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Asked by ZION to Claire, Franco, Koi, Linda, Mark on 18 Jun 2016.
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Franco Falcone answered on 18 Jun 2016:
@Zion
I think I have answered this question before elsewhere so will keep this short. No scientists have ever said that humans evolved from apes, that is a misconception. The scientific claim is that humans and apes have a shared common ancestor, and for this there is ample evidence, as Mark has mentioned elsewhere. Not only from fossils of hominids, which show intermediate characteristics betwen apes and men, but also from the legacy which evolution leaves behind in our genes. If you are truly interested in knowing more about this issue, there is some very strong evidence described by a geneticist called Ken Miller, about the genomes of chimpanzees and humans. Kenneth R Miller is a professing Catholic. I recommend his book “Finding Darwin’s God” which attempts to combine Religion with Science.
If you are seriously interested in this debate, I recommend reading his book.
To get back to your question, whatever humans will evolve into in the future, it will be by intermediates, and our successors will have to explain that they and humans shared a common ancestor, and will have to answer the question why they cannot evolve into humans.
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Mark Booth answered on 18 Jun 2016:
Hi Zion
I point you to Franco’s answer below and my own answer to a similar question elsewhere. I would just add that evolution is a blind process based on selection pressures. It *might* happen that the future environment (many, many years in to the future) becomes more advantageous for humans that have genetic mutations that give them some of traits of certain apes (e.g. strength or agility), or that apes survive that have mutations that are advantage for humans (e.g. language). So we might see some convergence.
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Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 19 Jun 2016:
Hi Zion,
I like the twist you add here 😉
First of, it was proposed that humans and apes share a common ancestor, not human evolve from apes. What that means is like, let’s say there was a kind of animal, not look quite like modern ape nor does it look it modern human. Then over time, there were changes of traits that make them survive and/or reproduce better in a certain environment and more changes happened, get passed on, and accumulated over many many generations, until they become more like modern apes…. On a separate yet parallel line, other kind of changes of traits that make them better in another kind of environment, more change happens, get passed on, and accumulated over many many generations, until they become more like human! That’s what I meant by human and apes sharing a common ancestor.
Why can’t apes evolve from humans? … I guess it’s because the selection pressure waysss back in the past did not push it that way. But what *might* happened in the future, I think Mark explained it pretty well already!
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Linda Anagu answered on 20 Jun 2016:
@Zion, we all share a common ancestor with the apes and that is why we kind of look like them, but I am not an expert on this matter. My colleagues have certainly answered the question to the best of their knowledge but you can find out more about this from the library. Happy reading
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Claire Bourke answered on 20 Jun 2016:
@Zion,
great answers from the other scientists there. As a scientist I am interested in theories and processes, so it is *possible* for humans to become more ape like and vice versa, but that would depend on current conditions changing, as Mark points out, so that that gradually people with gene mutations that made them more ape-like would become more prominent because they survived better and had more children than those who didn’t. From what we can see from fossils, comparisons of ancient and modern DNA and the relationships between different species that exist today, the conditions and selection pressures from the environment in the past that have led to humans and apes becoming separate from their original shared ancestor favored us being different from apes rather than staying on the same evolutionary path. This was evidently a long process and we still share some features with apes – I love having opposable thumbs like apes so that I can grasp onto things for example!
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