I couldn't give you the hard evidence. I don't exactly dig for fossils in my spare time. Though, I understand the concept and there are many out there who do not or just plain refuse to try.
I'm not a bible thumper, nor do I reject it's teachings, however I have come to the conclusion that the bible, the mainstream view of God, and Jesus are all based on the same principles as Aesop's Fables. Before I go on any further, I must add that I can't say it's not possible, everything that had occured in the first so called history book many claim the bible to be, it's just that the point I want to get to is that this form of information was based on an earlier people who didn't walk around with cell phones and iPods, ate at fast food, had the daily news delivered to their door, or even had in door plumbing and with that in mind you must think about the bibles purpose. It has served well. Though, does it serve now? For many, it may, though not forever. And, as for now, not nearly as strongly as it has decades ago before what I see as the dawn of the age of science and technology.
If I were to become a journalist, the first subject I would approach would be science versus religion. Faith versus creativity. Hope versus helping ourselves. There was a joke that I've heard early on as I was growing up about an old woman who was trapped in her house during the flood. It went as follows:
An old woman was watching the flood warning on her television and thought to herself, if anything happens, I have faith that god will protect me. So she continued about her regular agenda. As the rains got heavier and heavier and her front lawn became a small pond, she thought nothing of it. A half an hour goes by and there is an inch of standing water going down the street and there is a knock on the door. "Ma'am," said the volunteer firefighter who was walking door to door, "it's time you evacuate, the storm isn't letting up."
"I'm staying right here, the good lord will protect me," and insisted that her faith was strong.
"Okay, but don't wait too long to change your mind," the firemen walked out the door.
Another half our passed and the nearby stream crests and jumps the bank and now the water levels reached three feet, pouring into the old woman's home. It poured into the basement and rose up to the first floor, chasing the woman to the second floor.
By that that, the firemen who had been there before had told the rescue team about her being so adamant about not leaving and that they should send a boat out her way.
Two men were sent on that boat, and by the time it got there, they could knock on one of the second story windows to get her attention. She opened up to tell them that she simply was not leaving. Knowing that they had alot of other people to look for that absolutely needed their help, in turn, paddled off.
About an hour passes and the old women is now stranded on her roof after she was forced to climb out her attic window. The search and rescue chopper flying by had seen her and hovered right above her house and dropped downa rope with a vest that would carry her upafter putting in on. They called down to her and told her to put the vest on and she simply shouted back 'no, I have faith, god will protect me!'
So, they waited and argued with the old woman, though they were running out of fuel so they flew off. Another hour went by and the house was completely submerged. The old woman went to heaven and met God, who had a strange look on his face. Not to mention, so did she.
"Why did you let me die, God? I had hope, I prayed, and my faith did not sway even when the water took me under!"
"Lady, I don't know what to say. I sent the firemen, the rescue team, and even a damn helicopter and you just stayed there!"
I wrote this in here to better portray what I see between those who rely only on their faith and those who can connect the dots. I'm sure no one is really as stupid as this old woman, though some hold a few similarities when it comes to how they look at life. People take things way too literally.
What I want to get at is evolution. I want to write this specifically to those who don't see it as a possible part of life or history. Before I get into why we could have evolved from neandorthols, I'd like to paint another picture for you on a different, quicker form of evolution. Social changes.
Two towns that are almost identical. They are both very sunny, have an ample water supply, and have relatively warm weather. They are divided by a mountain in which a lake, covered by snow, melts and run off water, in the form of two streams that run through each of the two towns.
Everything is fine and the people who live in both areas are doing great until one day an avalanche of rocks falls down the mountain side to the east, blocking the run off water that supplied the eastward flowing stream. The eastward flowing stream then, within days, drys up and disappears and leaves the town on the east side of the mountain in alot of trouble. They try to adapt but the quick change is too much to handle. Having nowhere to go, the very young, and the old get extremely sick and die off. The survivors, well, their bodies become weaker, their physique isn't as tough as it used to be. They begin collecting rain water in barrels and find new ways to survive. The evolve and adapt and in time, become stronger than they were before.
Meanwhile, on the west city has more water that usual. Their livestock becomes healthier than normal, they have more water for their fields so their corn is more plentiful and everyone in this town has more to eat. Living becomes very easy.
Decades go by and those who live in the east are getting tired of their rough lifestyle, so they walk around the mountain and see how lavish the west town's land has become. They aren hardly effected by droughts because there is still mountain run off supply their town, twice as much as decades before when the avalanche caused any changes. So they're angry and demand that the west town residents let the east towners move in. But, no, the west town folk thought it wouldn't be good for them to let in these skinny, sickly men and women in because they were diseased and would be no asset as farmhands, doctors, and such and turned them away. So they left, tired, and quite angry.
