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Is the Human Brain a Null Hypothesis for Darwinian Evolution?

Can the Evolution of the Human Brain be a Basis for a Null Hypothesis of Darwinism?


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Loudmouth

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Still playing the semantics game I see, let's work on the effect of mutations then we can tweek the terminology. Not really into the semantic hair splitting.

I already did that work in a post above that one. A substitution mutation changes a single amino acid but does not cause a frame shift mutation.

Not interested in E. coli, the subject is brain evolution and comparative genomics. Mutation rates might be of interest but it never gets that far, just gets dragged off on tangents like this one.

If I do the same thing with human mRNA, will you accept it?
 
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mark kennedy

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I already did that work in a post above that one. A substitution mutation changes a single amino acid but does not cause a frame shift mutation.

Still not seeing a relevant point emerging from this.

If I do the same thing with human mRNA, will you accept it?

I have no reason to dismiss a well developed argument. It's not really fair to ask if I will accept something I haven't seen yet but I will make every effort to thoughtfully consider it.

Have a nice day
Mark
 
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Loudmouth

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Still not seeing a relevant point emerging from this.

You claimed that substitution mutations could not occur in brain related genes because they would result in frame shift mutations.

"In other words, 70% of the genes in each species would have to experience mutations. If you know anything about mutations it's that most of the are deleterious (harmful), almost 98%. This requires an impossible number of changes in highly conservative genes resulting in fully functional reading frames which almost never happens."--mark kennedy, post #5

If substitution mutations do not result in frame shifts, then your argument isn't supported.

I have no reason to dismiss a well developed argument. It's not really fair to ask if I will accept something I haven't seen yet but I will make every effort to thoughtfully consider it.

If I am able to show that substitution mutations in human genes will not produce a frame shift just as I did for the E. coli gene, will you accept it as evidence that substitution mutations do not cause frame shifts?
 
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mark kennedy

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Your still splitting semantical hairs. The only way it's going to be functional is if the substitution results in a viable protein which has to get past functional constraints. Sure it happens, even in human protein coding genes but the deleterious effects far outweigh any possible, let alone imagined, adaptive evolutionary giant leaps. So far I have just laid a little groundwork with comparisons and the likelihood of these presumed adaptive changes.

Here is the actual problem:



Big Brains Require an Explanation.

About 2mya the nearly threefold expansion of the human brain from that of apes happens almost over night. Really not seeing a lot of cause and effect explanations, just a lot of speculative scenarios and of course the molecular basis is completely unknown.

Have a nice day
Mark
 
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Loudmouth

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Your still splitting semantical hairs.

No, that is what you are doing. You are trying to argue that the similarity between chimps and humans is not 98% simply because 70% of proteins differ by 1-2%. Do you understand how bad that argument is?


Any evidence to back this up?

Let's look at cytochrome c as an example. Here is a comparison of the human and yeast proteins at the amino acid level:



They differ by 36%, yet both proteins are still fully functional.

So far I have just laid a little groundwork with comparisons and the likelihood of these presumed adaptive changes.

You still haven't answered the most basic question. What do you think is the cause for the physical differences between the human and chimp brain, if it isn't the sequence differences between their respective genomes?
 
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mark kennedy

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No, that is what you are doing. You are trying to argue that the similarity between chimps and humans is not 98% simply because 70% of proteins differ by 1-2%. Do you understand how bad that argument is?

Do you understand that 20% of those differences would require gross structural changes? That's some 40,000 amino acids that diverge in just over 20,000 genes. I understand the argument is going to be dismissed no matter what it is but I'm still aware of the fact that mutations on this scale, especially in a short space of time isn't an answer.

Let's look at cytochrome c as an example. Here is a comparison of the human and yeast proteins at the amino acid level:

They differ by 36%, yet both proteins are still fully functional.

Interesting example but not the same thing as brain related genes. You could make similar arguments from immune systems, perhaps not as dramatic.

