What makes us human? The unfortunate 'rat people' of Pakistan could provide the answer.

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | August 1, 2006 | by Armand Leroi

[Tokra]

[Coyoteman]

No fossil record - all those generations and NO FOSSIL record. Zip, nada, zero follil evidence exist anywhere -- almost makes a person doubt Darwin...

All these fossils and thousands more. Almost makes a person doubt you.

Figure 1.4.4. Fossil hominid skulls. Some of the figures have been modified for ease of comparison (only left-right mirroring or removal of a jawbone). (Images © 2000 Smithsonian Institution.)

(A) Pan troglodytes, chimpanzee, modern
(B) Australopithecus africanus, STS 5, 2.6 My
(C) Australopithecus africanus, STS 71, 2.5 My
(D) Homo habilis, KNM-ER 1813, 1.9 My
(E) Homo habilis, OH24, 1.8 My
(F) Homo rudolfensis, KNM-ER 1470, 1.8 My
(G) Homo erectus, Dmanisi cranium D2700, 1.75 My
(H) Homo ergaster (early H. erectus), KNM-ER 3733, 1.75 My
(I) Homo heidelbergensis, "Rhodesia man," 300,000 - 125,000 y
(J) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, La Ferrassie 1, 70,000 y
(K) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, La Chappelle-aux-Saints, 60,000 y
(L) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, Le Moustier, 45,000 y
(M) Homo sapiens sapiens, Cro-Magnon I, 30,000 y
(N) Homo sapiens sapiens, modern

[theFIRMbss]

[GOPJ]

might get us back to believing that IQ is genetic, eh?

Believed it before The Bell Curve and believe it still...

[GOPJ]

In the last three million or so years, the human brain has approximately trebled in size. This change, remarkable in its extent and speed, must have been caused by mutations - advantageous mutations - that swept through the populations of our ancestors as they wandered, generation after generation, across the African veldt.That such mutations must exist has long been obvious. The problem has been how to find them.

I was commenting on the article - it says "such mutations must exist ... the problem has been how to find them".

[Paved Paradise]

I wonder if this is where they got the idea that they can come back as rats. (Just kidding). Pretty sad. India is such a lost, lost place.

[VadeRetro]

No fossil record - all those generations and NO FOSSIL record. Zip, nada, zero follil evidence exist anywhere -- almost makes a person doubt Darwin...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1650016/posts?page=33#33

And so forth. Why do you antiscience wizards post such patently, absurdly false claims?

[b_sharp]

Wa! wa! wah!

You're just jealous that she likes PH better.

[b_sharp]

"What makes us human is that we have human parents --and a soul. Is it so hard to admit that these are merely unfortunate souls?"

Random 'soul'ature?

Who'd a guessed.

[b_sharp]

"might get us back to believing that IQ is genetic, eh?"

IQ is to a certain extent genetic. It it also to a certain extent environmental. Its plasticity, the ability to be modified by the environment, is genetic in nature.

It is still an awful poor indicator of 'race' which is itself poorly defined.

[TASMANIANRED]

Inbreeding...

Muslim cultures have a high rate of birth defects .

1200 years of marrying your cousin will do it.

[aculeus]

Pretty sad. India is such a lost, lost place.

Perhaps so, but this article is about Pakistan.

[RobbyS]

The question of soul really gets into the question of what it means to be human. Not the same as little dots on a piece of paper. Without a decoder, simply dots.

[RobbyS]

There are a lot of Muslims in India.

[Paved Paradise]

Same place in the sense of their pagan beliefs. I lump Pak & India together because culturally and religiously there is no significant difference.