Hi there; I hope it’s ok that I created an account to reply to you; I’ve only been looking around the site for a week or two now.
Just for a bit of background, I’m a graduate student studying genetics - that is, I have a bachelors, and I’m working on getting a PhD. While I don’t want to bore you with the details, the short version is I work in a lab doing research on a specific aspect of yeast.
Anyway, to answer your question: I accept the scientific consensus when it comes to the age of humans. The short version is that means that I would say that humans have been around in our present form for a few hundred thousand years - I think 200,000 is the upper bound right now, though it may be as recent as 150,000 years ago - and by that I mean a body-shape that is effectively the same as our own. We have rather good evidence that humans have had the ability to think like us for around 50,000 years - that’s about when you start seeing things like pollen in graves (indicating burial with flowers), complex tool use (more than levers or wedges), and signs of abstract thought and composition. It’s not quite clear when spoken language first developed, but I personally would say that occurred around then as well.
From there, agriculture was developed about 10,000 years ago (~40,000 years later), writing at just under 6,000 years ago (based on the oldest writ we’ve discovered), and that’s where history takes over - history is technically the period which has had recording; everything before writing is literally prehistoric.
As to why I believe all of this, most of it comes from anthropology and paleontology, with a little geology and physics mixed in - basically, it’s based on the artifacts and fossils of early humans that we’ve found, the radiometric dating, soil conditions, sedimentary local, and so forth. It’s a bit of a list, but I’m pretty sure I can look up the references if you need them.
I understand that this...ah...probably differs from your view. If you have questions, I’d be more than happy to explain myself further, as I know this short post is a brief overview. Now, I don’t want to be attacking anyone’s personal beliefs if they’re not comfortable with that, so I’ll try to stick to scientific stuff and avoid bringing theology into it - that’s part of what I think makes me a good conservative; your business is your own, and I don’t want to butt into it without invitation.
I'm with you on the evolution bit and think you might enjoy reading a modern update on Darwin's work. The title is "Darwin's Ghost" by Steve Jones, and it updates each of Darwin's "Origin" chapters with great respect and ... modern knowledge.
“I accept the scientific consensus”
Hm...how can you have scientific consensus? Mathematicians do not require consensus. The square root of 9 is 3. Period. Light travels through a vacuum at 186000 mps. Period. No consensus needed. Ergo, anything that requires consensus cannot be true science.
You’re very polite to potential adversaries
It’s obvious it REALLY is your virgin post.
God bless you.
man I remember when I was that nice here...lol
Welcome to FR !