Is it possible mankind exsisted before?

[BASNAK]

All humans today have like 2-5% Homo Neanderthalis DNA in them, and there's plenty of evidence showing how humans evolved from other species. If you're going to suggest humans came here with some sort of spaceships it would almost be the same as arguing from an creationist viewpoint that humans didn't evolve at all.

*Edit* Oldest evidence of human precense is like 150-200k years old.

[no_rules_just_play]

Wow, so much pseudoscience in a whole tread.

[Kafein]

and even the slightest effect they had and proof of their existence could easly desinegrate and be buried in less than million years.

no


Besides, we have a pretty good idea of the history of evolution which pretty much excludes pre-hominidae intelligent species.

[SixThumbs]

Well that's just, like, your theory man.

[Kafein]

Well that's just, like, your theory man.

Not really. An intelligent species even if extinct would have a trace somewhere in known animals, unless living somewhere completely isolated for millions of years and not explored by us in which case it would lack the environment to develop intelligence in the first place (as that only leaves a few caves, very deep water and very deep underground). Things don't develop intelligence overnight and it takes a sort of "arms race" between species to keep up the competition, which translates in a somewhat steady drift of the whole fauna towards more intelligence. Most dinosaurs were much dumber than current day chicken, if you can believe that.

Furthermore, any animal with intelligence similar to modern man would have moved from one continent to another like humans did and would have inevitably caused massive extinctions of indigenous fauna.

[Xant]

Furthermore, any animal with intelligence similar to modern man would have moved from one continent to another like humans did and would have inevitably caused massive extinctions of indigenous fauna.

That isn't necessarily true. A lot of human qualities are tacked onto the concept of "intelligence", just because we're the only intelligent species we know. There's a bazillion crossroads where another intelligent being could've taken a different path, and things like 'boredom' which is and has been one of the most important things for mankind might not exist. And when you get enough different parts and goals, intelligence starts looking almost unrecognizable to what we call and think of as intelligence. If an intelligent species developed on Earth, then it'd likely share a lot of the same qualities as humans, unless it was very, very old. Either way it's an understatement to say it's "extremely unlikely" that anything similar to mankind existed on Earth before us.

[SixThumbs]

[Pawiu]

what the fuck guys ar eyou fucinbg kmiidding me awhat is this shit  idea
im fucking druj=kn and i can think better
also i tking that there wwerew inteligent races on eartyh before humans
i reall yliek e 40k dow universer ehree necrins were aons before humans and they wdtill hasve technological advantage

[Kafein]

That isn't necessarily true. A lot of human qualities are tacked onto the concept of "intelligence", just because we're the only intelligent species we know. There's a bazillion crossroads where another intelligent being could've taken a different path, and things like 'boredom' which is and has been one of the most important things for mankind might not exist. And when you get enough different parts and goals, intelligence starts looking almost unrecognizable to what we call and think of as intelligence. If an intelligent species developed on Earth, then it'd likely share a lot of the same qualities as humans, unless it was very, very old. Either way it's an understatement to say it's "extremely unlikely" that anything similar to mankind existed on Earth before us.

True, but then what's the point of calling them "intelligent" anyway? I'd go with the definition of intelligence that carries more practical implications.

[Christo]

what the fuck guys ar eyou fucinbg kmiidding me awhat is this shit  idea
im fucking druj=kn and i can think better
also i tking that there wwerew inteligent races on eartyh before humans
i reall yliek e 40k dow universer ehree necrins were aons before humans and they wdtill hasve technological advantage

lol

[Tibe]

True, but then what's the point of calling them "intelligent" anyway? I'd go with the definition of intelligence that carries more practical implications.

Quite. Hardly doubt that a species capability to pick its own nose efficiently without the use of thumbs is comparable to building a fire or a wheelcart.

[WITCHCRAFT]

Considering the fact that we can get fossil records on single-celled organisms up to 3.46 billion years ago, it's unlikely we would completely miss the evolution and existence of a sapient species similar to man. Earlier than 3.5 billion years earth was a real mess with lots of tectonic activity and murderous weather patterns so it would be a shock to discover even extremophilic bacteria from that period or earlier.

All that said, I love this idea popping up in science fiction. The idea of an ancient race wiser than man is cool beans, but the existential dread that rises from the question "why did they disappear?" is a great plot hook. If they could not stop the interstellar destroyer race or giant asteroid or whatever, then humans have no chance of saving themselves the same fate.

On the other end of the scale, there's post-human evolution in the future. When we disappear, who will take our place? Land squids is my personal favorite, but there is a great (cheesy) book by Dougal Dixon that theorizes our future and what shall descend from our lineage. You can read the full book (it's short) with scanned images legally on this site:

http://www.sivatherium.narod.ru/library/Dixon_3/01_en.htm

It gets really goofy sometimes, but I enjoyed the whole thing. Dougal Dixon illustrated some of my favorite dinosaur books from when I was a kid - his illustrations are awesome.

[njames89]

Humans existed before got fat and lazy and evolved into pigs. GG enjoy your bacon sickos

[Nightmare798]

Humans existed before got fat and lazy and evolved into pigs. GG enjoy your bacon sickos

You fucking sub-human...

[WITCHCRAFT]

Humans existed before got fat and lazy and evolved into pigs. GG enjoy your bacon sickos

It's called long pig. Get learned, son.