Proteins, Apes & Us (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, April 07, 2012, 18:09 (4614 days ago) @ dhw

I apologize for my obtuseness, but you have read the book, whereas all I have to go on is your comments and the Amazon blurb, which states categorically that "apes descended from humans and not the other way around." This would seem to turn evolution on its head, but your scenario is that only MODERN apes (gorillas and chimps) have a human ancestor, and Darwin's theory is not under attack. -I've not had time to read the book, so I have used the reviews which make a quite clear picture to me, although sensationalizing Filler's thesis. From the fragmentary vertebral discoveries Filler thinks there is a slightly upright ape from whom gorillas, chimps and were developed. The fetal development study, I quote, supports this. Apes did not descended from humans like us; view it this way: there was a dedicated 'human line' that was very much an ape-like creature 20 million years ago. If we could see every changed generation that ape would go to hominin to hominid to Homo, and along the way gorillas would branch off 8 mya and chimps would branch off 6 mya. The first hominins were tree-dwelling and entered the savannah when their uprightness allowed it. Key alteration in evolution theory: Upright before savannah.
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> 2) Even if Filler's theory that chimps are descended from humans is true, how does it support your belief that humans are God's chosen species? -The idea of a dedicated human line. 
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> 3) How does it support your belief that evolution has a purpose, if you think the purpose is/was to produce humans?-I think is obvious from my discussion.
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> 4) You have often argued that humans are different from other animals in kind and not degree. I can follow the arguments about consciousness etc., but how does Filler's theory support this thesis? If it doesn't, what is its significance?-It does fit my pre-planning discussions from the past. If you understand my interpretation of evolution from 20 million years ago in the primate line, starting with long-tailed monkeys, it all makes sense and fits with Darwin's initial proposals.