My new CFSI post is up titled Not So Different After All. It is my take on the new data that indicates that up to nine percent of non-African modern human DNA is, in fact, Neandertal in origin. All comments are welcome there and here.
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Fascinating stuff indeed, and thanks for elaborating on the implications.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of your article, you write 'It is difficult to discern how this information could not be interpreted in an evolutionary context.' Well, I can make an educated guess. The standard reaction to recent Neanderthal discoveries has been 'Well, they're simply as human as we are'. In creationist context, the Neanderthal is just another homo sapiens. So no evolution, God created one kind of human. Science has just confused us all by calling the Neanderthal a different species. Shared ancestry? Yep, they'll say, all descended from Adam & Eve.
More generally speaking, creationists tend to describe hominid fossils either as 'just apes' or 'just modern humans'.
So my guess is that AiG and such organizations will actually be quite happy with this result!
All well and good except that the Neandertals extend back in time some 200-250 thousand years and if you argue that Neandertals and anatomically modern Homo sapiens are not that different, then neither are Neandertals and their precursor, Homo erectus. Where do you draw the line? Obviously we have no records of Homo erectus/Homo sapiens interbreeding because they are not synchronic but would they have been able to? Who knows. The point is that it is a continuum back through time. Arguing that Neandertals aren't that different from modern humans just introduces a whole new set of problems.
ReplyDeleteQuite right. But of course, your average YEC would not agree with the 250 thousand years... Which shows that any information can (and will) be interpreted without reference to evolution, alas.
ReplyDeleteBut keep those articles coming, they are interesting and usefull!