dont get it

I just don't get evolution. If we supposedly evolved from the ape, where did all of the ape-like hair go. What made us walk upright? What made us grow. Apes today don't seem to be evolving much. It seems to me that there had to be something that lasted a very long period of time in order to cause us to evolve. What could that have been. If you took a fish out of water, and threw it on the ground, would it magically sprout legs and start walking to "adapt." No. It would eventually die. It's too farfetched to say we evolved. No one could have lived long enough. What changed caused us to stop evolving?
Evolution just doesn't seem possible to me. Will someone clear me up on the subject because it's too confusing to me.

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"I may not agree with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it."

Absolutely nowhere. You have the same amount of skin hair follicles as an ape - man or woman.It's just that the hairs are smaller, finer, and lighter. Especially if you're a woman. Well, their envronment isn't changing much, either. Anyway, how long have you been keeping track? Evolution's pretty slow, you know. Individuals don't adapt. Populations do. Is this a distinction you can understand? What the fuck are you talking about? Yeah. You're obviously laboring under some pretty steep misconceptions. Why don't you try asking honest questions in a genuine spirit of inquiry instead of trying to play Stump the Chumps?

Well, you've picked up on the time factor. Time doesn't help, things age, decay and die quickly. Time is our enemy, what use would adaptations be unless you could have them when you need them? My thoughts are similar to yours on this.Millions of years is hardly a quick fix, and if the changes aren't necessarily desperatly needed, then why would they happen at all?Fact is, losing all that ape-like hair is too risky for survival reasons, so I doubt we came from a common ancestor. Also, we would need to swing in the trees with nasty beasties with large teeth on the floor, so again I'm confused. Fact is there are lots of apes and monkeys surviving fine so why would we have needed to evolve in the first place?
Hair for warmth trees for safety and then we go bare arsed running into the field of lions. Lol.

Adaptation happens to populations, not to individuals. Why do I feel like I'm repeating myself? Oh, wait, I am.You're born with all the adaptations you'll ever have. You don't get new ones after you're born. The adaptations come from mutations when you're concieved. They're not driven by environment, they're random. Then the environment selects among individuals to pick the ones with the best adaptations. The rest die, and the winners reproduce. We didn't lose it! You have as many hair follicles as an ape. Man or woman, you have the same number of follicles. How many trees do you think there are on the African steppe, where humanity evolved? How many ape species do you see on the African steppe these days?It was that transition to the new envrionment - one of flat, rolling terrain and tall grasses, not trees - that drove the evolution of the human body plan.It's like you guys are thinking totally backwards on this. How do you guys come up with this stuff?

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It's like you guys are thinking totally backwards on this. How do you guys come up with this stuff?

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I often wonder the same thing.

Thread copied to the dont get it thread in the Human Origins forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.