Evolution is real
Look, I'm not trying to say we evolved from apes. I think the evidence is strong. I think it is certainly strong enough to accept. But I respect a healthy dose of criticism. Definitive links aren't present. And on some level, they are unlikely to ever exist. Linking species you didn't observe evolving into something else will always be some percentage guess work. This is because evolution is based on genetics.
Find a reputable place to have your paternity validated. What you'll get back is not "You're 100% the son/daughter of X". What you'll get back is "You're 99.99999% likely to be X's son/daughter, which is strong enough for us to say 'yes'".
It won't be worded that way, but you won't see 100% anywhere. That gap between you and 100%? That IS evolution. That is you NOT being 100% derived from what came before you.
Evolution, depending on the level you look at it, is NOT theory. The fact that you are not only not identical to either of your parents, but also that your DNA isn't even 100% from both of them means that at an incredibly low level, you are something altogether different from them. And you may well pass those differences on to your children, if you succeed in having them. THAT is natural selection.
And, if there is something about those traits which makes you more likely to procreate or live to procreate, then over time, the general human population will adopt those same traits from your ancestors and potentially others who evolved the same or similar traits.
None of this says definitively that humans and apes share a common ancestor.
BUT. We can observe the rate of change in our population and in the populations of others and extrapolate how much it is likely our genetic makeup could have changed over a span of years. And that makes the conclusions drawn highly likely.
If we were started as a species as Adam and Eve in the Garden Eden and evolution weren't a thing, we could all be described as being, genetically, X% Adam and Y% Eve. The only variations in our genome would be which parts of our genetic code were handed down from which of the founding members of our species.
Now, go Google genetic disorders. Human beings can be born very much like apes, or other deformities or differences which to world at large might seem like very non-human traits. All you need now is to imagine an environment where we either prefer those differences or where they offer a competitive survival advantage and it would greatly change what we see as human.
And don't get me started evolution being guided by a higher power. We are not perfect. There is nothing "perfect" about evolution. Humans have vestigial organs and parts. We aren't the strongest or the fastest. In many environments we are the prey and not the predator. On the whole, we are the top of the food chain, sure. But claiming our superiority is just having the victors writing history to their liking. Evolution is almost equal parts nasty and nice. Tell the creatures written out of existence that evolution is a perfect process. Tell the people born with crippling and painful genetic defects that evolution is good. Evolution is just a natural tool.
Where we came from, exactly, may still be theory. The existing of evolution is painted on the face of every distinct human face. Every distinct human physiology. Evolution is real. It happens fast enough in things like bacteria that we've watched species evolve in our life time. Drug resistant bacteria? That is evolution. And guess what? They might still kill us off one day. So much for the perfection of evolution huh?
Find a reputable place to have your paternity validated. What you'll get back is not "You're 100% the son/daughter of X". What you'll get back is "You're 99.99999% likely to be X's son/daughter, which is strong enough for us to say 'yes'".
It won't be worded that way, but you won't see 100% anywhere. That gap between you and 100%? That IS evolution. That is you NOT being 100% derived from what came before you.
Evolution, depending on the level you look at it, is NOT theory. The fact that you are not only not identical to either of your parents, but also that your DNA isn't even 100% from both of them means that at an incredibly low level, you are something altogether different from them. And you may well pass those differences on to your children, if you succeed in having them. THAT is natural selection.
And, if there is something about those traits which makes you more likely to procreate or live to procreate, then over time, the general human population will adopt those same traits from your ancestors and potentially others who evolved the same or similar traits.
None of this says definitively that humans and apes share a common ancestor.
BUT. We can observe the rate of change in our population and in the populations of others and extrapolate how much it is likely our genetic makeup could have changed over a span of years. And that makes the conclusions drawn highly likely.
If we were started as a species as Adam and Eve in the Garden Eden and evolution weren't a thing, we could all be described as being, genetically, X% Adam and Y% Eve. The only variations in our genome would be which parts of our genetic code were handed down from which of the founding members of our species.
Now, go Google genetic disorders. Human beings can be born very much like apes, or other deformities or differences which to world at large might seem like very non-human traits. All you need now is to imagine an environment where we either prefer those differences or where they offer a competitive survival advantage and it would greatly change what we see as human.
And don't get me started evolution being guided by a higher power. We are not perfect. There is nothing "perfect" about evolution. Humans have vestigial organs and parts. We aren't the strongest or the fastest. In many environments we are the prey and not the predator. On the whole, we are the top of the food chain, sure. But claiming our superiority is just having the victors writing history to their liking. Evolution is almost equal parts nasty and nice. Tell the creatures written out of existence that evolution is a perfect process. Tell the people born with crippling and painful genetic defects that evolution is good. Evolution is just a natural tool.
Where we came from, exactly, may still be theory. The existing of evolution is painted on the face of every distinct human face. Every distinct human physiology. Evolution is real. It happens fast enough in things like bacteria that we've watched species evolve in our life time. Drug resistant bacteria? That is evolution. And guess what? They might still kill us off one day. So much for the perfection of evolution huh?
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