Origin of humans on the Earth

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Saint

Saint

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Science and religion say different things.
Anyway, can we tryst carbon 14 dating to millions of years of prehistoric humans (but not really humans, isn't it?)
We are homo sapiens, we are not neanderthal, we cannot say neanderthal is our ancestor.
Pig also has similar gene as human, but we don't believe pig and human are of same origin.
 
Saint said:
Science and religion say different things.
Anyway, can we tryst carbon 14 dating to millions of years of prehistoric humans (but not really humans, isn't it?)
We are homo sapiens, we are not neanderthal, we cannot say neanderthal is our ancestor.
Pig also has similar gene as human, but we don't believe pig and human are of same origin.
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OK, here's the thing. You know too little about paleo-biology to doubt it.

  • Humans are only about 200,000 years old.
  • Correct. Neanderthal is not our ancestor.
  • "Similar" is a relative term. All animals - especially mammals (to which both humans and pigs belong) have "similar" genes. Certainly when compared to, say, squid.
  • "same origin" is also relative. Every living thing on Earth ultimately has the same ancestor - since they all have DNA. Primates and pigs diverged about 50-100 million years ago.
 
Saint said:
Science and religion say different things.
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True!
We are homo sapiens, we are not neanderthal, we cannot say neanderthal is our ancestor.
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True! Homo sapiens interbred with homo neanderthalis, but they were not the same species - and the neanderthals eventually died out.
Pig also has similar gene as human, but we don't believe pig and human are of same origin.
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If you go back far enough, they are. About 65 million years ago, placental mammals split into several groups of species, including primates (i.e. us) and ungulates (i.e. pigs, horses.)
 
what is the dating technology that scientist can claim it is millions of years?
 
Saint said:
what is the dating technology that scientist can claim it is millions of years?
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Why use the word "claim"? It connotes a stake of some kind.
Scientists are simply looking for accurate answers to the questions we all ask.
In researching the fossil record, the most obvious dating method is geology: between which layers of rock was a fossil found? There are other methods. Here's a quickie. There are many excellent documentaries on the subject, free to stream.
 
I've noticed that this is a common topic among the religious...bringing up carbon dating. It must be something they've heard in church. They hear that carbon dating won't work for dating anything that old (which is true).

What they don't hear about is radiometric dating. That never seems to come up in "church".

How disingenuous is that of the minister? If they know enough to explain to the parishioners why carbon dating can't go back that far they are probably informed enough to know that radiometric dating can be used but they just choose to leave that out. I respect ignorance more than this kind of behavior.
 
Jeeves said:
Why use the word "claim"? It connotes a stake of some kind.
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closed mind (hedging the answers to conform to pre determined rules so as not to conflict with existing beliefs)
looking for emotional reaffirmation (probable)

Science & Religion are proposed as competing truths(base line)

the potential answers have already been defined and validated and categorized (emotional language written between the lines)

all that is requested is you to tick the boxes where the yes and no should go(life is simple, its just a simple question do not try and convince me that i am wrong)
 
Thank you. It drives my partner buggy when I compose earnest, informative replies to rhetorical questions. That's why I do it. I suspect a similar mechanism is at work here.
Except this:
all that is requested is you to tick the boxes where the yes and no should go
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Nobody who wants Y/N ticked should ever put 'what is the technology' in their question. That phrase attracts geeks who know stuff. You might as well put out a hot bowl mac&cheese.
 
Saint said:
if u r open minded, carbon 14 got error in dating.
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There's always some uncertainty in radioactive dating. Carbon 14 only has a half life of 5700 years or so, so it's not much use for looking back millions of years. There are plenty of other isotopes that have much longer half-lives, however, which can be used.

Methods for dating the age of the earth and tracing the approximate timeline of evolution are many and varied. Wildly disparate methods all agree, within their respective uncertainty bounds.

To believe that the Earth, or human beings, started only a few thousand years ago is absurd if you know any of the relevant science.
 
Saint said:
We are homo sapiens, we are not neanderthal, we cannot say neanderthal is our ancestor.
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If I recall correctly, there is evidence of cross-breeding between neanderthals and homo sapiens, so it is possible that you share some neanderthal ancestry. And, of course, neanderthals and homo sapiens both share common ancestors anyway, if you go back a bit further in time.

Pig also has similar gene as human, but we don't believe pig and human are of same origin.
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Who is "we"? You and your religious buddies?

Given the enormous similarity between pigs and human beings, it would be an impossibly unlikely coincidence if the two species did not share a common evolutionary ancestor. I mean, for starters, both pigs and humans are mammals. What are the chances of that happening by accident?
 
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