Evolution - is it all that it's cracked up to be ? Whilst I lean heavily towards darwinism and accepted evolution theory, I still have some difficulties with the gaps. For example, why is the fossil record so lacking in examples of failed human evolution ?
We don't need the fossil record! There are thousands of living examples of failed human evolution. For example, the Democrats. The popularity of reality television.
But seriously, there is fossil evidence of failed human, or more accurately, humanoid evolution. The Neanderthal humanoid species is extinct, mostly because of the pressures put upon them by Homo sapiens. Homo habilis is another species. Every extinct primate species that we can find is such evidence. Unfortunately, the fossil record will always be incomplete. We will never be able to dig up the entire crust of the earth and sift through it.
Evolution, as far as I can see, also has some problems in explaining some of the things that we know to be true today. For example, why are humans getting taller - and have been for several hundred years ? Since the tendency has been for humans to get taller over a long period of human social history, it would be reasonable to say that it is unlikely to be a consequence of our recent social framework with better healthcare vs increased pollution etc.
It is entirely reasonable to make such a claim. The Industrial Revolution began at around 1800 in England. Evolutionarily speaking, is an extremely recent event. Many momuments from the ancient world, Middle Ages, and the Renaissance have doorways that middle sized people of today have to duck under. This is the case of The Duomo in Florence. Yet only a few centuries later, things begin to change and humans begin to get taller.
As human civilization became more advanced with antiseptic techniques, better healthcare, better nutrition, better drugs, better medical knowledge and techniques, better exercise awareness, better food preservation methods - better everything, many of the evolutionary pressures placed on man in his natural environment, which is that of the caveman, are removed. Whatever negatives exist from the Industrial Evoltion, such as pollution, do not outweigh the positives.
So, from a darwinist point of view I would expect there to be a good evolutionary reason. Perhaps the planet is slowing down, gravity getting weaker, so less constraints on height ? Fanciful, but I'm sure you get the gist ?
That's pretty ridiculous. If that was the case, we would be seeing a similar growth in height in all of nature, taller trees, taller elephants, taller giraffes. But this is not the case, only a human phenomenon. The changes in human heighth have taken place too quickly and too uniformly for it not to be the result of human cultural advancement. Furthermore, physicists would be able to measure such a change in the planet.
Is that how you got your education? LOL, just kidding. Thanks for the post. :-)