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Some scientists believe that it's possible life on Earth originated elsewhere and was transported here via meteor or some other pan-galactic projectile, in a process referred to as "exogenesis". Possible evidence for this can be found in meteorites which, upon close inspection, appear to have structures on them which bear an uncanny resemblance to microscopic organisms found here on Earth. Alternately, it has been suggested that the actual seeds of life exist throughout the universe and will "grow", so to speak, under the right conditions. This concept is called "panspermia", and it goes back at least a few hundred years. More recently, within the last century, and particularly in the last few years as the internet has allowed more people on the fringes of science and philosophy to brainstorm together, a new avenue of inquiry has opened up: that life, humanity in particular, was either created or shaped by extraterrestrials, or that man is in fact descended from an alien or hybrid race. A bit of research can find a surprising amount of argument for all of these theories. However, while certainly possible, they still beg the question: If life came here from another planet, where did life on that other planet come from? Another planet? And if life arose from seeds, where and from who did the seeds come from? Did the egg really come before the chicken? Instead of answering the question, we have simply swept it under the rug, or in this case, shipped it off to another galaxy.

It is possible that men truly are from Mars and women from Venus, but the scientific concept of parsimony, that all other things being equal, the simplest explanation is the correct one, tells us that it is more likely that people came from apes, as the dominant paradigm dictates. There is a mountain of scientific data strongly suggesting that we are primates, similar in genetics and appearance to the others, who began to take on the upright characteristics of the hominid about 2 million years ago. Modern humans, Homo sapiens, appeared about 200 thousand years ago, and left Africa to populate the globe around 70 thousand years ago. There is a fossil record that shows a fairly clear line back through the primate lineage into the earlier, simpler mammals.

Culture, too, can clearly be seen to have evolved over time, with fits and starts related to advancements in communication, the use of tools, and agriculture, although admittedly there are still many gaps in our historical and scientific record.

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