Evolution help?

Question

Is this statement well supported by scientific evidence or is it a misconception? Describe.

Human evolutionary history is more like a multibranched bush rather than a single unbranched ladder, our species being the tip of one human branch that still exists

Answer 1

That statement is absolutely a correct description of evolution. In fact it is one of the key things that many people misunderstand about evolution ... it is from the awful "ladder" image that people ask dumb questions like "why are there still monkeys?" ... in other words the image that every species *replaces* the one lower down on the rung is an absolutely wrongheaded misconception of evolution.

The other important thing about the "branching bush" rather than the "ladder" is that it removes that image of an "upward" direction to evolution, with humans the pinnacle of creation. This ladder misconception leads to thinking that all other animals are "intermediate" or "unevolved" steps on the way to humanhood. ... I.e. this ladder image also leads to the equally stupid "why aren't monkeys still evolving into humans?" question. This is ridiculous, of course, because every animal species alive today is a result of exactly the same amount of evolution on earth as we are ... they are just as highly "evolved". Humans are just another twig on a branch, not the apex on the top of the ladder.

Finally, the "unbranching ladder" image is inherrently *illogical*. If life were an unbranching ladder, with each species *replacing* its ancestor, then by definition there would only be one species on the planet!

So for evidence that evolution is a bush, not a ladder, all you need to do is notice that we are not the only species on the planet.

But there is also the evidence of this branching in the fossil record (in the way that fossils in two different regions will diverge in structure from a common ancestor that is lower down in the fossil layers). It is also in the genetic evidence (e.g. species A and B will share specific genes that are slightly different from species C and D, but all four will share other things in common ... this relationship is not linear (A->B->C->D) but parallel (A and B had a common ancestor, and so did C and D, and all of them shared a single ancestor).

Answer 2

This statement is a very good description of evolution. And, yes, our species is the tip of one human branch that still lives today (but won't live forever). Neandertals were a different branch in the bush, but they don't still live today.

All mammals are in one section of the bush, each species going off on it's own branch. Same with birds and other species. Clumps of branches on a huge bush.

Answer 3

Yes, evolution take many turns, some unsuccessful. There are many branches for hominides, some faced extintion for various reasons. We are one of the branches that survived.

Answer 4

Correct. Here is a link to an image which shows this.

Answer 5

The only bush in evolution is the burning bush... God that is... lol just kidding, in my opinion evolution is more like a ficas than a bush... unless we are talking about george bush