Chimps are actually more evolved than humans

[MelT]

Chimps are actually more evolved than humans

A study has indicated that the forces of natural selection have had the greatest impact on our ape cousins. There is no doubt that humans are the more advanced species. But a comparison of 14,000 human and chimpanzee genes shows the forces of natural selection have had the greatest impact on our ape cousins.




The researchers' discovery challenges the common assumption that our large brains and high intelligence were the gifts of natural selection.

Humans and chimps followed different evolutionary paths from a common ape ancestor about 5million years ago. Both underwent changes as the fittest survived to pass their genes on to future generations. But the U.S. study shows that humans possess a 'substantially smaller' number of positively-selected genes than chimps. This may be because the original human population was very small - which would have reduced the effectiveness of natural selection.

Instead, 'genetic drift' - the random survival of genetic mutations rather than their preservation by the laws of natural selection - was likely to have been more important in humans, according to the scientists, led by Dr Jianzhi Zhang from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

"These observations refute the anthropocentric view that a grand enhancement in Darwinian-selection underlies human origins," they wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers also found that positive selection acted on different genes in humans and chimps, and the selected genes were involved in different processes.
Surprisingly, many positively-selected genes in humans were involved in inherited diseases. This may be because we live in a very different environment from the one our ancestors inhabited, said the scientists. Adaptive changes that were positive for early hominids may not be so beneficial, or may be even harmful, today.

[Rasta_Man]

Cool

[naku06]

damn brains, always getting in the way of natural selection. now we're in second. everyone! stop saving the dumb ones.

muahaha!

[buttsplatuken]

"More evolved" "More advanced"

What exactly do these terms mean? What makes humans more advanced? Is it because we're smarter?

I was stoned out of my mind one day looking across a lake at two ducks bobbing around in the water. Suddenly they took off and zooooomed across the lake. I thought "hmmm...I sure wish I could zoom across the lake like that." But I don't have any wings. I guess that makes them more advanced since they have something that I don't.

[Lachrymose]

What exactly do these terms mean? What makes humans more advanced? Is it because we're smarter?

It's not just because we're smarter, which yes, we are. We're more advanced in technology that we built on our own. Chimps are still poking at things with sticks o.0

[buttsplatuken]

P.O.V

Look at how much time and resources humanity had to invest to be able to fly in an airplane...birds have wings. Aren't they more evolved than us in that respect?


hmm...my point is elusive I suppose...I'm not sure how to articulate it.

[blackdahlia515]

hmfh. so that's why we suck....(ponders)

[Opivy]

but we go and shoot bird with shot-guns all the time... I'd like to see a bird try and pull that shit on me!

[gunsforgrass]

yeah i was watching a show about the life of cavemen. i don't remember what channel it was on. maybe history or discovery. and we started out as chimps. pretty cool in my opinion.

[Disinterest]

Don't read too deep into this. By "more evolved" it is really only saying that chimps have had to evolve a greater number of times as a result of environmental pressures. It doesn't mean that they're "more evolved" than humans, as there is no continuum of evolvedness where more = better. Evolution can only be looked at qualitatively with regards to the environment of the organism, where the more adapted an organism is to its environment (and hence the more it successfully gets its genes into the next generation) the "better evolved" it is.

In summary, claiming chimps are "more evolved" than humans in this regard is akin to claiming that you're "cleaner" than someone because you've changed your socks more than they have (where in reality you've only had to change them because you wear them out more often).

[stneod]

I kind of look at it as we're more advance because we are less evolved.
Human beings have no natural way to keep warm, no natural weapons, remarcably dull senses. To keep up we had to get creative, that led to fire, tools, clothes, etc...

Not sure if this is true or not, just a thought.

[conosouer]

Yeah humans evolved to use our brain. A human would get his/her ass handed to them if they had a confrontation with almost ANY other animal of equal size.

So humans are a mistake then. I think George Carlin said this in one of his bits, "we're just a failed mutation".

[oowe]

dude your dumb, u come on here trying to make yourself sound sweet by posting some bull about chimps being more evolved than humans..but i gotta say this ..no one cares lol..you could say mosquitos are more evolved then humans being that they have been evolving for millions of years, but do you really care..no. All im saying is that until a chimp does anything amazing like find a cure for a disease or even roll dutchmaster they are not anything compared to humans.

Disrespect doesn't float here neither does name-calling and you have several posts with both. Bye! *RMJL

[JesusC]

Originally Posted by oowe

dude your dumb, u come on here trying to make yourself sound sweet by posting some bull about chimps being more evolved than humans..but i gotta say this ..no one cares lol..you could say mosquitos are more evolved then humans being that they have been evolving for millions of years, but do you really care..no. All im saying is that until a chimp does anything amazing like find a cure for a disease or even roll dutchmaster they are not anything compared to humans.

The next time you feel like posting, don't.

[shasta]

Human evolution basically ended with the advent of agriculture. I guess the plagues improved the disease resistance of our gene pool too. With welfare, healthcare, humanitarian aid, etc we have no conditions that catalyze evolution. We subsidize the weak and allow their genes to be passed on. I think its the right thing to do, compassion>evolution, unless your a nazi or something.

Human evolution can not be measured in genes anymore. We have entered the age of transhuman evolution. We are not going to fix genetic problems with biological evolution anymore. We are going to fix genetic problems with technology.

I am not surprised at all that other species have felt the pressure of natural selection more than humans. We have been using artificial selection for thousands of years. I would be surprised if chimps were the only species with more genetic adaptations than us.

edit: oowe, fix your spelling and grammar before you call people stupid. Go back into the general and recreational sections where people will tolerate your absurd statements.