://www.citihealth.com/layout.cfm?hc=15&Body=News_Story&ID=3423

In fact, hearing and smelling are less acute in almost all primates, and sight and touch are much more important.

Our touch is better than any other primate, and our eyesight seems as good as any.

One's religious beliefs can be whatever one wants them to be. But for science, evidence is required.

 

Speak for yourself!

Some of us look a little like an ape. Can anyone offer me a deal on electrolysis? Waxing is just a little too painful!

 

EF I have to agree with you there, but not for the same reason.

 

Okay--so it has nothing to do with biology. I can accept that. Still not sure what the point was, though....

 

If I were writing a science fiction story about evolved humans in the future - I'd make them more child like,except for bigger heads.

I'd have ceasarian birth be universal, and labor pains absent. There would be almost a "zipper" in front of the body over where the womb would be, making this surgery a very easy one. It would be present on both men and women, just as men also have rudimentary breasts.

I'd have people completely dependent on artificial pills for moods. They'd have to take pills to sleep, eat, fight, make love, do anything that takes hormonal modulation. This would put them under conscious control of their bodies, they'd think it was a blessing to be in control of their emotions.

Only they would not really be totally in control, they'd just THINK they were. . . .

Plot opportunity! Plot opportunity!


But alas, I'm not a writer.

 

Don't let that stop you--neither are a lot of people who write bestsellers...

 

My SF story would cojecture that we'll come to resemble marsupials. Births would increasingly occur pre-term and would rely on completion of term in vitro, using the technological equivalent of a kangaroo's pouch. Today's incubators are a step in this direction.

-Neil

 

As am I

But it was, after all, a science fiction speculation about what might happen, not a wish or desire that it would happen!

-Neil

p.s. I'm reminded of a quote that I can't remember the source for, so I'll paraphrase (it may have been in the Dark Tower anthology by C.S. Lewis). It concerns informing children of the 'birds and bees.'

"The problem with the 'big question' is that the 'big answer' is so unbelievable. The way plants get started sounds reasonably plausible. The way people get started sounds like science fiction."