ax

How long have we been on the earth exactly?
If you count back from jesus to the apparent time the earth started, then add how long its been since christ you get around 6,000 or so years.
On walls of Egyptian temples there is star positions drawn. and if you count backward you can see that the positions tell a date.( see works of robert ingersoll)basically they prove that egypt was founded, its arts culivated, and
the astrologer's discoveries around when adam eas 600 years old!!! nothing can be more absurd

Babylon Sister

Who's "we"?

Automaton

Zuh?

Boro Nut

Strangely, if you count up the entire human population that has ever existed and add up their ages to date, and compare this figure to the time they have been on earth, you find there is 37 weeks in total missing.

This is clear evidence to my mind that some of those alien abduction stories may be true.

Boro Nut

Godless Dave

Ax, you would be better off looking at archeological evidence, which suggests humans have been on earth for about a million years.

Going by the Old Testament isn't very helpful, as there aren't any actual dates. Humans were around for a long time before they started drawing star maps and writing books, so those generally aren't good sources.

LinuxPup

From what I understand, mitochondrial DNA is indicating we've been on this earth for less than 150,000 years, and Y-chromosome analysis says less than 49,000 years.

Here are some links with references:

<a href="http://www.reasons.org/resources/faf/97q2faf/evlimit.html" target="_blank">http://www.reasons.org/resources/faf/97q2faf/evlimit.html</a>

<a href="http://www.reasons.org/resources/faf/97q3faf/neandertal.html" target="_blank">http://www.reasons.org/resources/faf/97q3faf/neandertal.html</a>

James AD

These are the numbers I recall off the top of my head. Anyone more knowledgeable, please share.

The earliest known signs of art and culture are about 40,000 years olds.
Fossils categorized as homo-sapiens date back 100,000 years.
Our ancestors split from chimpanzees and bonobos 6-8 million years ago.
Our common ancestors with rats lived about 80 million years ago.
Life on earth began at least 3 billion years ago.

"We" have been around for a really, really long time.

Undercurrent

26 years. Going on 26 1/2 in August.

m.

Vorkosigan

ROTFL. Those links were written by idiots. Here's key paragraph from the first one, whose author obviously does not understand evolution.

• The lack of variation within human, gorilla, and orangutan species suggests the relatively recent origin of these species. The significant chromosomal difference between species suggests that any common ancestor must date back to the far distant past. These two conclusions seem inconsistent, given the naturalistic assumption that all these species arise from a common ancestor.

There is a gross fallacy in the writer's thinking. Between the common ancestor of the Great Apes in the dim past, and the current species, there are numerous intermediate forms. It is entirely possible for existing species to be recent arrivals, with ancestors in the remote past. That's what evolution means.

The second link is even worse:

• A spectacular advance in biochemical technology has been applied to Neandertal, the fossil find hailed as proof of human evolution from primates, and the findings point in the opposite direction. Analysis of Neandertal DNA leads researchers to conclude that homo sapiens, the human race, is neither descended from nor related to the Neandertal species.1

Nobody knew how the humans and neadertals were related, but few thought they might be our ancestors. The DNA studies confirm what most people thought, that we weren't related to neadertals. Ross is incorrectly reporting what the consensus was. Some might vulgarly refer to it as "lying."

Ross continues:

• We have much more to learn from mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA research. The field is advancing rapidly. I believe it will yield an ever-increasing body of evidence for the special creation of humankind. Already it indicates a relatively recent origin for humans—less than 150,000 years, based on mitichondrial DNA,5 and less than 49,000 years, based on Y-chromosome analysis.6

Ross does not tell his readers, but the emergence of H. sapiens has long been thought to be a recent affair. Emergence of humans in the last 150,000 years does not conflict anywhere with archaeology; recent finds from southern Africa indicate modern humans emerged around 110 kya.

In any case, I do not see how having humans emerge 150 kya advances any case for special creation. Clearly, since Neandertals were not related, Ross would be forced to argue that either the Deity especially created H. sapiens several times (Neadertals and modern humans) and then killed off one group, or else that Neadertals evolved, while modern humans did not (a very silly position given the close relationship between the two groups). I wish Ross luck, he'll need it.

Vorkosigan

Oolon Colluphid

Correct, Babylon Sister. Who's "we"?

Modern Homo sapiens: somewhere in the region of 150,000yrs.

"We" as in our lineage, separate from any other: somewhere around 4 million yrs.

"We" as in our Hominid (or perhaps Pongid) family: somewhere around 12 million yrs.

"We" as in primates: somewhere around 80 million yrs.

"We" as in mammals: somewhere around 250 million yrs.

"We" as in life on earth: somewhere around 3.5 billion yrs.

"We" as in the Internet Infidels: somewhere around 6 yrs, IIRC.

Hope this helps.

Oolon