the modern human basically came out of nowhere skipping millions of years of evolution to come to be as advance as we are. The advance humans orginated out of the middle east but the real question is what sparked their humongous leap in evolution?

No there were no 'evolutionary' skips (which if you think about it rationally is a contradiction in terms if one believes in evolution) - we evolved and most likely our forebears came out of Africa.....there was no 'leap', look at the forerunners of Giraffe's - they had reasonably short necks but Giraffe's didn't 'leap' when they evolved the neck they now have - the environment simply suited their survival better than those around them - the same holds true for humans....the more adept, more intelligent were in a better position to survive the rigours of life (meaning those not so died off) and that in turns hastens the whole process because the more 'less adapted' genes don;t survive through procreation - so more of the better suited ones breed and produce even more better adapted humans ad infinitum - but it only holds true for any 'slice' of time - Hypothetically something could happen tomorrow environmentally which means those under 5 foot tall are in the best position to survive and all us big folks will die off.....evolution must be not be viewed in a sense as 'progress' or an advancement - it just is, and it 'just is' only in relation to NOW.....

That 'leap' you speak of may prove to be our downfall in the long run....it won't look like a leap then.

Ben

ben,, the cro-magnon man came out of nowhere and evolved incredible fast when they didn't need to. Evolution just like the previous theories of life on earth will prove to be obsolete.

There's too much proof to the contrary, and the evidence is only getting more abundant. Perhaps some of the 'leaps' that we are discussing aren't leaps at all, just mutations that worked for whatever reason to fit the environment, or had to move on to a new environment to match the mutation.

maybe the ancient were telling the truth when they were told us the aliens populated us.

I suppose it would be possible that some ancient offworld civilization could have seeded the earth with an organic chemical compound, or even tweaked it at steps along the way, but that would be pure conjecture at this point.

I highly doubt that. We may have to make tweaks to it as new discoveries are made, but Darwin's theory has lasted 150 years and has not been disproved in that time. Therefore, I think it's quite unlikely that it will ever be disproved completely.

I don`t know why people use the term mutation sounds like cancer, the word adjustments or adaptations sounds better IMO.

Precisely - Mandela used the words 'When they didn't need to' - Nothing 'Needs to', it just happens through varying genetic mechanisms and proves either a hindrance to survival or beneficial....that's all. There's nothing imperative about it - like I say - we could all die out tomorrow should our environment change in such a way that we are now ill suited to survive it...indeed it could be argued that the development of our brain to the stage it is, is the only thing keeping us alive - not the rest of our physiology. Given the numbers of us now populating the planet it is our 'smarts' which keep us alive and not our physiology - tomorrow might demand something more 'physical'.....

Ben

well said. It's more likely to be edited significantly than completely thrown out. I recommend that y'all read the book "The 12th Planet" to have a better understanding of my argument about modern humans beings coming from outside sources because if i actually have to explain my argument in this forum i will be writing forever and i don't really want to do that.

shut up..

well i like to think that we are in the image of the creator go figure..........

yeah i know how fucked up is this man?

Right now I'm reading The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins. A most excellent read on evolution, tracking our paths BACKwards to the dawn of time.

Well if we are recommending books.. I recommend "On the Origin of Species" by one Charles Darwin.

The evolution of modern man is so well documented that anthropologists even argue over where to divide up species.

Nothing "suddenly" appeared.. and if we were populated from space we presumably wouldnt be related to ..well..everything on the planet. And We wouldnt be able to basically pinpoint the evolutionary split is between, for example chimpanzees and humans... which is right here:

ok if life began through a series of spontaneous chemical reactions, why does life on earth have but a single source and not a multitude of chance sources? And why does all living matter on earth contain too little of the chemical elements that abound on earth, and too much of those that are rare on our planet?

I've recently read something on this, and there isn't a definitive answer as of yet. The theory holds that OUR original source effectively wipes out all other sources, scrubbing the planet, so to speak. IF this is the case, then maybe that life started with much rarer elements. There is also a hotly debated argument over whether life was bolstered by water, or was acid-based, developing a resistance to H2O, then later adapting to it, because of waters' abundance on earth.

when you really think about, life on earth being seeded by aliens would be the easy way for it to have happened.

We dont know if life had multiple beginnings.. it seems very very likely that it is an exceedingly rare event to have happened. And once life did begin once, that "head start" would certainly give the competitive edge over any later developing life.

Im confused as well..first you start the thread by questioning human evolution..now youve suddenly just made the jump and said all life on the planet is seeded? And how is that an explanation for anything? How did life start for the seeders? And do you care to even address the evidence I just listed?

Im not sure what you mean by life not having "enough" of common elements. Again, I recommend reading what Darwin actually says. Through billions of years the processes that work "best" (that are most fit) will be favored and if they work with the less common elements, over time these will be marshalled.

Maybe we came from more then one species that were mixed togehter through blended breeding.