You still haven't answered the most basic question. What do you think is the cause for the physical differences between the human and chimp brain, if it isn't the sequence differences between their respective genomes?

I've not only answered that there are a couple of dynamite images in the thread showing it in full color. Now we will get to HAR1f eventually but that usually ends these discussions so I'll hold off on it for a while. The differences are obvious, the human brain is nearly three times bigger and well, apes don't send men into space, men sent one chimpanzee though.

Have a nice day
Mark
 
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USincognito

a post by Alan Smithee
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Mark's been posting this same tired shtick for a decade now. Every couple of months it's the same OP, the same personal incredulity and the same talking in circles to ignore the evidence. He's even dishonestly suggesting he hasn't been shown mutations effecting the brain positively when I presented him with 2 in his last "that's unpossible" brain thread.


 
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Hoghead1

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You say it isn't the answer, but the scientists obviously disagree. Can you explain why?
 
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Loudmouth

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Do you understand that 20% of those differences would require gross structural changes?

Wrong way around, mark. 20% of the proteins have gross structural changes due to mutations. The gross structural changes come after the mutation.

That's some 40,000 amino acids that diverge in just over 20,000 genes.

How many amino acids per gene are there? If there are 300 amino acids per gene, that is 6,000,000 amino acids. If there are only 40,000 differences in 6,000,000 amino acids, that's just a 0.67% difference.

What is it about this math that is such a problem for you?

Added in edit:

Found a reference that has the median protein length at 375 amino acids for the human genome, which is in the same ball park as other mammals. Median is not the same as average, so we can't simply multiply to get the absolute numbers. However, for what we are comparing the median is close enough to the average for our purposes. All the median does is reduce the effects of outliers, as compared to the average.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1150220/

I understand the argument is going to be dismissed no matter what it is but I'm still aware of the fact that mutations on this scale, especially in a short space of time isn't an answer.

The only thing we are rejecting is your faulty math.

When you say that the the chimp and human genomes can't be 98% similar because genes differ by 2% on average, how are we not supposed to laugh at that?

Interesting example but not the same thing as brain related genes.

Then how do you explain the physical differences between the human and chimp brain if it is not due to the genetic differences between humans and chimps?

I've not only answered that there are a couple of dynamite images in the thread showing it in full color.

Showing what? You never explain the mechanisms that results in different sized brains between chimps and humans.

If it isn't due to the genetic differences between our species, then how do you explain it?


So why is the brain bigger if it isn't due to genetic differences?
 
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USincognito

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About 2mya the nearly threefold expansion of the human brain from that of apes happens almost over night.

After all these years, I still get a chuckle out of a YEC saying stuff like this.
 
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Loudmouth

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After all these years, I still get a chuckle out of a YEC saying stuff like this.


Indeed.



No magical doubling overnight. Slow steady increases over 3 million years. The "misrepresentation" that mark tries to con people into accepting is cherry picked data. I could do the same for modern humans by selecting someone from 100 years ago with a cranium much smaller than the average, and then someone from 50 years with a cranium much larger than the average. I bet I could demonstrate a doubling in human brain size in just 50 years using the mark kennedy method of cherry picked data.
 
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mark kennedy

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After all these years, I still get a chuckle out of a YEC saying stuff like this.

After all these years I would have expected better then that from you.
 
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mark kennedy

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A scattergram, if I know anything about science it's that specificity is the key, not blurry charts and rhetoric.
 
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mark kennedy

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Wrong way around, mark. 20% of the proteins have gross structural changes due to mutations. The gross structural changes come after the mutation.

No it means they are fundamentally different, the mutations are assumed.

How many amino acids per gene are there? If there are 300 amino acids per gene, that is 6,000,000 amino acids. If there are only 40,000 differences in 6,000,000 amino acids, that's just a 0.67% difference.

It's nice that you like math, it will be helpful when we get to mutation rates.

What is it about this math that is such a problem for you?

The part where you guys stop using it.




