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From: Michael Tarbell <mtarbell.nul> Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 09:52:05 -0600 Archived: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:23:24 -0400 Subject: Re: Binary/Convergent Evolution >From: Stuart Miller <stuart.4.nul> >To: ufoupdates.nul >Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:02:00 +0100 >Subject: Re: Binary/Convergent Evolution >>From: Michael Tarbell <mtarbell.nul> >>To: ufoupdates.nul >>Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:21:01 -0600 >>Subject: Re: Binary/Convergent Evolution <snip> >This may be a 'What came first; chicken or egg' situation but >the reason why our ancestors became bipedal is because their >bodies evolved differently to other primates. Walking upright >simply became a more comfortable means of getting about. >Whether this happened because of a change in their behviour >which necessitated an evolutinary shift or whether the change >occurred and the behaviour adapted, I couldn't say. >You can find a more detailed explantion here but, unless its of >personal interest, you'll neeed to set aside the ID element of >it: >"If upright walking is so energetically favorable, why do apes >still 'knuckle-walk'?" >http://tinyurl.com/2syvzm Thanks for the link Stuart. While not a creationist sympathizer, I found this article profoundly circular and unpersuasive. It ultimately reaches the vacuous conclusion that bipedalism is not suited for say, chimpanzees, because their bodies are adapted primarily for quadrapedal knuckle-walking. Well, thanks professor, that clears it up! The question is _why_ did our common ancestor diverge into bipedal and non-bipedal forms? If the wide-open savannah confers some advantage to bipedal animals, or conversely, selects against quadrapeds, one might well wonder why we do not see additional bipedal forms in that environment. I do not question that some selection mechanism led to our bipedal form, but simply attributing it to 'adaptation to the savannah' is not convincing at all. Mike Listen to 'Strange Days... Indeed' - The PodCast See: http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/sdi/program/
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