The Mystery of Human Origin
The mystery of human origin is an often-debated topic. It is an issue that can never be proven, something as vague as the existence of God, the proof of a human soul, or even as evasive as the human psyche itself. The debate itself is divided between two main camps: the Evolutionists, who concur with Darwin's theory of evolution, survival of the fittest, and natural selection. They believe that mankind evolved from earlier versions of hominids, which in turn evolved from earlier primates. The other camp follows the theory of Creationism, preferring the Bible to the works of Darwin. They claim that mankind was created by God as in Genesis. Both sides attempt to use scientific fact to back their claims, although the Creationists tend to proclaim faith as their main source of conviction. As for my own personal opinion, I tend to reside nearer the Evolutionist side of the argument. I believing that God, or whatever divine being or force that exists, spun the celestial matter that makes the basis for any and all substance throughout the universe in such a way to cause it all to unfold as a pattern, a preordained system that perpetuates itself. This system is evolution, the gradual complication of life forms via adaptation and genetic mutation. While this may all seem a bit vague and metaphysical, I will attempt to explain my views in a more rational manner.
To say that evolution is untrue is, to me, a fallacy. Archeological evidence supports evolution in hundreds of ways. One example is Archaeopteryx. This fossil appears to be the missing link between dinosaurs and birds, a clear definition of what the theory of evolution predicts. More specifically to the study of human origins, archeological findings have uncovered scores of fossils dating from far in the past, fossils that appears to be human at first glance, but contain markedly different features. These fossils give evidence to the theory of evolution, for they illustrate that mankind follows the evolutionary line as well, coming from ancestors who were not in fact human, but some sort of early man. A creature more primitive, with a smaller brain and more apelike features. Findings such as Peking Man, Neanderthal Man, Homo Robustus, Homo Erectus and other hominid species all point to human evolution.
Many people believe that we originated from apes and monkey. We can now possibly learn many things from studying and observing chimpanzees and monkeys.
In class we watch a clip called “Journey of Man” and basically the all over view of this movie was about a man named Spencer Wells and his team of scientist researching for approximately 15 years of investigating to find out our family history. They believe that they have discover some life changing information. They had this discovery for a while now but that needed time to gather up all of the facts from their research. This information that they have could transform our view on the world. They have revealed some type of time machine that has allow them to see back in ancient history. For that past ten years this man and his team have been using this time machine to gather all types of different information about the past history. This information came for just once source, blood. Many people views it as and gift from the past, but to scientist it carries the past and has a unique story behind it. A time machine hidden within us.
...cientists explain it to happen from the research previously done and what humans know of it is that, it is too complex for average human knowledge to comprehend. Humans generally choose to believe what there is proof for and in the case of evolution there is none. Realistically the idea of evolution is too complex and the general public finds it improbable.
Many discoveries have been made that give more and more clues to the history of life on earth. Paleontologists find artifacts throughout the world that not only answer many questions but also raise many new ones. A topic that is still a mystery today is the origin of man. Scientists often debate over where man originated from and who some of his prehistoric relatives were. Some people think that all men are related, and that there has been inter breeding between different groups of men. (I.e. the Neanderthals from Eurasia at some point bred with the homo sapiens of Africa.) Others believe that certain groups of men evolved in a completely different time period in a completely different place.
My evidence for evolutions is how hippos have adapted to dominate by gaining helpful traits and evolving new ones. You’re probably thinking that hippos are a very dangerous and hurtful animal, which is true, but they are very important in their ecosystem and have evolved from many various animals to be the wonderful yet dangerous beasts they are today.
There has been a great deal of heated debate for the last few decades about where modern Homo sapiens originated. From the battle grounds, two main theories emerged. One theory, labeled “Out-of-Africa” or “population replacement” explains that all modern Homo sapiens evolved from a common Homo erectus ancestor in Africa 100,000 years ago. The species began to spread and replace all other archaic human-like populations around 35,000 to 89,000 years ago. The rivaling opinion, entitled the “regional continuity” theory or “multiregional evolution” model refutes this theory and states modern humans evolved from various species of Homo erectus who interbred with others that lived in places such as Asia, Africa, and Europe. These scientists believe this theory would explain why there are differences among races around the world.
