Evolution and humans (Evolution)

by dhw, Monday, May 18, 2015, 22:54 (3475 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

dhw: As for the idea that anatomical changes took place long before they were used, as if in preparation for later usage, it seems to me to run counter to the principles of evolution, and there cannot possibly be one shred of evidence to support the claim that the changes were not used for exactly the same purpose as today - namely to make intelligible sounds enabling communication.
DAVID: I've stated over and over since questioned about it, McCrone describes his version of how E. erectus might have spoken, a few words at a time since control of air flow is required for modern speech. All I can say is read the book. It comes across as a scholarly tome. -I'm sure it's scholarly. So are books about the multiverse, string theory, and so on. But since you keep using “theoretical” and “might have” and “could have”, you know as well as I do that for all the scholarly evidence of anatomical changes, the conclusions are nothing but speculation.-DAVID: And How do we know how the principals of evolution really work, since there is such an upheaval in the area of epigenetics, and the newer complexities of the genome.? -We don't. That is why we present hypotheses, like Darwin's random mutations, or like your God preprogramming the very first cells with every innovation, or dabbling, or semi-dabbling, or like my autonomous inventive mechanism.-dhw: However, I cannot see how the intelligence of our ancestors “is contrary to the theory of evolution”. ...The article suggests that just like the Neanderthals, the Denisovans were far more advanced than homo sapiens would like to think they were. That's it. Not that this somehow invalidates evolution.
DAVID: It doesn't.-Sorry! That comment was meant for Tony, who seems to think it does, and I don't understand why.-dhw: David has asked how you explain the existence of the four groups if evolution did not happen. His own insistence that humans are “different in kind” from all other species begs the question of how he explains their existence if evolution did happen. This could be a very interesting discussion!-DAVID: It doesn't beg the question. I see it as several attempts, with one winning.-You keep stressing “difference in kind”, which means there cannot have been a natural progression from ape to human. This does not square with evolution. “Several attempts” is an interesting switch from your usual line of pre-programming and/or dabbling. So do you reckon your God preprogrammed Denisovans and Neanderthals to lose?
 
TONY: DHW asked how I would explain the 4 groups of hominids, and the truth is, do not, and don't need to, because human is human is human. -This is a misunderstanding. David asked you that. I see the four groups as a perfectly natural product of evolution from apes to humans. My question to you is why you think the advanced intelligence of these different groups is contrary to evolution.