Science/Environment Missing link found?

[Malifice]

Scientists have discovered a new human-like species in a cave in South Africa.

The discovery of 15 partial skeletons is the largest ever discovery of primitive human remains in Africa.

The individuals are part human and part ape and researchers say that the species called naledi could be a "bridge" between the two.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34202249

What do people think? Could this be it?

Huge news if it's confirmed.

 

[Pie eyed]

Not much chance it will be definitive proof, simply stronger evidence of the theory of evolution....
I can't see them ever finding "the missing link"., evolution being a slow progression.
The odds against would be tremendous.
Exciting discovery none the less.

 

[Malifice]

Not much chance it will be definitive proof, simply stronger evidence of the theory of evolution....
I can't see them ever finding "the missing link"., evolution being a slow progression.
The odds against would be tremendous.
Exciting discovery none the less.

Whats happened to this joint? We potentially find the missing link and nary a blink of an eye.

Maybe if I titled the threat 'Muslim terror - missing link found'?

 

[Gough]

Whats happened to this joint? We potentially find the missing link and nary a blink of an eye.

Maybe if I titled the threat 'Muslim terror - missing link found'?

Science is something smart people understand, us humanities types are just a bunch of Monday's experts. Africa is a trip though, nothing that's happened there would surprise me in the least.

 

[Malifice]

This looks to prove evolution from Apes (not that any sane person seriously doubts that though).

 

[Long Live HFC]

there's no such thing as the missing link.

 

[Malifice]

there's no such thing as the missing link.

Go on.

 

[Long Live HFC]

Go on.

if we (erroneously) conceptualise evolution as a chain and a bunch of "links", then any new link discovered in that chain is likely to simultaneously creates 2 new missing links (one at either end of the new link).

Ever since Darwin first suggested that human beings had evolved from the apes, popular accounts of evolution have depicted man's journey as a series of smooth, linear transitions from a knuckle-walking hairy simian to upright "naked ape", complete with briefcase and rolled umbrella. But it is a notion that most modern Darwinists have long since consigned to the dustbin of evolutionary history...

What we know is that chimps are our closest living relative, sharing as much as 98 per cent of our DNA. About 10 million years ago we also shared a common ancestor with chimps but what happened in the intervening years was not a straightforward divergence along two lines.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...g-link-on-the-evolutionary-ladder-647962.html

The problem lies in a false metaphor. When we say “missing link,” we invoke a metaphorical chain, a set of links that stretch far back in time. Each link represents a single species, a single variety of life. Because each link is connected to two other links, each is intimately connected to past and future forms. Break one link, and the pieces of the chain can be separated, and relationships lost. But find a lost link, and you can rebuild the chain, reconnect separated lengths. One potent reason for the attractiveness of this metaphor is that it allows for the drama of the quest, the search for that elusive missing link...

Thus the chain metaphor is wrong. It doesn't accurately represent biology as we know it today, but as it was understood over four centuries ago. The myth persists because of convenience; it is easier to think of species as types, with discrete qualities, than as grades between one species and another. In school, we learn the specific characteristics of plants and animals; this alone is not a problem, except that we are not often exposed to the main ramification of evolution: that those characteristics will change through time.

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/getting_the_monkey_off_darwins_back/

am heading out to get drunk but there's a wealth of information if you google 'missing link fallacy' and the like.

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

Thanks to the Half A Cow label, I discovered the Missing Links

 

[CM86]

 

[smokingjacket]

Whats happened to this joint? We potentially find the missing link and nary a blink of an eye.

Maybe if I titled the threat 'Muslim terror - missing link found'?

Finals footy mate!

Guilty though. I briefly saw it, was interested but went back to my Freo build up.

Mainly I didn't jump straight away because I thought the whole missing link thing was unnecessary?

What would the missing link even look like? a bipedal ape? Sort of a moot exercise. The people who don't believe in evolution are going to be convinced, even if you could clearly chart our story from bacteria to i-Man. Interesting discovery though.

I do get a bit suspect when some of the anthropologists get involved and start extrapolating all sorts of crazy theories.

*edit I saw someone beat me to it.

 

[Fire]

The idea of a missing link is only held by creationists and journalists trying to make a mundane discovery sound newsworthy. Its a cultural trope, not a scientific concept.

At this point evolution has been established and people either accept the reality of the situation or not. There isn't a single bit of evidence that can be found which will change that.

This is why no one gives a s**t.

 

[Pie eyed]

Whats happened to this joint? We potentially find the missing link and nary a blink of an eye.

Maybe if I titled the threat 'Muslim terror - missing link found'?

Rushing out the door...I did say it was exciting news>>>

 

[Power Raid]

Scientists have discovered a new human-like species in a cave in South Africa.

The discovery of 15 partial skeletons is the largest ever discovery of primitive human remains in Africa.

The individuals are part human and part ape and researchers say that the species called naledi could be a "bridge" between the two.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34202249

What do people think? Could this be it?

Huge news if it's confirmed.

This is really exciting news and such a shame positive news stories don't carry the same weight as negative ones.

We should be celebrating our achievements in the media more.

 

[DarwinRoo]

Liberal Party Function?

 

[Pie eyed]

Liberal Party Function?

LOL.
Farewell party....

 

[Pie eyed]

Tony Abboot doing his best to divert on behalf of the religious loons to the very last....lol
Probably orchestrated the coup to steal oxygen from this thread

 

[evo]

PFFT, I found them 40 years ago

 

[Milkshaker]

This looks to prove evolution from Apes (not that any sane person seriously doubts that though).

No that sounds perfectly sane.

 

[little graham]

What do people think? Could this be it?

Huge news if it's confirmed.

The Australian aboriginal is not related to the African in any way. Like the north american Indian always said, they didn't come from monkees.

 

[Pie eyed]

The Australian aboriginal is not related to the African in any way. Like the north american Indian always said, they didn't come from monkees.

Not sure what any of that even means, let alone whether it's relevant to the thread?

 

[little graham]

Not sure what any of that even means, let alone whether it's relevant to the thread?

We all know how pea brained you are, this is not surprising.

 

[Long Live HFC]

We all know how pea brained you are, this is not surprising.

if you actually posted substantive points in a clear, unambiguous manner perhaps you'd get better responses to the questionable assertions you make.

 

[Sydney Bloods]

if you actually posted substantive points in a clear, unambiguous manner perhaps you'd get better responses to the questionable assertions you make.

i'll save you the time he has chosen creation myth over genetics, he just happens to choose the creation myths of people indigenous to Australia and the americas.

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

if you actually posted substantive points in a clear, unambiguous manner perhaps you'd get better responses to the questionable assertions you make.

He prolly believes that it was a result of some psychiatric conspiracy