Why aren't monkeys still evolving into humans?

Justyn.. did youu have to bring up Omellete again? Thought we had buried him and his crude stuff for generations of postings..

As an asthmatic, I feel threatened by Jude's post. I don't want to contribute to the evolution of the human race!

Oh crikey! Just noticed...I've got HUGE thumbs and a tiny pin-point for a head...

monkeys didnt evolve INTO humans ... monkeys and humans both evolved from a common ancestor somewhere along the line ... they are two branches on the evolutionary tree ...

The implications of your remark in parenthesis is of course an insult to all self-respecting primates

I was gonna give answer but but fish said it first Also - humans are no longer evolving because of modern medicine. The mechanism of evolution - natural selection is all about survival of the fittest. However we are allowing the non-fit to survive and reproduce therefore there is no natural selection. For example. several hundred people a year die from severe asthma attacks in the UK. The number of people experiencing bad asthma has increased because of pollution. This number would be much much higher if we did not give people asthma medicines and other treatment . This would mean asthma sufferers would die young, not reproduce and the gene for asthma eliminated from the population. Survival of the fittest - evolution, in response to changes in environment.

Thanks Jude, I knew I could rely on you for an answer. Fair point, Tan. I always enjoy your comments. You're correct, of course. My apologies to the animal kingdom.

and leave all those free bananas rest under the sun effortlessly for unemloyment and taxes? a wise monkey doesn't make the same mistake twice........ :)

Natural selection does not account for what caused the change in the first place. The basic difference between primates and humans is the thumb and brain size. Brain size is evidently controlled by a single gene. Somewhere along the line, some primates developed much larger than average brains and they were better able to survive because of it. The one's with thumbs and big brains really had a run of it and we are the result. I don't think evolution has stopped at all. We just can't see it in action because the action is very slow. Humans have only been paying attention to this stuff for about 150 years, which is not enough time to develop an identifiable track record. Besides, how do we know it is not working in reverse? I observe crude monkey-like behavior every day in what puport to be human beings. Now, usually this is taken as an example of an "incompletely evolved" primitive, but my thought is: hmmmm, maybe this person comes from a long line of humans trying to return to a more primitive state. Has anyone else observed this phenomenon?

I thought we'd devolved from apes.

This is exactly what I was suggesting may have happened to Paul Mellette, James. But as Tan very correctly ponts out this is a huge slur on the primate kingdom.

Where IS Primate, anyway?

On the Dyslexia thread on "Discuss Writing From ABCtales"

If I may refer to Jude's point: - There is a common misunderstanding here. It also is brought up talking about people chosing the sex of the babies, genetic engineering, etc. There are well over six billion humans on this planet, evolving. A SMALL pecentage have access to healthcare etc, and a smaller percentage can afford it. therefore, despite what we in the 'civilised world' think, Mother Nature rules! and what we fiddle about with in our privileged little world will have little effect on the bulk of the world's population and humankind, unless we poison them all globally!

I wonder if Darwin considered survival of the luckiest? I have to say that a lot of those who die of starvation must be fitter for life than some of the monstrosities who survive all too well in the West.

Ah, yes - excellent point, Mykle.

Godamn it ! I was incensed, even mortified at the heading of this thread and all ready to spit abuse, then I saw it was Karl and calmed down a bit. Everyone is correct, so far - monkeys are more cousins to humans than grandparents, and evolution doesn't have an onwards and upwards direction, contrary to a lot of very badly written textbooks. The most successful beings on the planet are, without a doubt, bacteria who haven't changed much in a few million years (or 4004 +2002 if you are a fundamentalist). Creatures don't want to evolve - the whole thing is driven, if you believe Dawkins (and I tend to) by the copying process of genes and once they find a stable way to pass on copies to the next generation, they tend to stick with it. It is only when there is real competition that random variations that benefit the host body tend to flourish. We are just containers for genes - or in a more understandable way, a chicken is just an egg's way of producing another egg.

So Grief, the logic of your theory is that eventually all the poor people will die out and everyone left will be a millionaire!

At last! Lots of threads on monkeys! Monkeys just rule, as far as I'm concerned.

i just wanted to share my Dropped Stitch Knitted Monkey Theory with you all on this thread ... i have found the missing link! *awaits applause*

It was only a few years ago that scientists discovered some very tiny life forms, one in the ocean and another that lives in most soil, which are by far the most plentiful and successful life forms. I personally believe the soil dwelling forms are the source of crude oil. I just can't imagine all that oil coming form "buried plants from the dinosaur age."