Posted on 07/18/2006 9:06:26 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
Well, I don't disagree with you, nor do I disagree with you that there is a fundamental distinction between the human/dog symbiosis (i.e., domestication & selective breeding) and other types of symbiosis, but nonetheless human intelligence and human industry are natural phenomena. I am not saying that there aren't 'artificial' products of human behavior; what I'm saying is that human artifice is natural.
Your Hitler quote is obviously inauthentic. They didn't have "reset" buttons on computers back then.
Seriously, I'm not aware of much evidence for what you suggest. BTW, humans aren't "remarkably similar" (compared to the average large mammal). It's easy to argue that they are highly variable. What you may mean to say is that this variation is not sorted out into distinct races or subspecies to the extent it tends to be in other species.
This has been happening since the dawn of time but the pace has picked up over the past century. Every time we overcome a genetic trait that impedes survival or reproductive success the result is that the trait becomes more prevalent. Just two examples: The invention of eyeglasses led to an increase in nearsightedness as the almost-blind prospered, and the discovery of insulin caused diabetes to spike as diabetics could survive long enough to have children of their own. I think we'll see a similar rise in cystic fibrosis; when I was a kid the life expectancy of a CF patient was about 15 years but now it's not uncommon for them to make it past 25.
The Flood was a big reset button. Worked well, didn't it?
You didn't. What I objected to in the article is the false dichotomy between human endeavor and the natural world that is ultimately an importation from subjective metaphysics.
LOL. That's the hand!
The gray wolf? That's a North American wolf-surely an Old World wolf-the European brown, or the Indian wolf-is the ancestor of the dog (except for native American breeds, maybe).
I wish that it was true. One of the great rewards of Heaven for me would be reunion with my beloved pets. On the other hand, my wife had a destructive mutt that ought to burn in Hell.
It's bothered me as well. Sentinence & emotional capacity appear to be as much as a continuum as variation of species.
In fact, I know a lot of humans who are heckvua lot more immature than animals.
Dingos are dogs and no they didn't, at least not successfully enough to show up in the DNA.
Actually, it's a poorly written story about selective breeding with an even more poorly written headline. (I would have preferred cutsy pics of dogs myself)
Invalid analogy. Humans are observed to exist. "Intelligent designers" as postulated by ID advocates are not.
Ok.
Another photo of domestic cat who's had its genes messed with:
The incidence of nearsightedness varies of the degree of literacy ~ with the effort required to read resulting in a lengthening of the eyball.
Since most Type I diabetics back in the "good old days" survived long enough to pass on their genes, the invention of artifical sources of insulin has not had any impact. Type II diabetics are usually not discovered until past mid-prime by which time they've already passed on their genes. Besides, additional insulin doesn't help them at all.
Best bet on culturally induced genetic change in humans has been the effect of shoes/sandals on the foot.
It's pretty obvious our two smallest twos (and associated bones) have been becoming smaller over several tens of thousands of years since we first started using shoes/sandals (and moving "North").
Otherwise, that's about it~
It's closer to a Darwin quote than a Hitler one. In Darwin's Descent of Man he explains the role of warfare in human evolution. Schools embrace Darwin's ideas on natural selection but ignore Darwin's book on human evolution, especially the key role tribal warfare plays in it.
Humans are the most genetically complex animal ever. Obviously something much faster than natural selection was going on. That something is our war making disposition. It's very important to understand the true nature of man, as leftist beliefs may have you exiting the gene pool.
In the animal world there are many variations on a theme, such as birds and fish. In humanoids there is only one species still alive. That's because we killed off in war all similar competitors long ago, the Neanderthals being the last. There are very little variations of a theme in modern humans, we are all remarkably the same. War is the reason behind this.
(--Must have also bred larger brains into them as well...they don't believe they are dogs, and act quite human--actually preferring a conversation in full sentences to the normally blunt one or two word commands ;----)
"I don't know if the diversity of dogs represents evolution or selective breeding from man,"
Same thing, really.
Selective breeding is basically artificial evolution.
Those traits that favor the environment created by man get to breed. Those that do not, not so much.
I think barking in the middle of the night is what early man found most valuable about dogs, that, and eating garbage.
Barking in the middle of the night saves the master's life when the intruder is dangerous.
Eating garbage prevents diseases from getting started or spreading.
It would be very hard to breed these traits out.
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