You guys probably have read the Planet of the Apes theory. If you haven't, its the theory where Apes are sentient (like humans now) and humans are like the apes of today. Then, the apes get lazy and the humans take over and become sentient while the apes become stupid. Then humans get lazy....and so on.

What do you guys think of this theory? It seems somewhat far fetched to me, but its pretty much impossible to tell if its true.

It could explain Bigfoot and many things. Maybe the Neanderthals were really just sentient apes.

I've heard of that theory but I don't believe it. The other day an ape threw some poop at my cousin.

Sentient creatures would try to make contact, not throw poop.

Reminds me of the Hindu concept of huge cycles[karpas] of time. One of the predominant deities is hunannumann[sp?] a god-like monkey. They tell of a long sequence of human history, with a rise and fall of civilizations.

I'm affraid that Darwins (proven) theory of evolution seems to support the idea that humans adapt mentally at a far greater rate than apes, and that apes will never adapt at the speed necessary to challenge humans. Although it is concievable that over millions of years animals could adapt to have significant mental capacities if it aids them in survival such as was the case in the developement of humans. Perhaps long after us humans walk this planet other species could evolve that could rival are intellegence. Their may be reasons to dismis this claim that i am not aware of, but it all seems possible accoridign to Darwin givin the right circumstances and enough time.

"sentient creatures....would not throw poop"

ever see an internet message board?

Ape/humans in an ever changing evolution race is probably impossible. Wouldn't apes be more wide spread? There are many climates in the world similiar to the ones gorillas originate from.

And isn't Bigfoot/Yeti supposed to be more on the lines of Neanderthals? I know Neanders isn't the answer... I just can't place what sub-species they are (it was in an article in Scientific America... and on the Discovery channel).

actually...now that I think about it, it could be a possibility.

IMO, humans are de-evolving. According to Darwin, natural selection doesn't work for humans anymore because even the weak and sick people can live and reproduce nowadays. Even the dump people can survive and reproduce. I think that, plus the increasing dependence on technology will make humans lazier and eventually, we would get so lazy we'd turn "stupid." And by that time, the apes might have evolved into "smart" apes.

Well, if civilization collapses, apes will be more adapted to the hunter-gatherer way of life. Humans would be poorly equiped and they could gain control that way. Or something.

Then again, I take back what I said earlier. If an apocalyptic war obliterated everything technological, and humans became scattered, then it would be difficult to regain our power.

Apes are stronger than us, and I remember that the reason the ape threw poop at my cousin is becuase she was pointing at it, laughing and making noises at it.

Several times it pointed at it's butt then pointed at her face. Once it even "laughed" at her. Then when it got bored with her, it threw poop at her.

So perhaps thier... limited, intelligence would give them just enough of an edge to end of our reign.

Another thought is that we see apes mimicking us all the time, could we have forced their mental abilities to evolve?

That theory doesn't seem to make sense to me. I don't see how a species could be smart at one point and because of laziness become stupid to the point of how the apes are.

If the apes were ever smart and had civilizations I would think there would be some fossil evidence.

Maybe we have a psy link to apes and other primates that they are fully aware of but, we are not. Thus the imitate us and throw poop at people!

Sounds like someone's taking their science fiction too much to heart these days.

It *is* possible that over the very very long term, and with help from humans, that other mammals can learn to communicate with us. None actually have the manual dexterity that we do, so they really wouldn't be able to create the kinds of technology that we can.

We don't see species "de-evolving." They will die or they will transform into other species, but they don't suddenly go back to more primitive forms.

What will be interesting is the viewpoints that creatures have of US once we learn to communicate with them. I don't think a "Dr. Doolittle" type of speech is possible because their language forms aren't like ours. Their sense of what is "right" and what is "wrong" may not be ours.

But, no, the "planet of the apes" theory is something by someone who watches too many movies and not enough Discovery Channel.

Of couse other species don't "de-evolve"...they're still fighting for survival (thus, natural selection causes them to evolve). However, natural selection doesn't even apply to humans nowadays...I'm not saying humans will turn back into apes or something like that, but I'm just saying humans could become more and more reliant on technology and in the end, technology will do so much for humans that they completely forget how to do everything, even the using their minds to think (because the machines do it for them).

there is fossil evidence...I'm sure fossils of apes form a long time ago are pretty common - its just, how are you supposed to tell the difference between sentient ape fossiles and non-sentient ape fossils?

if you put a child into a habitat with no interaction with other humans whatsover and just feed him, hes not going to act like humans act. Hes most likely going to act more like an ape. Our children imitate us and other children.

Human evolution is a mental form of evolution. It would be impossible to argue that humans have not become more adapt at creating things over the past century even. Thus humans are evolving technologically, and at an incredible rate far faster than any physical form of evolution. Human ability to create on such an incredible scale is what truly seperates us from all other animals.

But once our power to create is so powerful that we can create machines to do EVERYTHING for us, what happens? We'll unlearn everything we've learned. An example would be if an EMP shockwave destroyed all our electronics. A bunch of people would die because they wouldn't know how to hunt for food, get water, or even make fire...I wouldn't call that evolution.

Originally posted by herm
"sentient creatures....would not throw poop"
ever see an internet message board?

Then again, I find myself quite often questioning the sentience level of some people that I meet on a message board...


But still, haven't you ever been in one of those moods where you just want to be left alone? An ape can't just come out & say it you know...So they throw poop.

Also, take into consideration that apes in a zoo environment often get teased by people & throwing poop is the only way those apes can tell people to stop it. After they've been teased long enough & often enough, they tend to throw poop at *any* human they see simply because they *expect* to get teased if they don't throw poop first.