The Upright Ape

I just finished reading “The Upright Ape” by Dr. Aaron G. Filler. He found new fossil evidence that prompted him to rethink Darwinian Evolution. His conclusion turns Darwin’s position that humans descended from apes upside down. Filler claims that new fossil discoveries indicate that apes descended from humans. In his own words: “The first upright ape was also the first human. In the millions of years that followed, new species branched off and abandoned their upright posture to descend to what we now call ”ape.’”I find it hard to imagine that human beings with the language skills and inventiveness to make tools, clothing, etc. that we all think humans possess could have given rise to a life form with vastly inferior communication skills and inventiveness, a life from that has remained in substantially the same condition for many thousands of years, while humans have advanced their culture and skills to the point that we are now discussing our origins via human-made computers.Has anyone else read this book? What is your take on it?Sincerely,Maurice A. WilliamsEdited by MauriceAWilliams, : I used the wrong word for discussing

Thread moved here from the Suggestions and Questions forum.

Welcome to EvC MauriceAWilliams, hope you enjoy your stay. It's not too hard to imagine if one conciders that all the language and skills you mention are very recent additions: the proposed time in which diagonograde body plan reamerged is easily long enough (10 to 25 mya) for a couple of 'reverts'.As to the first uprights being homo sapiens sapiens at this time I would doubt. As I understand it modern humans are first encounterd in the fossil record at 130,000 BCE.All this is said without having read the book so I may have misunderstood some of the arguement.

If I recall from a book review the "upright ape" was Miocene age.From an Amazon book description:

I don't think this author's idea will stand the test of time.