How did humans come about?

[AstralCody]

You were always taught...

First there were dinosaurs, then a big meteor hit the earth and yada yada...

Who was the first human to be here? Of course the bible says Adam and Eve but I don't really think in the way of the bible. The main question here is HOW did the first human get here?

Are we talking about evolution? Do some people on here think we came from apes? etc.

I really don't know, so I thought I would see what you all have to say.

[Sinera]

Watch "Ancient Aliens" on YT and you'll know.

[SoulSail]

More and more I'm leaning toward the DNA seed theory, which is what you'll find if you follow Volgerie's advice on the Ancient Aliens bit. There's many twists and theories, but it all comes down to DNA being spread across the Cosmos, toyed with, spliced, planted, etc.

For instance, take the Adam and Eve story in Genesis (actually, it predates Genesis, but we'll keep it short here).

I suspect that "Adam," which roughly translates to "mankind," probably got into trouble after toying with his own DNA (The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil), and wound up introducing so many flaws that you get, well--us. Of course I have no idea and this is all very wild conjecture, but going down this road is fun at a minimum even if you do have to sidestep plenty of hard scientific principles to get very far.


Soul

[ButterflyWoman]

There are plenty of mythologies as to where/how humans were created, not just the Bible. In fact, the study of cross-cultural creation myths is really interesting (and I was just listening to a lecture on this very thing, comparing the Babylonian myth with the Biblical creation account).

Evolution does not propose that "humans came from apes". That's a big misunderstanding. The theory proposes that humans evolved from some very ancient "apelike" ancestor, from which, possibly, some other apes also evolved, all over the course of millions of years. Humans share 99% of their DNA with chimpanzees, so it's not as far fetched as all that, but nobody seriously thinks that humans evolved from chimpanzees, or gorillas, or any other living/known primate.

As for the answer, I don't know, and I don't really much care. I know a lot of theories, scientific, pseudo-scientific, mythical, symbolic, and on and on, and it's all very interesting, but at the end of the day, it's just more questions.

[Barry]

I concur with ButterflyWoman. I think the evolution theory is the correct one.

[SoulSail]

And I concur that "...at the end of the day, it's just more questions."

And really, would having the answers do much? Do answers ever make us fitter, happier, or wiser? If we knew that some clan of beings on a distant star cooked us up in their kitchen and threw us out like a bad batch of goo, would our lives be radically changed one hour after realizing the truth?

Maybe, but I doubt it.


Soul

[Sinera]

If we knew that some clan of beings on a distant star cooked us up in their kitchen and threw us out like a bad batch of goo, would our lives be radically changed one hour after realizing the truth?

Not for me either. And who or what is "us" anyway? The problem is that some who might be disturbed by this theory identify themselves too much with being human(kind). After all, we're all souls and consciousness making experiences in matter.

And maybe we as humans are just experimenters IN the field while other experimenters (ETs, god(s)?) plan(ned), observe, control and influence the experiment from the OUTside in cooperation, maybe we even switch roles from time to time?

- "Hey, Alf, let me go in there the next time while you watch over me and collect the data."
- "Ok, Spock, yeah, let's take turns from now on. Have fun if you can."
- "Thanks, take care."
- "Yeah, See ya."

Hence we're probably all experimenters as well as experiencers.

[ButterflyWoman]

If we knew that some clan of beings on a distant star cooked us up in their kitchen and threw us out like a bad batch of goo [...]

Hang on. Wasn't that an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation?

[CFTraveler]

You were always taught... First there were dinosaurs, then a big meteor hit the earth and yada yada...

That's because it's the best explanation for the physical remains that we have. We know that there were dinosaurs, not once but twice, and then there were at least two catastrophes, and after the second one everything else happened- small animals, mainly. The large dinosaurs were no longer there and other animals appeared. And then, geologically not that long ago, small mammalian things, then primates, and then primates and human.
How is the question, and as everyone else said, mythology varies, all details.

Who was the first human to be here? Of course the bible says Adam and Eve

A religious friend of mine said something to me that made cultural sense- the bible was written by semites about their world, and you could say that Adam and Eve were the 'first' semites. But if you read the biblical creation accounts carefully, you will see that there were other humans there. After all, Cain and Abel married someone..... etc. And I'm not even counting apocrypha. That's why you can't literalize mythology.

but I don't really think in the way of the bible. The main question here is HOW did the first human get here?Are we talking about evolution? Do some people on here think we came from apes?

As BW said, evolution doesn't say we came from apes. Creationists say that. How is not the question, because we can't really know. But if you want to look at a very reader-friendly account of mitochondrial DNA genealogy, read "The Seven Daughters of Eve", by Sykes, because DNA doesn't lie.

So what I have to say is, anything is possible, we could have been seeded by aliens- why not? (but I doubt it, I tend more towards the panspermia-comet hypothesis), evolved the long and boring way or the short and catastrophic way, but either way, you don't have to stop believing in God to accept any of these, unless you believe in a very finite and objective god. In fact, you shouldn't believe in any of them, because when you start believing in a story you stop thinking.

[AstralCody]

Awesome replies everyone.
I suppose at the end of the day it really doesn't matter. It doesn't matter period, because it won't change anything...

Just an interesting topic I thought I would make. With all great replies.