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Originally posted by AKA_Monet
Most scientist do not think about what is happening with a start, middle, and end... We have this perpetual mentality... Who started it kind of thing is not a question we want to know about... We really do not care about that kind of question. We are more concerned about what it is now, how it is now, and can we change it?
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I tend to agree with you which makes this entire topic very interesting. Scientists who don't agree with each other still work together successfully, as I mentioned. You seem to be agreeing here!
Can anyone really dispute microevolution when the evidence is visible RIGHT NOW? No. But, we can dispute macroevolution - though, as you've said - that's not really an area where scientists waste much time.
I don't want to take this discussion in circles any more than I already have so I'll leave that alone for now.
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We, scientist in fact call it the mitochondial Eve hypothesis and the Y chromosome Adam hypothesis... Irony at your best...
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Yes I know about mitochondrial DNA. I think the Adam and Eve might have been foolish choices for names!! I realize that they have absolutely nothing to do with the Bible.
I probably need to go back and read more about the subject because it is fascinating. From what I know, (and I know much less about the Y side of it!), mitochondrial DNA - coming from the maternal side - indicates the most recent common female ancestor and points to a similar female ancestor for everyone on earth at any given time. The research lost me when the crazy folks started trying to explain how M.E. changes with different circumstances.
P.S. You went out of my range of education when you dipped into the world of Descartes! I'd have to do some more reading before I would venture a response.
You did get me thinking about this though:
Max Weber (from a 1958 translation of
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - He's talking about human freedom and progress and the actual outcome of the two working together:
"No one knows who will live in this cage in the future, or whether at the end of this tremendous development entirely new prophets will arise, or there will be a great rebirth of old ideas and ideals, or if neither, mechanized petrification embellished with a sort of convulsive self-importance. For at the last stage of this cultural development, it might truly be said: 'Specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved.'"
*Have we reached this point in the U.S.? I know it has nothing to do with the topic, but it popped into my head and I had to post it!! I just think it's really interesting.