No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk • Hacker News Board

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#31

Post by ijidak » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:13 AM UTC

lone_haxx0r wrote: post #21

ARandomerDude wrote: post #18

Wonder no more. Genesis 1:26-27 ESV Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." [27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Now no one knows why god can walk.

In the parent's post, Image does not refer to literal physical shape.

I'm not sure if that's what he/she meant or not.

That the God of the Bible doesn't look like a man or woman is clear from the below verse:

"Therefore, watch yourselves closely—since you did not see any form on the day [God] spoke to you...that you may not act corruptly by making for yourselves any carved image having the form of any symbol, the representation of male or female." - Deuteronomy 4:15-16

So, the injunction against creating an image that looked like a man or woman to represent God, would indicate that he does not physically look like a man or a woman.

That's no doubt why it says, "you saw now form"

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#32

Post by ijidak » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:14 AM UTC

clairity wrote: post #26

lone_haxx0r wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now no one knows why god can walk.

or why an omnipresent being would need to.

I don't think the God of the Bible is omnipresent, no?

Reference: https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/god-omnipres...

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#33

Post by cryptonector » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:16 AM UTC

coenhyde wrote: post #5

I like the water ape theory. ie we had a period of time in our history where we spent a lot of time in low lying water that encouraged us to stand upright. There's a few things which point in this direction. iirc we're the only primate which can control its breath; good for swimming under water. Our fingers wrinkle when we spend time in water; good for picking things up in water. And we lost our hair; hair may have g…

All mammals have the mammalian diving reflex. I think birds have it too. I suspect it goes all the way back to the first walking fish.

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#34

Post by NateEag » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:18 AM UTC

ijidak wrote: post #32

clairity wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or why an omnipresent being would need to.

I don't think the God of the Bible is omnipresent, no? Reference: https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/god-omnipres...

The mainline Christian denominations disagree with the Jehovah's Witnesses on that point (and many others - [preachy] overview: https://biblereasons.com/christianity-vs-jehovah-witness/).

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#35

Post by im3w1l » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:22 AM UTC

hyperpallium wrote: post #29

What was the evolutionary pressure that made us intelligent - could it be ranged attack ? First, what I'm calling the Geo-Fermi Paradox - why are we the only intelligent animal on Earth? Sure, it has advantages - but other animals would gain those advantages too. So why didn't they become intelligent (or, at least, more intelligent) too? Sure, there was climate-change in Africa that rewarded adaptivity - but why didn…

If we consider other hominids, we don't know exactly, but it seems we outcompeted them. If we consider more distant animals, because we converted the entire planet to provide for us much faster than they could evolve to catch up with us.

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#36

Post by dwaltrip » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:22 AM UTC

ARandomerDude wrote: post #18

Wonder no more. Genesis 1:26-27 ESV Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." [27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

You should try reading "The Greatest Show on Earth". It lays the overwhelming evidence for evolution out in stunning detail. It's absolutely incredible.

Also, Dawkins manages to stick to the facts and evidence and almost entirely avoid the religion bashing in this book, making it much more approachable for religious folks.

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#37

Post by RichEO » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:24 AM UTC

hyperpallium wrote: post #29

What was the evolutionary pressure that made us intelligent - could it be ranged attack ? First, what I'm calling the Geo-Fermi Paradox - why are we the only intelligent animal on Earth? Sure, it has advantages - but other animals would gain those advantages too. So why didn't they become intelligent (or, at least, more intelligent) too? Sure, there was climate-change in Africa that rewarded adaptivity - but why didn…

I believe there is some evidence to suggest that we have not always been the sole intelligent species on the planet.

Notably there is some speculation that Neanderthals were of equal or similar intelligence to early humans

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#38

Post by dogma1138 » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:25 AM UTC

coenhyde wrote: post #5

I like the water ape theory. ie we had a period of time in our history where we spent a lot of time in low lying water that encouraged us to stand upright. There's a few things which point in this direction. iirc we're the only primate which can control its breath; good for swimming under water. Our fingers wrinkle when we spend time in water; good for picking things up in water. And we lost our hair; hair may have g…

We have fairly poor fat insulation and we are hairless so it’s highly unlikely we have evolved in water.

Fur combined with skin oils is a great insulator as it is a hydrophobic surface in which air bubbles get trapped proving very good insulation.

Our skin is very porous and thin and gets soggy very quickly in water which makes it less grippy and weakens it.

We also have terrible physique for swimming (hence why we need to develop complex swimming techniques instead of just paddling) just to put it into perspective a deer can swim as fast as 15 mph, a polar bear can swim at about 7 mph for 10 hours the fastest human swimmer can swim at around 5mph and that’s for a 100m sprint, we have fairly poor buoyancy and a very weak diving reflex compared to other mammals and like most apes we are actually quite terrified of water naturally.

Our vision is also severely impacted by water, especially salt water and we have a very water ingress unfriendly nose-ear system.

The whole aquatic ape theory doesn’t make any sense it’s almost as crazy as the chimp fucked a pig theory.

Like seriously take pretty much any other non ape mammal and you’ll discover that they are so much better at swimming than humans that they might as well be fish compared to us even those who don’t look like they should be able to swim at all.

Like freaking mice have been observed swimming for 3 days straight.

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#39

Post by hyperpallium » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:26 AM UTC

im3w1l wrote: post #35

hyperpallium wrote: post #29

What was the evolutionary pressure that made us intelligent - could it be ranged attack ? First, what I'm calling the Geo-Fermi Paradox - why are we the only intelligent animal on Earth? Sure, it has advantages - but other animals would gain those advantages too. So why didn't they become intelligent (or, at least, more intelligent) too? Sure, there was climate-change in Africa that rewarded adaptivity - but why didn…

If we consider other hominids, we don't know exactly, but it seems we outcompeted them. If we consider more distant animals, because we converted the entire planet to provide for us much faster than they could evolve to catch up with us.

I think that's the "we just happened to be first" argument. Which could be true, but not very satisfying, because no detail.

Re: No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk

#40

Post by matthewvincent » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:26 AM UTC

sliken wrote: post #10

coenhyde wrote: post #5

I like the water ape theory. ie we had a period of time in our history where we spent a lot of time in low lying water that encouraged us to stand upright. There's a few things which point in this direction. iirc we're the only primate which can control its breath; good for swimming under water. Our fingers wrinkle when we spend time in water; good for picking things up in water. And we lost our hair; hair may have g…

Seems like a stretch. We suck at swimming (compared to bears for speed or distance). The breath thing seems unlikely, polar bears for instance seem quite adept at swimming underwater. Hair doesn't seem an issue either, hair (assuming it's not knotted) doesn't easily catch on things, and hairy bears seem quite adept under water. Sure whales used to be hairy (and has some residual hair today), but that's more the lack…

No we aren’t the best mammals at swimming but, definitely the best primates. And I think the argument is that the theoretical aquatic ape spent much more time in water than the typical bear.