Does human evolution exist?
I think so, yes. We live so long that it's hard to see it happening, but if you wish to see its effects, you need only look in a mirror and compare what you see to a person from another geographical area/background, be it their genes or just their facial features. One of my favorite human adaptations is the way we run, it's very energy-efficient.
Do you believe in Darwin's theory of human evolution?
Darwin in particular or the evolution (heh) of the theory in general, like with Lamarck, Wallace, Malthus and such? It was not his theory alone, but I guess his was the most fashionable and updated at the time or else we wouldn't still be calling it Darwinism. Furthest back I can think of is Empedokles and Anaximander, and even Aristotelian naturalism touched on it (not the Platonist bits, of course, pretty sure they were all about the immutability of nature). Then there was that whole Buffon-Linné smackdown, which is funny as hell if you find pedants squabbling to be good entertainment and I'm doing that thing again where I babble for hours about nothing in particular,
why is no one stopping me. Uh. IT'S A PRETTY NICE BIT OF WORK, THE RESULT OF ALL THAT CAME BEFORE IT AND HAS SINCE BEEN BUILT FURTHER UPON, LIKE ALL GOOD SCIENCE. FEELS GOOD.
Do you believe that humans were put here by God?
I have no way to prove that, nor does anyone, so for now I'll have to go with the theory that has the most evidence and makes the most sense until we come up with another crazy idea to test and see if it has any merit, as a scientist does. If it's ever proven properly that we were created, then I'll happily update my facts.
Do you think humans were genetically engineered by aliens and then put here on this planet?
oh man that would be so rad. Incidentally,
All Tomorrows is a really fun sci-fi read on some theoretical human/alien evolution in the future (navigation displays all the pages of a chapter at once, with chapter lists at the bottom). It takes place in the future when humans can edit their genes (thanks CRISPR) to change themselves to live on a terraformed Mars. Then way more advanced aliens show up, don't like that another species has messed with DNA which is kinda their thing, and all hell breaks loose.
Did some higher being (not God) have a helping hand in creating humans as we know them today?
This ties into the last two questions, and I have no way of answering them as I have no proof. There's always theories and conjecture, but none hold enough water to be valid enough for me to consider them viable even if they are really fun to think about. That said, where the hell is my hoverboard, aliens? Back to the Future promised hoverboards and I still have to rig gas tanks up to PVC boards and pipes in the garage to even come
close. what is this
Did we, as a species, come from outer space by way of an asteroid (meaning we started out as microbial life)?
This one's worded kinda weird, since if we came here as microbial life then we wouldn't be considered human at the time. It's actually a neat theory and it's entirely possible. We already know that bacteria seem to do just fine in space, and comets have a fair bit of ice for adding water to a developing world. Without going back in time it's really hard to verify something like this with our current level of tech, but I'll say that it's definitely a viable idea.
What is your view on human evolution?
VERY INTERESTING. We all grew up in different places on Earth, different climates and geography, and as a result we all look different and are good at different things. Some races even have different ancestors mixed into their genetics. It means that, while we are all human, we are actually a bunch of sub-species capable of interbreeding just like different corvid birds, dogs, or equines. I'm not going to be touching much on culture and such since this is more a genetic thing. Though exceptions will always exist, especially with a population like ours, to see people being better at different things by default you need only look at the finals of an Olympic event. Great runners and climbers will often be black, weight lifters are usually caucasoid, things with dexterity and reflexes like ping-pong will be dominated by East Asian people. It can even affect the way we act and think a bit.
I'm not sure if you understand how cool this is.
It means that you have:
- base stats that you can start out with
- individual stats that vary by person
- effort stat gains that you can affect yourself throughout your life which could be anything from the culture you grow up in, to your diet, to your activity levels
and it all comes together to make you the character that you are. We are all different, good at different things, affected by so much, able to cover each others weaknesses with different strengths and that is really, REALLY COOL. Studying this kind of stuff really made me appreciate and love the human race because everyone's so neat. Not neat enough to make me stop being a recluse, but you get the idea. Hugs are still valid through the internet.
tl;dr: People are basically Pokemon
and I love it.
