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| quote: | Originally posted by Krypton
Humans are seemingly alien to this planet. Looking at nature, all the animals live in harmony with nature, except for humans. Wherever we settle, we take ove the land entirely. |
How are we unique in this respect? Basically all plants do this. So does coral. So do termites, locusts and many other insects. A beaver, like Venom X said, can exert a phenotypical influence on the environment that stretches for miles. If we are unique in our ability to settle and change our environment, then it is only by a matter of degree rather than kind.
| quote: | | The only natural enemy we have is microorganisms, old age, and ourselves. |
The same can be said for lions. Or polar bears. Or sharks.
| quote: | | It's like the planet was already made and humans were put here. |
If we were "put here", then the beings that put us here obviously took their inspiration for our physiology from the life that already existed on this planet. Our chemical composition is virtually identical to that of all other animals (barring common decent, there is no good reason for this to be the case) and we have exactly the same vital requirements (food, water, oxygen etc.). Our skeletal, muscular and organ composition is very similar to that of all other vertabrates. The codons in our genes code for exactly the same 20 amino acids - out of potentially thousands - as all other life forms here. Genetically, we are 99% identical to chimpanzees, 80% identical to mice and 40% identical to worms. All of these figures increase if we compare only active genes.
Speaking of which, we have inactive genes within our genome that are present and which serve no purpose, but which are present and active in our evolutionary cousins. Only 5% of our DNA is actually active in the sense that it codes for proteins, most of the rest is "Junk DNA" which serves no purpose except in the context of a long-term evolutionary process. We have the same exogenous retroviruses (viruses that found their way into our genes) that our more close living relatives do. If we were "put here" by intelligent creators, one can only wonder they put all the unmistakable hallmarks of a long evolutionary history into our genome?
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