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Evolution is not linear. All species are at a different leaf of the tree of evolution from some sort of “proto-being” as the root node. Humans are no different
by huntertwo 8y ago
Evolution is not linear. All species are at a different leaf of the tree of evolution from some sort of “proto-being” as the root node. Humans are no different than dogs or cacti. Humans may be the common ancestor of two different species that exist 1 million years in the future.
It is definitely possible that the two same mutations for hemoglobin happened at different points in time, but as I understand it, there is an assumption of parsimony. In other words, it is much more likely that the creation of genes for hemoglobin for sharks and humans happened at the same time than at different times.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- PurpleBoxDragon 8y ago>Humans are no different than dogs or cacti. I think we will always have a special place in the history books (perhaps not a pleasant one) because we were the first to have some ability to consciously edit not only our DNA but the DNA of other species. Thinking about it, if life begin in millions of different universes, there would seem to be one of two possible outcomes. Life eventually goes extinct (due to something happening on the planet that life can't evolve to survive, if nothing else the death of the planet's star), or life develops a species with enough intelligence to be able to modify their own evolution. An idea similar to the anthropic principal. Though different in that we are a sufficient end case for the anthropic principal, but we haven't reached a sufficient end case in regards to evolution (though we have begun to grasp it).
- lostapathy 8y agoWe'll also have a special place in the history books because we were the first species to write them.