Calling all evolutionists: What does it mean when they say there is a 'missing link?'?

Answer 1

I'm not exactly an evolutionist, but what I believe they are suggesting is some kind of intermediate form between what something was, and how it is now. For example, humans were supposed to once have been apes. One doesn't just jump from apes to humans immediately, however, they must undergo a number of small changes over a long period of time. If evolution took place like this, we should find these intermediate forms. When someone says "missing link", they are referring to an intermediate form that we have not yet discovered.

Answer 2

It means that they (whoever "they" are) don't understand evolution AT ALL. There is no "missing link." It stems from the misunderstanding of evolution that there is some single chain from "apes" to humans (hence the word "link").

The correct term is "transitional form", and it is not "missing" at all. There are many such transitional forms between early ancestor and modern humans.

To quote wiki:
"A popular term to designate transitional forms with is "the missing link". The term is especially used in the regular media, but inaccurate and confusing. This is partly because it implies that there was a single link missing to complete the picture, which now has been discovered. In reality, the continuing discovery of more and more transitional fossils is further adding to our knowledge of evolutionary transitions. The term probably arose in the 19th century where the awaited discovery of a "missing link" between humans and so-called "lower" animals was considered to be the final proof of evolution. The Australopithecus afarensis fossil (more commonly known as "Lucy") is seen as a key transitional fossil."

Please click on the illustration to the right of the wiki page. It does a better job than we can do here on YA, of illustrating how the fossil record has filled in the gaps in the last 150 years.

The concept of a "missing link" might have made sense in 1850 ... but today, it is laughable.

Answer 3

The idea of a "missing link" is based on the misconception that science says humans evolved from apes, and that the "missing link" would be this half-man, half-ape looking creature.

But I say "misconception" because science has never said "man came from apes". What evolution proposes is that both apes and humans had a common ancestor. This model of evolution explains a lot of what we see in genes, geology, and other fields.

By the way, I think Qwyrx gave an excellent explanation as to why the term "evolutionst" makes no sense. (Not that it will stop self-righteous creationsists from voting "thumbs down", just to feel a little better.)

Answer 4

Life or Living organisms are defined by a number of biological themes

A living organisms must contain certain universal characteristics such as being composed of cells supporting processes such as cell division and reproduction

It must be first be identified and classified as a species

and finally it must be traced back to a unique ancestor

The term "missing link" comes from the quest to always link all life to a common ancestor, right now there are many species past and present that cannot be linked evolutionary and with each new discovery of a past species, scientists are hopeful that all links among living organisms will be established one day

So a new discovery could be a "missing link" in the succession of organisms back to a common ancestor

Answer 5

First--there is no such thing as an evolutionist. That's like saying a "gravitationalist" or a "covalent bondist"--evolution is a scientific theory, not a system of belief. Yes, there is an element of faith in science (faith in the scientific method), but that's a whole different level of discusion.

But, in regards to your question, the so-called missing link (which is not a scientific term) refers to the historical ancestors that come between "genetically speaking" the great apes and moden human beings. There are certain presumed genetic changes for which we have no fossil records.

A similar scientific historical issue is that of Pluto. There was a period of time where mathematical analysis of the orbital path of Neptune said that there should be another large body orbiting the sun beyond Neptune. No one, however, had actually observed one for decades after it was predicted in theory. Eventually, however, scientific instruments powerful enough to detect it were made. Similiarly, current biological theory predicts that there should be certain intermediate steps between great apes and humans which we haven't currently observed/found records for.

Answer 6

The missing link is the species that overlaps the development of ape to man. When this connection is found, it will be by genetic material similar to ape & man. Evolutionists, (like me) are confident that this link will be found. Creationists are praying that we never find it.

Answer 7

It is a fictitious term invented and perpetuated by the media.

It refers to a supposed gap in the fossil record where we should find something "half human, half ape".

Real scientists do not recognize this idea because evolution is not a linear process that moves straight to one ultimate form, but rather it is a branching, chaotic system wherein intermediary forms need not exhibit the features of the initial and final specimens.

In reality, we have a nearly complete fossil reccord that shows an elegant and complex "family tree" of hominids; species branch off and thrive or die out, and only one branch leads to us. There is no special point that is the "missing link", only a continuum of changing hominid creatures.

Answer 8

Hey that's a question I ask of Creationists! (A propos them saying that none exist).

I suppose that a missing link would have to be:

1. Missing (or at least "previously missing"
2. Be a "link" between an archaic species and a modern or later species. This "link", in evolutionary terms would mean that members of the "link" species where descendants of the archaic species and some of them were ancestors of the modern or later species.

Answer 9

The phrase is a reference to an undefined and undiscovered species that bridges the gap between humans and apes.

Answer 10

As it applies to man. We trace humans back about 8 thousand years (give or take a few thousand)...and then nothing. Then 40,000 years ago we find Cro Magnon man. But, there's nothing in between to tie them together. That's the missing link. Where are all the people from 40,000 years ago until modern man appeared in the lower Mesopotamian Valley about 8,000 years ago?