Humans have ruled this world for thousands of years, being with Homo sapiens. Before man was able to stand and think he was no better than a monkey. A beast born of nature, destined to only survive and not live a life of thought and choices. This burden fell on man through millions of years of evolution. To better understand human evolution this essay will look at some of the physical and cultural effects of evolution on man. Such as the overall definition of evolution, human evolution from apes, human genetic diversity, cultural anthropology, and the cultural phenomenon that comes with evolution. The textbook defines evolution as a change within a species over time and have a common ancestry. Webster defines evolution as, cumulative inherited change in population of organisms though time leading to the appearance of new forms. These definition mean that over long periods of time genetic mutation develop in a species and these new traits are passed down through birth. One great depiction of this concept is Fig 3.5, introducing anthropology, showing the idea of how giraffes evolved. The idea of giraffes as we know them today came from herds of much smaller neck animals. The ones with longs necks possibly were able to eat the ever taller plants and because of this they survived and produces more and more offspring that would have this same trait of long necks, until no short necks were left. This concept can be applied throughout evolution. Animals must adapt to survive and
I have always found human evolution very fascinating. I think it is incredible how we have evolved from caveman to complex modern-day humans. The fact that such an enormous change did not occur overnight, but through a slow process that took place over hundreds of thousands of years, gives me the urge to continue researching. I am curious about how we have evolved dramatically in terms of appearance, characteristics, lifestyle, and many other aspects. Not only are these adaptations interesting, they are also essential to our entire existence. Without evolution, humans would’ve died out due to the various diseases we are exposed to daily. Evolution is a constant undergoing process as our surroundings continue to change. We must adapt to these changes in order to successfully survive. I want to
Evolution has been a topic for many years in the field of science. According to the Theory of Evolution, humans have been once apes and are still categorized as descendants of the ape family. This evolution was caused by variations and mutations in `order to fit into the environment and to survive. However, in the story “Devolution” by Edmond Hamilton, there is a completely different and opposite view of how humans have changed after millions of years. Whether humans were once a higher form of life and have been degrading into lesser beings or have derived from a more advanced type of being is a large discussion to take into consideration. Clifford D. Simak and Edmond Hamilton emphasize how changes evolution have caused an increase or decrease effect on human beings.
What is evolution? Evolution is a change in the traits of living organisms over generations. Since the development of modern genetics in the 1940s, evolution has been defined more specifically as a change in the frequency of alleles in a population from one generation
One of the most astonishing things on earth is the human body. They consist of many organs that work together to maintain the person alive. The humans body composition is complex, but what was the origin? How did we become who we are today? These are the questions that intrigued me, and allowed me to understand how the human body evolved over the years. By the examination of our ancestors, and our body we will understand how we look today.
The meaning of evolution is the different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified. The evidence that scientist have regarding evolution is the common ancestry traits humans have with animals examples a monkey and humans have a lots of similar traits. The purpose of the lab is to view the evolution of skulls and to examine bain sizes.
Robert Wright’s Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny discusses the idea of biological evolution and cultural evolution that results to social and global structure, system, and perspective. In his introduction, Wright tells the readers about the concept of biological evolution where he argues that the human destiny begins with a chaotic formation of the society that aims to build a concrete structure in order to establish proper social, political, and moral culmination of sorts. Wright moves further into the idea of biological evolution in his discussion of the DNA, which he defines as the “secret of life.” Truly, the evolution of mankind is difficult to trace because of the complexity of the human body—particularly the construction of the DNA. Then, the author relates it to other structures and institutions like the politics, history, and even religion.
Evolution is the process by which a population shows heritable genetic changes over a period of time. Hypothetically, a unique bird adapted to the rainforest and passed on those traits to the next generation. This bird lacks feathers, swims, and uses its extra sharp beak in order to survive in a rainy, humid, and tropical environment with other animals.
Understanding human evolutions is important for identifying the stages of humanity and for understanding how our societies have developed. When most of us think about human
The central purpose of this essay is to critically discuss the importance of understanding human evolution and the history of psychology for the modern psychologist. For the human evolution, the essay will be addressing on how we and other species descended from our ancestors and how the different environment has helped to us to become more adaptable. Regarding the history of psychology, the essay will be discussing on how psychology branched off from the philosophy approach to become its own science. The essay will then go on discussing how the understanding of both human evolution and history of psychology would be used by modern psychologist.
Evolution is the process by which all species have gradually developed from a singular common ancestor. The evolutionary theory has developed over time; it states that all species (mammals, insects, birds and reptiles alike) all originated from a single celled organism that existed roughly 3.8 billion years ago. The scientific use of the word “theory” proclaims something that is as solidly established as any scientific fact. When using the word theory scientifically, it is defined as an idea that has evidence and fact to back the truth of the assumption. In science, a theory is only true as long as there is no evidence to disprove it 's conclusions. As it is known today, evolution is a theory that explains the diversities, yet similarities between all species that have ever walked the Earth.
Human evolution is the gradual process in which people, or Homo sapiens, originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific evidence, particularly in the form of fossils and secondary remains, show that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people evolved over a period of approximately six million years. Humans are primates. Both genetic and physical similarities show that humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa, chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called “pygmy chimpanzees”) and gorillas share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. The volume of fossils found in Africa suggests that most evolution occurred there and is likely the place of origin for early humans. This brings to fruition the “out of Africa” theory, also called the “single-origin hypothesis.”
The theories of human evolution may always cause a heated dispute. Each theory presents its own evidence proving
Evolution refers to "change over time". In terms of physical anthropology, evolution is changes over time in living organisms. This means that living things have passed their traits from one generation to the next. There are very little changes that occur with each generation, but over time these changes accumulate in each living organism. It is believed that all life on Earth has common ancestry that lived more than 3.5 billions of years ago (Park, 2008).
Humans have existed on Earth for approximately 3.4 million years. The oldest known human ancestor is "Lucy," an Australopithecus. Over this extensive period of time, humans have evolved significantly. Homo Sapiens have grown from 3 to almost 6 feet (average), lost most of the body hair, became leaner and adapted to walking. Humans have come a long way, from Australopithecus to Homo sapiens, from living in trees to living in cities. Slowly, through hundreds of thousands of years, we mutated over and over again, natural selection ensuring that no destructive mutations continue. From the slow evolution, four distinctive species emerged and died out, each giving way to its ' descendant: Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Sapiens Neanderthalesis, and Homo sapiens Sapiens.
Human evolution according to research started over 6 million years ago. The outcome of the evolution process is the current human beings. Scientific studies have revealed over the years a remarkable affinity between the chimpanzees/Apes and human beings. Even though this reality is not a definitive prove that human beings evolved from apes, it does show that the human beings are in one way or another related to other primates. Scientists suppose that the humans and the primates shared a common ancestor. The subject of what makes humans what they are and their origin has been the exclusive purpose leading to many scientific studies globally (Coolidge & Wynn, 2011). Studies believe that Africa was the origin of evolution millions of years ago. Fossil remains have been discovered in different parts of Africa as well as other regions of the world. Different hominins have been discovered around the world in the last 1 million years. Thus, the different discoveries have led to comparisons between the various species of hominins to clarify on their similarities as well as differences. This essay seeks to explain whether they were distinctively different species or regional versions of the same species.