He sounds like my students who, when told that something occurred 2 months 
earlier, are incredulous that anyone would ever reference anything that 
happened such a long time ago.
[log in to unmask]  Pat Barrett
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ashley Moran" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 11:19 AM
Subject: Empirical evidence on what constitutes a "long time"


>I wonder if anyone can point me to any figures or otherwise to  support my 
>argument.  I sit next to a guy at work who is sceptical  about everything I 
>say about food because he thinks a few thousand  years, or even a few 
>hundred years is a *really long time*.  He also  thinks that evolution has 
>speeded up since the industrial revolution (!) and I'm trying to explain to 
>him the difference between cultural  and biological evolution.
>
> Is there any research on how long it has taken humans or other  animals to 
> adapt to a new environment?  I would really like to know  how long it 
> takes an animal's digestive system to evolve but I  suppose that is 
> guesswork based on teeth, bone structure and other  related things, and 
> not something you can see directly from fossils.
>
> I'm hoping to prove to him that 150 years is NOT a long time, and 
> certainly not long enough for humans to evolve from a diet of meat  and 
> veg to a diet of grains, beans and potatoes.
>
> Thanks
> Ashley
>
>