I would like to know, approximately how many mutations would theoretically be needed to transform the most basic form of life into a human being?
Personally, I wouldn't even try to guess.
However, I was just reading
a blog post by Larry Moran, and noticed this paragraph:
quote:
What's interesting about that post is that we've been over the data many times in an attempt to explain mutation to the creationists. Last year I tried to explain why humans and chimpanzees have accumulated about 22 million point mutations since the time they evolved from a common ancestor about 6 million years ago. I thought it would be helpful if they understood why these numbers are perfectly reasonable according to population genetics.
So it seems that Larry's answer is 22 million.
Larry Moran is a biochemist at U. Toronto, and I have come to respect his views on evolution related topics.
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