10 Common Mistakes About Evolution

Here we will tell you what evolution is not!

Principles of the theory of evolution discovered by Charles Darwin are clear. The living species change over time, when the natural selection acts on populations, made up of individuals all different. The implications of this and other theories have yet to be understood by society. This is why we have approached evolution in reverse, starting from what it is not (but what everyone thinks it is).

The term evolution means a change over time. For instance, laptops have evolved over the last ten years. However, when biologists talk about evolution, they refer to the history of life. In particular, biological evolution means the development of the various species from ancestral species. The long process of evolutionary development depends on changes in DNA, mutations, which fundamentally change the biology of the organism.

When such changes are favorable to survival, they are retained. If a small population of a few individuals undergoes a significant number of changes – and is geographically isolated from other populations – a new species may emerge.

Is it always progress?

Is it always progress

People think that the species of the past were less evolved than those of today, they were less perfect and adapted to the environment. On the contrary, since evolution selects only those individuals who are able to survive at a specific time and place, in the past there were species that were no better or worse than those of today, just different. Together with the increase of complexity there are many examples of decrease of complexity itself, like those involving for example parasites, which have a very simplified structure and metabolism.

Are there “living fossils?”

This is just a “way of saying”: although many forms of life, both animals and plants, are very similar to those of the past, that does not mean that they have been unchanged for millions of years, as if evolution had never even started for them. A famous example is that of the coelacanth, a fish whose most similar forms date back about 400 million years ago: but the resemblance with the past is only superficial, and these species were very different from those of today.

Is it the law of the strongest?

It is often heard that evolution is justifying aggression and oppression because it is “the law of the strongest”. This concept is absolutely strange to science: the most “fit” in a population are not the strongest physically, or the most aggressive, but those individuals who reproduce more and better. As an example, rodents or lagomorphs, such as hares and rabbits, cannot be said to be aggressive, nor stronger than a predator. And yet they are among the most widespread mammal species on Earth.

Is it just relying on chance?

The entire process of evolution by natural selection includes at least two basic steps: the first is the generation of variability through mutations or other changes in the genome (an individual’s DNA). The second is actual natural selection, which removes individuals who fail to replicate in that particular environment. Mutations, along with recombination and immigrations from other places, could be viewed as randomly generated. However, natural selection is a perfectly deterministic process, far removed from random choice.

Do intermediate species exist?

The concept of intermediate species, or link, is wrong, since these species would be somewhere between an imperfect past and a present in which evolution has reached perfection. Moreover, the idea of connecting links, such as Homo naledi, would imply the presence of a long chain or ladder of living forms that range from the least perfect to the most perfect; now we know that species form a complex and intricate thicket, with no clear line from past to present.

Is it a process with a purpose?

Many people see evolution as a long road that begins in the far past and has a specific goal, and that is the birth of our species, or other more evolved species. However, the process itself, as explained by Charles Darwin and deepened by evolutionists, is only based on the success of behaviors or other adaptations that allow survival in a particular environment, and then only in particular historical moments.

So there are no species more evolved than others or particularly “preferred” by natural selection. That cannot even work by predicting what might happen in the future.

Is this a guide to behavior?

The evolution does not dictate the guidelines for human behavior. We believe that human behavior is based on other foundations: sociality, conventions, morals, culture that change over time and from people to people. This has nothing to do with slavery or racism, which are all human behaviors, nor with pseudosciences such as physiognomy, which claimed at the end of ‘800 to associate physical characteristics to behaviors.

Is this a phenomenon of the past?

Indeed, biologists have managed to study and describe many examples of evolutionary change as it occurs. For instance, Mr. and Mrs. Grant, English evolutionary biologists, investigated a small population of a bird residing on an island in the Galàpagos Islands, and they realized that, over the decades, this population has changed.

And another well-known example is the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, which happens constantly and all over the world. Humans, too, despite the claims of some biologists, have never stopped evolving. Therefore, evolution is not limited to past beings such as dinosaurs.

Is this a theory about the origins of the universe and life?

All evolution describes and explains is what has happened, is happening, and will happen to living species. What chemical and physical processes led to the first forms of life, as well as the Big Bang and many other physical phenomena has nothing to do with evolution by natural selection. The only time evolution “kicked into action” was when there were cells, even very simple ones, that reproduced.

Is evolution just a theory?

Yes and No. Although evolution is a fact, it is also a scientific theory: however, the meaning of the term is different from what is generally understood. In common sense, a theory is a speculation without too much foundation, usually based on evidence out of the air. From the perspective of science, a theory is rather a complete and confirmed explanation of some aspect of the natural world, achieved through the application of the scientific method.

Theory also allows to explain unknown aspects of nature and within limits also to predict the future. In addition to natural selection, the theory of evolution also incorporates other aspects, such as sexual selection and genetic drift, which complement it.

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