Ancient Anthropoid Origins Discovered In Africa

Duke University ^ | 13 October 2005 | News office staff

[js1138]

Just for the record, here's the original "shouting match".

That was what I thought. A few teeth and jaw fragments and they know all this from 37 million years ago? A leap of faith.

Only to the ignorant. Teeth and jaw fragments can tell a knowledgeable person a lot about the owner of that tooth or jaw fragment. Dentition can be signature features in identifying evolutionary relationships because certain dental features and certain combinations of features arise and are preserved in some lineages and not in others.

Further, by examining the surrounding structures, the combinations of teeth, their placement, etc., knowledgeable people can learn a lot about the behaviors and diet of these creatures, because certain features are consistent across lineages, depending on these dietary or behavioral factors.

You guys really excel at attempting to make those who disagree with you look stupid. I'm ignorant - oh, well. By the way, that isn't going to win you any converts.

First, I never implied you were stupid (i.e., slow to learn or lacking intelligence), but merely ignorant (i.e., lacking knowledge). There is no shame in being ignorant; it simply describes the state of having a lack of knowledge. That can be remedied. There is no shame, that is, so long as one does not shut out the knowledge when it is provided. It is only at that point that ignorance becomes stupidity.

So if, in fact, you feel you look stupid, it is perhaps because you are rejecting knowledge that is provided to you. That is on you.

Oh, and I am not in the game of winning "converts." That's for religious hucksters and politicians. If someone wants to wallow in ignorance, practicing voluntary stupidity... what can I say, it's a free country; he can do what he wants.

And here is an example of "civilized discourse"

Well, my, my, my, don't we have a rather high opinion of ourself today?

Interesting.

[Anthem]

There is almost an unbroken chain of self-replicating molecular entities in nature starting with simple molecules all the way up to big critters like humans. Viruses occupy one part of that chain of molecular complexity right around the gray area where we stop treating them as complex molecules and start treating them as macro-systems as a matter of functional complexity. "Aliveness" is a continuum and putting the breaking point at any one point in the chain of complexity is arbitrary, as the entities on either side of any breaking point will be nearly identical in nature.

Do you have any references for further reading? Thanks.

[atomic conspiracy]

"Ancient Anthropoid Origins Discovered In Africa"

A photographic reconstuction: .

[Anthem]

- arose in Africa and that the group had already begun branching into many species by that time.

37 million years ago Africa was separated from Europe and Asia. The water level was higher and the continents had no points of contact, according to http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm

[PatrickHenry]

Placemarker

[muir_redwoods]

"You guys really excel at attempting to make those who disagree with you look stupid. I'm ignorant - oh, well. By the way, that isn't going to win you any converts."

Well, have you spent decades studying this field of research in both university and the fields where the digs take place? Have you written peer-reviewed papers on this subject? I haven't and somehow I don't feel qualified to sum up another man's life's work as a meaningles string of conjectures just because I don't understand all of the ins ond outs. We're all, each of us, ignorant about so much. It's true I don't know much about Christianity either but I thought humility was a big part of the virtue Christians aspired to.

Perhaps I'm wrong.

[WildHorseCrash]

I appreciate the support. Thanks.

[SunkenCiv]

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