Scientific Adam and Eve

[Secular Elf]

Anthropologists like to use the term "mitachondrial Eve" to describe the common female answer

I think surely there must be more than one though. I can't see how "modern humans" just emorged fully formed at one point, it had to be a gradual transition. Therefore, there was no point in history where there was ever a "first human" or a last ancestor who definitely wasn't human. There are probably several humans who all people descend from, if there's just one male and one female that basically means we're all interbred.

Fascinating discussion. Thinking about this, trying to picture this in my mind, thinking of it not as a tree but as a flow of a river, from one mountain side mitochondrial adam is from river flow and from another nearby mountain side is another river flow where mitochondrial eve is. These two separate rivers eventually come together and form one main river, which eventually flows downstream towards the coast, which then immediately breaks apart into several rivulets that forms a delta, all the human descendants.

As an aside, I have a problem with assigning Biblical names or themes to scientific terminology. It really bothers me. Like when I watch a documentary about how the Earth was formed and the narrator says "created." Let's not give the Creationists something to jack off about. The Universe and our Earth was not "created," it was formed, came together, there was a formation process. This is science we are talking about, not damn religion. We should not be eroding the distinction with religious terminology. Like "the God Particle," but I do realize that was the brain-child of reporters and the Media.

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@CM,

So are you saying I'm not completely wrong then? I'm not sure whether you quote me to disagree on a specific point or to elaborate further

Concerning human chimp hybrids, my unevidenced gut feeling is that it would eventually work because of what you say. I am so curious about the result of that, but at the same time know that it would not be a good idea.

I have come across speculations that human-chimp hybridization has occurred, but I think it is mostly pseudo-science crap. Not saying it is not possible if you did it in a lab, or some sex crazed freak would do a chimp; but since chimps are twice as strong as humans, I do not see how that is possible without the chimp objecting and ripping your ear (or your dick) off. Ooh, don't see that one ending well.

The History Channel had a documentary investigating a claim that the Soviets experimented with crossing the genes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ka-uGNOZS0