The only thing we are rejecting is your faulty math.

We haven't gotten to the math yet, still determining the divergence.

When you say that the the chimp and human genomes can't be 98% similar because genes differ by 2% on average, how are we not supposed to laugh at that?

You would have to appreciate the effect of mutations on genes, that requires an actual understanding of the overwhelmingly negative effects.

Then how do you explain the physical differences between the human and chimp brain if it is not due to the genetic differences between humans and chimps?

Special creation explains it, the genetic differences are there by design not the result of mutations.

Showing what? You never explain the mechanisms that results in different sized brains between chimps and humans.

You really don't get it do you? 2mya the average brain size is comparable to modern apes, then it doubles almost over night. Gene expression doesn't explain that and mutations are the worst possible answer.

If it isn't due to the genetic differences between our species, then how do you explain it?

You do know I'm a creationist right?

So why is the brain bigger if it isn't due to genetic differences?

I'm a little dumbfounded but I will assume the question is just awkwardly worded. Of course the divergence would have to be the result of requisite changes in genes. The problem is that brain related genes do not respond to changes. They simply don't.
 
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Gene2memE

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Seems to me that the increase in hominid cranial capacity was most rapid over 800,000 to 200,000 years ago:








From what I can recall, human cranial capacity has shrunk over the past 150,000 to 200,000 years.
Homo sapiens sapiens cranial capacity is also smaller than Homo neanderthal, again going from memory.

Plus, humans have neither the biggest brains in the animal kingdom, or the highest brain capacity to body size/weight. So there's something else going on.
 
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Robert Palase

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How does any of this point to your God being real?
If evolution was shown to be completely false you would still be no closer to finding your God.
 
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Loudmouth

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A scattergram, if I know anything about science it's that specificity is the key, not blurry charts and rhetoric.

And here you are using rhetoric in an attempt to ignore the facts.

Those are the cranium sizes of the hominid fossils scientists have found. No doubling of brain size overnight.
 
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Loudmouth

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No it means they are fundamentally different, the mutations are assumed.

What do you mean the mutations are assumed? We can directly sequence both the human and chimp genomes. We can hold those sequences right next to each other. We can directly observe that there are sequence differences between these genes.

All of the molecular biologists and protein chemists I know would conclude that structural differences between the chimp and human proteins is due to these sequence differences. What do you say? How do you explain the difference in protein structure? What causes it?

It's nice that you like math, it will be helpful when we get to mutation rates.

Why do we need mutation rates to determine what percentage of the human and chimp genomes is similar?

Do you agree with that math or not? Does a change in 40,000 amino acids across 20,000 genes add up to less than a 1% difference at the amino acid level? Yes or no?

The part where you guys stop using it.
So says the person who thinks that a 1-2% difference in genes means that chimps and humans can't share 98% of their genomes.

You stopped using math a long time ago.

We haven't gotten to the math yet, still determining the divergence.

You have already presented the math, and you have completely misrepresented it.

You would have to appreciate the effect of mutations on genes, that requires an actual understanding of the overwhelmingly negative effects.

So all of the genetic differences that separate the human genome from the chimp genome are overwhelmingly negative?

So why don't you conclude that the human brain should be completely dysfunctional given all of the differences between the genomes? Shouldn't the human brain be smaller than the chimp brain because of the mutations that separate us?

Special creation explains it, the genetic differences are there by design not the result of mutations.

So you are saying that these changes won't have negative effect if a deity produces the change, but if the same base is changed in the same way by the observed and natural process of mutation it will be negative?

You really need to explain yourself here.

You really don't get it do you? 2mya the average brain size is comparable to modern apes, then it doubles almost over night.

No, it doesn't double overnight. We already showed you the data.

You do know I'm a creationist right?

Are you saying that you can't accept facts because of your beliefs?


Then how do you explain the physical differences between the human and chimp brains if it isn't due to the genetic differences between the ape and human genomes?
 
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