How did the different races come about?

[Dust and Ashes]

For example, if a giraffe strained its neck to get at the leaves at the top of trees and it's neck got a little longer as a result of the stretching, when that giraffe had offspring, they would start with that slightly longer neck. They would stretch too, and their necks would get longer. And they would have offspring which would stretch, etc, etc., and eventually, the giraffe's neck would be at the length it is today. Even Charles Darwin bought into this theory of evolution.

But it poses some problems, because the theory predicts that if a parent were to have their arm chopped off, any children would not have that arm the parent lost. Mendel, the father of modern genetics disproved this theory when he lopped the tails off of 19 generations of mice, but the new born mice always had tails.

I absolutely agree. What I was saying is that if the environment is more hostile to people with certain genetic characteristics, those people will tend to live shorter lives and reproduce less. Such as say giraffes with shorter necks not being able to reach leaves and starving. The longer necked giraffes would produce more offspring since they would have an advantage by being able to reach food inaccessible to the shorties. It has nothing to do with stretching their necks or the people getting tanned and passing along the tanned skin.

 

[Word of Peace]

Note also that the individuals who were unsuited for a given environment wouldn't always have to die off in order for it to work:

Tribe A moves south into Africa. Wow, it's hot and sunny there and the light skinned people get bad sunburn and they say: "I can't stand this blazing sun! I'm going North!".

 

[adam149]

I absolutely agree. What I was saying is that if the environment is more hostile to people with certain genetic characteristics, those people will tend to live shorter lives and reproduce less. Such as say giraffes with shorter necks not being able to reach leaves and starving. The longer necked giraffes would produce more offspring since they would have an advantage by being able to reach food inaccessible to the shorties. It has nothing to do with stretching their necks or the people getting tanned and passing along the tanned skin.

Right. But we should also remember that if the genetic information is not contained within the DNA code, it cannot happen. So, in regards to the giraffe example, if the giraffe started with a short neck, and there is no evidence that this is the case, and they didn't have the information for long necks then they could never get their necks to a longer length. However, if they did have the information, lengthening the neck, just as you describe, would be a good example of natural selection.

 

[Dust and Ashes]

Right. But we should also remember that if the genetic information is not contained within the DNA code, it cannot happen. So, in regards to the giraffe example, if the giraffe started with a short neck, and there is no evidence that this is the case, and they didn't have the information for long necks then they could never get their necks to a longer length. However, if they did have the information, lengthening the neck, just as you describe, would be a good example of natural selection.

However, I believe they were preprogrammed with all the genetic information they would need to adapt and survive. The same way I believe Adam and Eve were created with all the genetic information to produce all the varieties of people we have today.

 

[adam149]

However, I believe they were preprogrammed with all the genetic information they would need to adapt and survive. The same way I believe Adam and Eve were created with all the genetic information to produce all the varieties of people we have today.

I agree completely.

 

[Ave Maria]

I've got a question. If everyone started out as one race and then became other races due to adapting to their environment, isn't this a form of evolution?

 

[PotLuck]

Absolutely.

Evolve:
To develop or achieve gradually

The word can be used to describe the process of natural selection, adaptation or speciation within a type or kind of organism.

Example:
Cat is a type or kind. Within the type there are all the variations like Angora, Siamese, Persian etc.

Dog is another type or kind.
Collie, Shepard, Terrier etc.

Speciation is getting the different species from within a kind. Since there is some time involved I suppose one can use the term "evolve".

The problems come in when "evolve" is used to describe a process of getting one kind from another like going from a lizard to a bird or in this example a cat to a dog. (I seriously doubt cat/dog is advocated anywhere but you get the meaning) Therefore from one kind to another.
So the word evolution has come to take a collective image of particles to people, fish to philosopher or molecules to man.

But any change of something from one state to another is evolution. It's evolution from one kind to another kind that is usually the center of debate.

 

[Micaiah]

But it poses some problems, because the theory predicts that if a parent were to have their arm chopped off, any children would not have that arm the parent lost. Mendel, the father of modern genetics disproved this theory when he lopped the tails off of 19 generations of mice, but the new born mice always had tails.

My kind of science experiment. You cannot argue with that.

Completely unrelated:

Did you hear about the scientist who did an experiment on a grasshopper.

Says jump, and grasshopper jumps.

Pulls off one back leg. Says jump, and grasshopper jumps.

Pulls off the other leg. Says jump. Nothing happens.

The following conclusion was entered into his diary:

Grasshopper without legs is deaf.

 

[Micaiah]

Right. But we should also remember that if the genetic information is not contained within the DNA code, it cannot happen. So, in regards to the giraffe example, if the giraffe started with a short neck, and there is no evidence that this is the case, and they didn't have the information for long necks then they could never get their necks to a longer length. However, if they did have the information, lengthening the neck, just as you describe, would be a good example of natural selection.

I believe there are some changes that can occur quite rapidly that are prompted by genetic change, triggered by environmental factors such as climate and diet. Bird beaks can change quickly to suit their environment.

There was a bacteria that could 'digest' nylon. This ability was thought to have evolved and was considered by some as evidence of a mutation that added information. It appears to be the result of genetic change triggered by evironment.

Changes such as these programmed into the genome are not evidence for evolution. Evolution relies on random changes to the genome thought to result from mutations.

Its just a pity for the TE's that there are no examples of such change to support the unbiblical notion of people evolving from particles.