From: hampday@earthlink.net
Date: Sat Jul 23 2005 - 16:58:12 BST
Mark --
> But Neanderthals are not our ancestors. There is no evidence of gene
> flow between them and H. sapiens. You've just admitted that a
> species other than H. sapiens is self-conscious and capable of
> rational thought. So, how does this square with your claim that self-
> consciousness and the ability to reason are the features that set our
> self-exalting selves above the rest of the animal world?
Here's the concluding paragraph of an anthropological article on
"Neanderthals" I found on the Internet. While Neanderthals are today
regarded as a "sub-species" of Homo-sapiens, there's still some doubt as to
their possible common ancestry with "modern humans". In other words,
Science is open to new empirical evidence.
"Although DNA tests show that modern humans and neanderthals diverged from a
common ancestor more than 500,000 years ago and that modern humans do not
carry neanderthal genes and so did not interbreed when they encountered each
other 50,000 years ago, the discovery of possible hybrids suggests that we
still have not fully completed the Neanderthal story."
Despite your attempt to nail me on a technicality, it doesn't change my
opinion. Obviously, in our evolutionary sense of creation, Darwin's theory
would suggest that H-sapiens had to evolve from some more primitive
creature -- unless you buy into ET theories. My point is simply that the
cognitive functions exhibited by human beings (even humanoids in transition)
far exceed those of lesser creatures. This, to me, suggests a teleology, a
"biological momentum" as it were, to create a higher, "psychic" species.
The fact that self-consciousness exists and is unique in nature is the
philosophical issue we're discussing here, not the evolutionary mechanism
behind it.
I'll be interested to see how you respond to the remainder of my last post.
Enjoy your weekend,
Ham
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