Are we really at the top of the evolutionary chain?

Question

Or are we no successful than, say, a cockroach?!

Answer 1

Um, no offense meant at all, but the Q is kinda naive.

WE are certainly at the top of some "chain" with regard to aspects of species development, yet lack much of what other species do have, in an evloutionary sense. IE: the ability to endure Nuclear issues as is the Roach. The ability to see in the dark, hear certain sounds, have the ability to Smell beyond our nose, etc. etc.

In some cases we might also be at the top of some other species FOOD chain.

Success is relative by the way. What is for me, may not be for you, and in no way do I compare a Cockroach to a human, developmentally or otherwise. If there is purpose to surviving, existing, defining any level of success, then I suspect we each/all, have our "place" in some "chain."

Steven Wolf

Answer 2

Perhaps a better version of the question is: are we @ an extreme of the evolutionary plane?

If one regards evolution as simultaneously moving in a number of directions (for example a shape having four corners representing four 'bests'), then the question becomes are we @ one of these extrema (corners)?

Cockroaches/rats (as life forms) are much better @ handling some crises of the environment than we are (reproductive cycle, size & so on), a tree that's around for several thousand years has, from some viewpoints, 'topped us' on that score... amphibians can outdo us if there is a flood... ants, however, can not write or read 'ant-sized' books (surface adhesion of the pages (I'm serious, go look up S. J. Gould).....

So, evidence exists that makes your question 'fair game' for thinkers... it's a 'possibility' that most God-beliefs are based upon such realizations (& the overcoming the trauma of same)...

Yet, of course, we are the first species that seemingly is having a big debate about our 'evolutionary status' (I am open to questions & debate about this), so we 'top' that league...

However, finally, the bigger question is one about our model of the shape of our model of evolution... what if it is fractal? What if everything is actually a top of 'an' evolutionary chain? If everything is an extrema (which is a variation of your point, as I see it), then surely our weakness is that we regard 'evolution' as being a 'chain' of which there is a 'set of extrema' (set of corners) versus a space enclosed by those 'extrema' (corners)...

Nice question..

K (antiparanoid)

Answer 3

No we aren't. Because evolution is a continuous process with no fixed goal, or for that matter the ability to have a goal, it is meaningless to talk about us being the "top of the evolutionary chain". However we are an incredibly successful species in that we have a gigantic population and inhabit nearly every climate on the land. This would make us roughly equal to cockroaches and rats buy any attempt to assess our value in evolutionary terms.

Our real achievements, in science, philosophy, art belong to a different set of values.

Answer 4

There is no evolutionary chain that exists like, say, the food chain. I understand the question as "Are we the most evolved?" The answer to that is an arguable, No.

This is not fact, because you could easily say the oldest living things are the most evolved, as they have been at it the longest. You could also argue that the most successful organisms existing currently are the most evolved, but things change and a flaw that exists in them now may prove to change their place dramatically.

One could also argue that because we evolved the ability to think this somehow makes us superior to organisms that have other highly specialized skills for survival. We are able to "do" so many more things, it seems, but in terms of survival perhaps everyone can agree that thought can get you into as much trouble as it can get you out of.

Who has never said "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time?"

Answer 5

There is no top and no bottom to evolution. Evolution is a process that works on all living things. Mutations take place constantly in nature. Sometimes the new characteristics that a mutant has equip them better to survive than their predecessor, often due to changes in the habitat in which they live.
Survival is the thing that makes changes take place in a species. If a characteristic is to become common the mutant that has it must pass it on.
Evolution does not work to a grand plan, it is not an intelligent force, there is no hierarchy.
We are not more or less successful than any other thriving species, be that bactria, insect, plant or whatever.

Answer 6

To be honest, I think we are the most primal of beings on this planet. Everything in nature has a designation and goes with the flow, but we humans cut against the grain. We have stepped out of line and unlinked ourselves from the evolutionary chain. We destroy things at will and we do as we please without a care for the rest of the world. We designate areas that was never ours to own in the first place. We create weapons of mass destruction to kill each other not realizing that they would kill everything else to. We don't learn from our mistakes entirely. My point is, we are the desturction of the world around us and ourselves. How greatly evolved could we then be.

Answer 7

There is no top to the 'evolutionary chain' every creature is at the best spot it can be in the present world. If they can't adapt, they go extinct. Our ancestors adapted, so did the deers ancestors and the monkeys, whales, clams, cockroach and many others.

Answer 8

Good question!!

It is of course possible for cockroach to survive and see our extinction. The real issue is whether being on top of the evolutionary chain is what our goal should be..... I believe, not at all..... our goal needs to be much higher than that if we are worth our salt.

Answer 9

Motion is the very basis of the Universe and consequently of the life.Being at the top of the evolutionary chain would mean motionless and that would also mean the end of the life.Evolution will go on as long as the Universe keeps on existing.

Answer 10

Actually insects are the most successful. This will include a cockroach