Bad Arguments: If Man Came From Apes, Why Are There Still Apes?

I love this question. I see it a lot from creationists. To them, it’s the ace up their sleeve or the 8 ball in the corner pocket. They expect that someone who understands evolution will see that question, and think, “Wow. I never thought of that. Evolution must be wrong.” When in reality, the smart person just shakes their head and laughs.

The problem is that the smart person has ignored a genuine question and avoided a chance to correct a common misconception. So I’ll explain it as best I can.

Premise one is the fallacy here. We didn’t come FROM apes, we share a common ancestor. That’s like saying I came from my brother, instead of us both coming from our father.

This is demonstrable. I have two biological siblings. My brother and I have brown hair. My sister has red hair. My sister and I are short and fat. My brother is tall and skinny. These are significant changes, and just in one generation. Go back 100 years. Our common ancestor probably looked different from us. Now, find someone who is alive now, but also shared that common ancestor. They will look TOTALLY different.

The further you go back, the greater the difference. If you go back a million years, the difference will be immense. If you go back far enough, you’ll see we actually have a common ancestor with everything on the planet. Even plants.

The reason apes still exist, is because they evolved different traits to survive than homo sapiens. In some cases, this causes one of the species to die out. In other cases, it causes the species to diverge from the previous species. That’s what happened with humans and apes. We honed our intelligence. Apes honed whatever traits they need to survive. In fact, we are more closely related to apes, than apes are to monkeys.

Evolution is real. It’s demonstrable. You can see it in your lifetime. Take my favorite example, the Mrcaru Lizards. In the 1970s researchers moved lizards from one island to another, with a different set of environmental conditions. When they checked back on them in 2004, they found that the lizards had practically eliminated the natural lizards on the island, changed their diet from flies to plants, which required a new digestion system, and a different jaw structure. It even changed their social and behavioral systems.

All of this in just 30 years. Imagine what will happen in 100 years. 1000 years. A million years.

What is funny to me, is when creationists posit this ignorant question, they fail to anticipate the obvious rebuttal. If humans came from dust, why is there still dust?