Evolution

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis:

Laughing when others laugh supposedly comes from the instinct to show one's teeth when threatened. Laughing is apparently an evolutionary decendant of snarling. Weird, I know.[/QUOTE]

Only funnier.

What about the yawning, have you ever noticed that? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Timber Loftis]

A yawn supposedly comes from a need for oxygen. In and of itself, we might call it instictual, but we might also label a body function like breathing. Why it's so catchy is unbeknownst to me.

We are getting [img]graemlins/offtopic.gif[/img] here aren't we?

[Yorick]

Originally posted by Aelia Jusa: What makes a defence mechanism not an instinct I wonder?

Your nervous system is a defense mechanism. Part of how you're made, not a bahavioural pattern you perform.

A childs voice is very high. It cuts through and can be heard from further away than an adult crying. As such, part of the cry as a defense mechanism is involved in the very structure and makeup of the child itself, not a series of bahaviour patterns. A childs cry is the only thing they have.

Hungry? Cry
Tired? Cry
Scared? Cry
Saw something suddenly? Cry
Heard a shocking noise? Cry

As I said, I know first hand babies that have no fear of loud noises and no fear of heights - to their detriment.

An innate fear of heights would have saved many infants from death in the past.

I know as a child I had no fear of heights. It lasted until I was at least seven. I did the old "go over the barricade of a waterfall and hang over" and totally freaked out my mother.

I jumped off roofs, trees etc.

An instict is universally applied. All beavers know how to build a dam. Salmon instictivly know where to go to mate.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: We are getting [img]graemlins/offtopic.gif[/img] here aren't we?

Dunno. Aren't instincts and evolution inextricably linked? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Yorick]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: A yawn supposedly comes from a need for oxygen. In and of itself, we might call it instictual, but we might also label a body function like breathing. Why it's so catchy is unbeknownst to me. We are getting [img]graemlins/offtopic.gif[/img] here aren't we?

When you yawn the world yawns with you. When you burp you burp alone....

[Charlie]

LOL@Yorick....How true.

[Yorick]

Originally posted by Aelia Jusa: Babies also have a preference for human faces (or approximations). They can't learn this in the womb but as soon as they're born they prefer to look at face-like configurations rather than other geometric configurations. Babies know (instinctively?) lots of stuff they don't learn.

Like what?

As I said, the baby is born without the awareness of separation from others. Gazing at faces is important in the realisation of others being separate entities from it. The human face is also really interesting. Expressive, changes, emmits sounds. No wonder a baby looks at a live face instead of an innanimate poster.

[ 02-24-2003, 07:15 PM: Message edited by: Yorick ]

[Yorick]

Originally posted by Charlie: LOL@Yorick....How true.

Even truer if it's bottom burp.

[Chamberlain]

No one ever answered my question.
How come all the evolutionists are presenting all the evidence(carbon dating, fossil trends, etc)?
It's seems like all creationists do is give one reason or another for why this evidence is inconlusive.
I have never and I will never see any evidence showing the existance of god or any evidence concerning creationism.
Why is that?
What do creationists have besides a bunch of stories in a damn book, or some whacko talking about there religious experience.
The evidence presented to prove evolution may be inconclusive, but as least there is some evidence shown with trends of fossil changes and a bunch of other crap.

Btw
"Rather than accepting your teachers acceptance of other humans unproven theories as fact, why not make up your own mind and look at it all with an open mind?"

Don't talk about looking at things with an open mind when all you have done is shot down everything anyone has said about the subject. You're just finding something...anything to say to prove otherwise.

Trust me I've been on the other side. I used to never listen to anything concerning evolution. My teacher actually said this when I did believe in god. But after a few months I began thinking and realized that I was wasting my time with this god character.
I'm not like a punk kid with no morals...I just think it's useless to believe in something that has never repaid you in any way and you don't even know for sure if it exists.

[ 02-24-2003, 07:24 PM: Message edited by: Chamberlain ]

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by Yorick: Quote: Originally posted by Aelia Jusa: What makes a defence mechanism not an instinct I wonder?

Your nervous system is a defense mechanism. Part of how you're made, not a bahavioural pattern you perform.

A childs voice is very high. It cuts through and can be heard from further away than an adult crying. As such, part of the cry as a defense mechanism is involved in the very structure and makeup of the child itself, not a series of bahaviour patterns. A childs cry is the only thing they have.

Hungry? Cry
Tired? Cry
Scared? Cry
Saw something suddenly? Cry
Heard a shocking noise? Cry
*************
An instict is universally applied. All beavers know how to build a dam. Salmon instictivly know where to go to mate.[/QUOTE]Sorry, YOrick I disagree. I think by "defense mechanism" and "instinct" what you really mean is "relfex" and "instinct." AFAIK the term "defense mechanism" (except as defined psychologically by Freud) is very limited - "Flight or Fight" type stuff. But, the reflex/instinct dichotomy seems to be what you're going after.

Hit the knee and the knee moves = reflex. Pure bodily reaction that occurs by your spinal cord re-routing the impulse from the knee: the message does not even get as far as the brain.

BUt, crying is instinctual. It's not a reflex. Admittedly it's not as complex an instinct as flying south for the winter or building a dam, but it's not simply a reaction. So is suckling.

And, let's not forget WALKING, which develops with or without being taught. A deer's instinct (and further bodily development in utero) allows it to walk within minutes. Humans take longer, but it's still instinct.