Evolution

[Eagle Eye]

Not sure, but I seem to remember that mules can't produce offspring.

Ah yes, the astute skeptic. Check this out

Even with only one exception, can't say all are sterile. Although, no documented records exist of fertile males.

 

[YukonGlocker]

Somewhere along this road we (at least those of us who aren't deluded) know that human brain size doubled over what is contextually a very short time period. Who's we? We is them and I. How do I know this? I know this because many, many people smarter than me (them) figured this out, and listening to smart people when you're not smart is better than listening to dumb people.

Anyways, what we don't know exactly is why our brains doubled in size. Food security coupled with tool use and language development but hey language came first right anyways we don't really know. Hey cool moon rockets and cell phones and language and fake plastic tits yay cool awesome big brains fawking rule.

A saltwater crocodile has a brain approximately the size of a walnut. It's highly complex, for being the size of a walnut, but a good majority of it is focused on eating. Anyone want to guess how long those guys have been around? That's perfection.

Us? We're an evolutionary mistake. We're an exotic supercar. Sure it's cool when it blows by you in the passing lane, but that old FJ60 Toyota puttering along with the tractor engine in the right lane is undoubtedly a more perfect vehicle. See of you can get the odometer on a Ferrari and a Toyota to match under the same conditions with the same amount of maintenance and breakdowns.

I agree with most of this.

One reason, among many, that humans evolved such large brains (i.e., the function of the process) was to help obtain, maintain, and control larger and larger social networks of people. And with a growing brain, and growing ability to social network, came corresponding issues (e.g., schizophrenia) that have never disappeared through breeding (i.e., lack of reproduction doesn't eliminate it).

It's also quite interesting to look at the complexity demonstrated by species that have no brain at all (e.g., starfish).

 

[YukonGlocker]

Happy Birthday Darwin.

 

[Eagle Eye]

Happy Birthday Darwin.

 

[Coded-Dude]

Ah yes, the astute skeptic. Check this out

Even with only one exception, can't say all are sterile. Although, no documented records exist of fertile males.

let's make that two exceptions: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12260255

 

[Eagle Eye]

let's make that two exceptions: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12260255

Nice!

 

[Coded-Dude]

Unfortunately the animal didn't live a long life; "bad legs" caused a fall on the ice resulting in unrecoverable internal injuries. This article does better to explain how it is very unlikely but possible for such occurrences to happen: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_23879376/colorado-miracle-mule-foal-lived-short-life-but

Mules are a hybrid of a female horse, which has 64 chromosomes, and a male donkey, which has 62 chromosomes. This leaves female mules with 63 chromosomes, which cannot be split evenly to produce a fertile egg.

Female mules do, however, produce mosaic eggs that contain an even number of chromosomes, but those eggs rarely contain a chromosome half-set that is complementary to another half-set from a male sperm cell.

 

[120 Acres]

 

[Eagle Eye]

Here is another cool example of two species interbreeding

http://www.npr.org/2015/02/24/388515559/-weird-fern-shows-the-power-of-interspecies-sex

 

[Droberts]

I believe that the human consciousness can be proven mathematically to be made of matter, not anything spiritual, through already performed relative velocity and gravitational time dilation experiments.

If it were spiritual it would be exempt from the laws of physics. This is not the case. If it were we would all be mentally trapped inside an eternal stillness, fully aware of our surroundings but unable to make the matter in our bodies move at the same rate as our consciousness is able to perceive the movement.

If one were to argue against this and say that humanity has a spiritual consciousness, it would not change the fact that the perceived movement of the consciousness can be slowed down or sped up relative to the space time conditions in which a humans brain exists. Thus, you would be arguing that there is a God, or a spiritual entity of any sorts, and that he can be imprisoned within extreme relative velocity space time and/or destroyed with the appropriate gravitational conditions.

Evolutionary debate is for amateurs. Biology, archaeology, geology.. bleh.. that's all settled and done with. Physics has all the real answers. You may have just read this and thought it a bunch of blabber, but if you take the time to understand the concepts the ramifications are pretty profound.