My big talk at Texas State went well, despite the attempt of several befuddled creationists to question my evidence (they also tore down the flyers announcing my talk). There were about 300 people in the audience, and they seemed mostly on the side of evolution and rationality. And they bought 100 copies of WEIT!
The student paper at Texas State starts its report on my talk like this:
Jerry Coyne told a packed Alkek Teaching Theater Tuesday he could prove humans evolved from monkeys.
A bit sensationalistic, no? Well, I didn’t “prove” that humans descended from monkeys; I adduced evidence that we share a common ancestor with modern apes and monkeys.
Nor did I say anything like this:
Coyne said people of religious faith do not have an open mind to the concept of evolution.
What I did say is that when Americans were polled about what they would do if a fact of science were to contravene their faith, 64% of them said they’d reject the fact in favor of their faith.
Are we not apes? And do apes not share a common ancestor with monkeyes?
Why is this such a big deal? Danish doesn’t even have separate words for the two groups.
I think there is a good cladistic argument that suggests we’re all monkeys and we evolved from monkeys.
(NWM,(OWM,HOM))
Platyrrhini (new world “monkeys”) and Cercopithecidae (old world “monkeys”) are both monkeys, so the group is paraphyletic. The obvious solution is to also call Hominoidea monkeys as well, so we have a nice monophyletic group!
Technically the difference is that the apes have lost our tail.
There are many languages that use the same word for apes and monkeys. It is true that cladistically apes are a subgroup, because apes and old world monkeys are closer to each other than to new world monkeys. That said, the biggest insult to primatologis who work on apes is to tell them you love their monkeys. (Quote from the book “our inner ape”).
“If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.”
As you well know, swedish have the same. It is a problem really. We resort to “human-apes” vs “apes”, et cetera, which is awkward when applied to humans.
What about the G. Duhbya? According to its claim it couldn’t have split from the monkeys any more than 6,000 years ago. I understand the christian species makes a similar claim.
I guess the truth counts very little for many in Texas.
You need to fix the student newspaper link. It says http://http//
Use this: http://star.txstate.edu/content/evolution-negates-creationism
What I want to know is the followup to, “When asked if he had read WEIT, Raybuck had this to say:”
You should give the newspaper reporter some latitude. I’m sure it’s a little hard to concentrate, given the excitement surrounding the school’s paintball team going to the nationals. (On the front page of the newspaper you cite.)
Occurred to me – WEIT in the Heart of Texas! This is just a quick stab – additions welcome.
The stars at night – are big and bright
WEIT in the heart of Texas.
The prairie sky – is wide and high
WEIT in the heart of Texas.
The sage in bloom – like sweet perfume
WEIT in the heart of Texas.
But they won’t deny their God on high
WEIT in the heart of Texas.
The pharyngeal nerve – what does that prove?
WEIT in the heart of Texas.
The cowboys cry – ki-yip-ie-yi
WEIT in the heart of Texas.
They swing and sway – to Tom DeLay
WEIT in the heart of Texas.
You cannot mean – baboon’s our kin!
WEIT in the heart of Texas.
But their bar-B-que – has no substitoo(t)
WEIT in the heart of Texas.
Good ‘un!
But here’s a prayer I can get behind. The kid plays it just like Bob Wills, too! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SagVP0nz0ug&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]
Cute kid.
But regardless, it shows that there still is intelligent life in Texas!
All was not dragged into the Bush black hole.
Yep, it appears that roughly 300 people were able to steer clear of the event horizon! ;^}
In other but ape related news, our daily paper is up in flames over Krause et al Nature paper on the mtDNA “new species” that could be a recent H. heidelbergensis. Despite the Nature comments that it is to soon to know.
Hopefully the nuclear DNA sequencing will fall through, making this the oldest human at some 30 000 – 48 000 year, and possibly the first non-sapiens Homo, sequenced.
Also, on humans Nature giveth, since there is a recent paper on H. floresiensis tools of at least 1.0 My, up form the earlier ~ 0.88 My tools. The lava cover that dates the artifacts may also mark the disappearance of Flores special fauna. Wouldn’t it be ironic if volcanoes are responsible for all these species extinctions?
Is there a video of the talk posted anywhere?
I see an aspiring journalist there – not even out of school and he/she is already practicing the money-making writing style as opposed to that unbiased reporting stuff that the hobos do.
monkey-making writing style, you mean
You could have told them, quite honestly, that we evolved from a creature even more primitive than a monkey. Maybe you would have sold 200 copies.
I am a student at Texas State University. I was extrememly embarrassed by the article in the school newspaper, “The University Star,” which I feel was approached with a great deal of bias by the writer. Thankfully, in an edition of the Star that was published a week after the talk took place, a member of the faculty sent in corrections to the article which were published, which clarified the misquoted statements from the talk and removed any religious bias from the new article. Hopefully next time my peers will have enough sense to report the facts, rather than dance around words to make an argument appear false. I apologize for the mistakes published by my university, and rest assured, not all of texas is so blind.
The evolutionist or the Atheists are silly enough to believe men is from ape or some common ancestor.If so provide fossil proofs the gradual transformation from ape to man which must have existed in abundance if evolution is true.They won’t find any cos the theory of man from apes is a hoax.I wonder how the primitive primates is able to populate the whole world.The apes great great grandfather must have travel aroung the world on sail boats I guess!!!
Sorry…..’aroung’ should be ‘around’
Home-schooled, eh?