Why are creationists perfectly happy to accept it when a DNA test shows that they're part irish or native or that they're related to someone famous... [Spirituality & Religion]
...but when DNA shows that we shared a common ancestor with other apes suddenly it's all just conjecture?
Come on, fundies. Pick a lane.
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I would suggest that you only do that if you enjoy it because by now you and i both know that you're not going to get a meaningful response out of @GodSpeed63
Humans and chimpanzees both carry inactive genes acquired from viruses. This occurs because some viruses insert a copy of their genome into the DNA of whichever species they infect. These are called retro-viruses... HIV is one such.
Where such viruses infect the cells that produce sperm and eggs, they can be passed on across generations.
The human genome contains [i]thousands[/i] of these remnants of long-past infections... now rendered harmless... and so does the chimpanzee genome.
Most of them are in [b]exactly[/b] the same place on both genomes. That’s astonishing, so I’ll repeat it: most of them are on [b]exactly[/b] the same place on both genomes.
Let’s choose an explanation from a few (non-exhaustive) options:
1. astonishing coincidence
2. when the gods created humans they decided to sprinkle around several thousand retro-viruses, and they put the preponderance of retroviruses at matching sites on both species because... umm... because... well... because... stop questioning the gods!
3. The majority of retroviruses match because both species inherited them from a common ancestor, who had itself accumulated them from the line of its own descent.
The small number which do not match are the remnants of infections that each species has warded off independently since divergence from the common ancestor... as predicted by the Theory of Evolution.
@GodSpeed63 Just in case you're thinking of choosing 'astonishing coincidence', bear in mind that although both the human and chimpanzee genomes are quite small[b]*[/b], each still contains 3.2 billion base pairs, so the odds of retroviral scars matching [i]exactly[/i] on so many thousands of them are astronomically high.
*The largest known genome is the plant [i]Paris japonica[/i], which has 149 billion base pairs. The marbled lungfish [i](Protopterus aethiopicus)[/i] is also quite impressive, having 130 billion base pairs.
[quote]2. when the gods created humans they decided to sprinkle around several thousand retro-viruses, and they put the preponderance of retroviruses at matching sites on both species because... umm... because... well... because... stop questioning the gods![/quote]
What gods would those be?
[quote]3. The majority of retroviruses match because both species inherited them from a common ancestor, who had itself accumulated them from the line of its own descent.[/quote]
@GodSpeed63 To support you in your selection of Option 3 (common ancestry with apes), here's some more evidence.
All species carry ‘silenced’ genes… these are genes that once caused certain proteins to be produced, but now no longer function in the original manner. Such genes are called pseudogenes.
Nearly all mammals have functional genes for expressing an enzyme (L-guluno-γ-lactone oxidase) that allows the production of vitamin C, which is essential for proper metabolism.
I say ‘nearly all mammals’ because primates cannot produce their own vitamin C. In humans, there is a set of four genes that code for vitamin C production. As you may know, these genes are composed of many, many smaller units called nucleotides, so these four genes contain a very large number of such nucleotides (the human genome has 64 billion nucleotides}. The first three genes are fully functional, but the final gene in the sequence has a mutation in a single nucleotide, and this mutation prevents the sequence from completing. That’s why humans need to obtain vitamin C from their food… because the mechanism for producing it has become a pseudogene.
Across all primates (chimpanzees, bononbo, humans, and apes) not only is it the final gene in the sequence that is silenced, but within that gene [i]the same nucleotide[/i] carries the mutation that is responsible.
Now, why would this be?
1. astonishing coincidence
2. when the gods created all the species they put genetic pathways for vitamin C production into all mammals, but then inactivated a single nucleotide from among the four genes necessary for that production, inactivated the same nucleotide in all cases, and did that only in primates. They obviously thought this to be a tremendous joke to play, because we carry around 2,000 such pseudogenes.
3. All mammals developed the ability to produce vitamin C, but around 40 million years ago, in the ancestor common to all primates, that ability was removed by a mutation in a single nucleotide, and the deficit was passed to all primates due to common descent during evolution.
Ah rookie mistake. Now he's going to say he already has and then you have to waste another post getting him to specify what the question is and THEN he'll just say that you have to find them yourself.
You could have skipped a couple of those steps if you asked him to repeat the question lol
@Pikachu Oh gosh, yes, you're quite right! It's a common playground tactic. Looks like I'll just have to keep on answering questions on his behalf, given that he's so reluctant to do so for himself.
@newjaninev2 @Pikachu Funny how you two keep avoiding my questions. If you two want to play, I'm sure there kids in your area who love to play with you guys.
@GodSpeed63 Unless you are referring to questions asked in other threads you don't have a leg to stand on. In this particular thread, you have not asked one question. Either clarify which question you are talking about, respond like a logical adult or push off.
@Bushranger I find it funny that in these debates without fail it's the holier than thou people that get snarky or down right pissed off🤔 What happened to the do unto others thing? Only applies to other believers?
2. when the gods created humans they decided to sprinkle around several thousand retro-viruses, and they put the preponderance of retroviruses at matching sites on both species because... umm... because... well... because... stop questioning the gods!
What gods would those be?
3. The majority of retroviruses match because both species inherited them from a common ancestor, who had itself accumulated them from the line of its own descent.