The easterners held a grudge for the next decade and formed a plan to steal corn and cattle so that they would get a taste of their own poor living conditions. So finally, one night they did and brought everything they could back in the middle of the night. Though, a few of the guards caught site of the easterners coaxing the cattle to the east town and as well, a trail of corn husks was left behind as their wagons hit bumps on the road and tossed them out.
So, with the western town knowing what happened, they declared war. A messenger was sent to the east from the west with the engagement. Days later, the two towns went at war with each other. The easterners, however, even with their harships, had won thanks to their conditioned bodies. Because of the drought, their bodies had worked harder to get food and water over the years maing them the top competitors. The west town had lost because their life was so easy, so lavish, that they had forgotten how hard they worked before and became lazy.
So, after the war was over, both towns now lived collectively in the west. Oddly, no one fought over it because those who originally lived in the west saw how strong the east had become thanks to the hardships they had faced. All was peaceful until one day, another avalanche occurred...
Within days, just like before, this time on the west side of the mountains, the stream dried up and everyone began to panic. As conditions got worse and the rains never came, the towns people bickered about climbing the mountain and getting water from the lake. From there on, the race began. Everyone packed up in hopes to be the first to make it to the lake and set up their homes. Space was limited, however, so as they made it to the top, they fought on who would be allowed to own the land.
There was much blood shed between the more fierceful men and women who could think only of themselves, while, those who were willing to share and work together stood aside and watched in horror of their fellow men beat the crap out of each other. Eventually, they all died either from stab wounds, decapitations and such, while others starved to death after losing the ability to supply for themselves when the wounds were too severe. Those who wanted to find a more peaceful solition, barried the bodies.
As they were digging their graves, one man dug close to the lake and saw a loose boulder that sat snug between the crest of the mountain and the lake water. He took his shovel with curiousity and pryed the boulder upwards and it pooped loose and rolled down the mountain. The lake water, that was held captive began rushing down the mountain side. To his astonishment, he single handedly caused a chain reaction, and about a ton of soil and rocks were then pushed downwards, recreating the stream that once supplied the west town with the means of sustaining life.
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If you seperate a group of people, they begin to have their own seperate thoughts, ways of living, and beliefs. Keep them seperated long enough, they begin to wonder what the other group is doing. Misunderstandings, tall tales, and lies form, creating fear. Fear turns into hate. Tie in the human nature to compete for a nitch rather than work together as a base intellectual trait and boom! You've got a war. If anyone becomes smart enough to solve the problems that lead up to war, then you can acheive peace.
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Social evolution, nowadays, comes in the form of technology. It still effects every other ingredient in which society stands on, though technology, is and has been for the last century, the leading tool for change. Amazingly, it's been the one thing that both helps and hurts us all. It's the evidence we have of evolution on a grander scale.
The fact that I'm not an expert paleontologist doesn't help me show you the hard evidence, however, I hope everything that I've said so far can help me explain in example. Groupings of organisms, over time, in different situations good and bad, the competition to fill a nitche in order to survive can all be based on relativity, time, and every other natural resource available whether it be water and or livestock. Life and the existence of life is possible through a system. A system, that both changes and yet never changes. What I'm saying is, it always looks different as time goes by but it's basic principles always stay the same.
Seperation of a race will lead to, as long as the race does not mix and reproduce with each other, two destinctively different races. Eventually, the two will not be able to reproduce with each other because their genetic codes become so different that even if reproduction is attempted, the spermatoa and the egg will not combine because the chemical appeal has been lost. Thats why you don't go to a zoo and say "thats one sexy ape". Nevermind the bestiality freaks, they're so bent on personal pleasure, they'd screw anything that walks for their own personal sexual enjoyment. There is no natural attraction caused by pheremones to those who have this strange desire to screw animals. These people are just plain sadistic.
Pheremones, which play a key role in reproduction in all living animals, are the another factor in why we keep dividing in racial terms and never mix races. (keep in mind, the term race does not refer to different human races, though different races of animalia competely.) It's not the main reason, but it keeps everything in check. A man born with the female pheremones on a rhino need not stand near any actually rhinos or else he probably would never walk again. Ouch.
However, if two groups of humans would stay apart for millions of years and never contact each other, never engage sexually and only reproduce amongst themselves, they will, in time, change just enough that they would no longer be compatible. As long as the conditions they were living in were different enough to coax their bodies to change.
A few things that cause DNA to change:
Viruses.
Everyday lifestyle.
Natural Selection.
Food and water supply levels.
And, other DNA traits that are introduced into the gene pool that weren't there orignally.
If these five things are constanty changing, it will change the race.
I can't come up of a good example of evolution on a broad scale just yet. It will take a bit more research. All I want to say is however, I will come up with a way to bridge the gap between religion and science and the fight they both have over evolution soon enough. We could say, god, whatever he she or it is, made the rules. Science is the man made way of turning the rules into tools. And the bible, was the easy way of explaining to people who still used leaves for toilet paper.
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