The story of creation is left up to the person you ask. Different cultures and societies have different stories about how the world was created, also known as creation myths. A creation myth is a story that shows how the world they lived in was created or how the first people came to inhabit it. It usually reflects their culture and beliefs. The Native Americans have very elaborate creation myths. Culture plays a big part in their creation myths. They used their views to make a creation myth that applied to their lives and values. Even though the Modoc and Lakota creation myths focus on respecting living creatures, the Ononadaga creation myth in contrast focuses on not giving up.
How did the earth and its people come to be? The world may never know the actual answer to this question, but that hasn't stopped people from digging into all the evidence the world has to offer. Several different opinions have developed regarding how the earth came to be. According to a survey taken in 2012, approximately 32% of the population believes that humans evolved over millions of years by God's guiding hand, 15% believe that humans evolved over millions of years completely without God, 46% believe God created humans in present form within the last 10,000 years or so, and 7% don't have an opinion. My opinion on creation is that humans have evolved over millions of years by God’s guiding hand. Nothing that happened in the history of the Earth happened without God’s intention: "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made" (John 1:3).
How are we and other things created in this universe? Many people think differently and have a belief about the creation of human being. The creation story was believed and told by different people like African and Native American and also different places such as in India or Middle East . There are a story from the Boshongo and the Upanishads that I do not believe each story is true due to scientific reasons. However, they are believable if I lived during each time by using some methods to fix own belief described by Peirce.
All in all, every culture and religion has their personal beliefs on human civilization and how the earth was produced. The most frequent belief modern day of the first humans, is the story of Adam and Eve. There is a plethora of theories, but none that are one hundred percent accurate. If you ask me, scientist will never know how earth came about and they will never identify who the first humans were. Every “story of creation” is a myth.
Throughout history, humans have asked many questions in regards to our own beginnings. Religion and science have examined what makes us who we are, and have tried to answer the enduring question of our own modern origins. Scientifically, theories are still debated as to when, where, and how modern Homo sapiens came to be what they are today. There are two major theories that now dominate the discussions of experts in the field of biological anthropology: the “Out-of-Africa” model and the “Multiregional” model of evolution. Stringer and Andrews argue that genetic and paleontological evidence supports a more recent Out-of-Africa model as opposed to a more drawn out Multiregional method that also incorporates gene flow (1263). In contrast, Wolpoff, Hawks, and Caspari claim that the Multiregional model is misunderstood, and clearing up discrepancies could bolster support for this theory instead (129). Pearson notes that while people like Wolpoff et al defend the Multiregional model, archaeological evidence seems to show that likely no intermixture between modern Homo sapiens and other archaic hominins happened during the spread of early Homo sapiens out of Africa (145). It is easy to see that the debate lingers onwards with an end not clearly in sight. This paper will further examine the arguments asserted by these authors and identify their core arguments, the data they use to support their arguments and determine which paper is the most convincing of the three.
Mankind’s origin was not a result a ridiculous theory that a big bang occurred, causing life to begin. Neither was mankind a single cell organism floating around in the ocean. Mankind was not formed by a mutation of organisms in the sea. Man’s origin did not come from another life source from another planet.
The origin of human beings has to trace back to the chimps which lived in millions of years ago. About six to eight million years ago, people’s ancestor split from chimp (Pickrell, 2006). In The Origin of Species, which is published by Darwin in 1859, African apes were thought as the ancestor of human beings. And in the next
Based on scientific beliefs, one is to think we come from a less intelligent species through evolution. There is also the often believed but sadly never proven fact that we could have possibly derived from a higher power that designed our every millimeter. Also possible we started as a single celled organism by a higher power, but not monitored throughout growth into what we are now. Whichever the...
How life arose is a question that is fundamental to both philosophy and science. Responses to it enable one, in turn, to answer such questions as, “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, and “How do I make sense of this world?” This secondary set of questions can be answered in a myriad of ways for a variety of reasons, but the answer to the first question has only two responses. As Douglas Futuyuma says, “Creation and evolution, between them, exhaust the possible explanations for the origin of living things” (197). Either we are the product of the chemical and physical laws of nature operating over time, or we have been formed, at least in part, by some supernatural Force or Deity. The acceptance of one of these options as a foundation will determine how one will establish a belief system to determine his place in the world. This is a matter of crucial importance, yet in most biology classes offered at U.C. Davis, we learn that life came from nonlife by strictly natural (as opposed to supernatural) processes. The possibility that perhaps the origin of life cannot be explained by a natural mechanism is ignored, and this is disturbing. For if we limit what explanations we are willing to accept for the origin of life, we could be closing our eyes to reality.