There is also a myth out there that he recanted evolution on his deathbed and "returned" to Christianity. This brings us to our final myth. This is similar to the relatively recent Big Bang vs. Ironically, it was initially rejected out of hand by many scientists precisely because it seemed to correlate strongly with Christian views of the origin of the universe. Back to evolution, in truth, many among the clergy saw no problems with Origins of the Species , and the debate among various branches of Christianity over the idea of evolution often mirrored the types of debate going on in secular circles.
For instance, the Catholic church never banned the work, unlike so many other works they felt even hinted at going against established Catholic doctrine.
More recently, many popes have discussed the topic, including Pope Pius XII who stated that there was no conflict between evolution and Catholicism. Even more recent than that, Pope Francis noted in He gave autonomy to the beings of the universe at the same time at which he assured them of his continuous presence, giving being to every reality.
And so creation continued for centuries and centuries, millennia and millennia, until it became which we know today, precisely because God is not a demiurge or a magician, but the creator who gives being to all things… The Big Bang, which nowadays is posited as the origin of the world, does not contradict the divine act of creating, but rather requires it.
The evolution of nature does not contrast with the notion of creation, as evolution presupposes the creation of beings that evolve. Want to gain some daily interesting knowledge? Today I Found Out offers a free daily newsletter to help you feed your brain.
For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. It evolved from a Homo erectus population in Africa about , years ago. According to some interpretations, Homo heidelbergensis gave rise to our species, Homo sapiens , about , years ago in Africa.
Separate populations of Homo heidelbergensis living in Eurasia evolved too, becoming the Neanderthals in the west and a still enigmatic group called the Denisovans in the east.
Within the last , years or so, the most recent chapter in our story unfolded. Modern humans spread throughout the world and Neanderthals and Denisovans disappeared. Exactly why they went extinct is another great mystery, but it seems likely that our species played its part. There is still much we do not know, and new fossils have the potential to change the story.
Three new extinct hominins have been discovered in the past decade or so, including Australopithecus sediba and the enigmatic and not yet well-dated Homo naledi , also in South Africa. For 7 million years our lineage had shared the planet with at least one other species of hominid. With the hobbit gone, Homo sapiens stood alone.
Homo erectus: the toolmaker. Modern humans Within the last , years or so, the most recent chapter in our story unfolded. Like gravity and plate tectonics, evolution is a scientific theory. In science, a theory is the most logical explanation for how a natural phenomenon works.
It is well tested and supported by abundant evidence. It means quite the opposite from our informal use of the word theory, which implies an untested opinion or guess. As a scientific theory, evolution enables scientists to make predictions and drives investigations that lead to new kinds of observable evidence.
Modern humans are the product of evolutionary processes that go back more than 3. We became human gradually, evolving new physical traits and behaviors on top of those inherited from earlier primates, mammals, vertebrates, and the very oldest living organisms.
Humans and monkeys are both primates. But humans are not descended from monkeys or any other primate living today. We do share a common ape ancestor with chimpanzees. It lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. But humans and chimpanzees evolved differently from that same ancestor. All apes and monkeys share a more distant relative, which lived about 25 million years ago.
Human evolution, like evolution in other species, did not proceed in a straight line. Instead, a diversity of species diverged from common ancestors, like branches on a bush. Our species, Homo sapiens , is the only survivor. But there were many times in the past when several early human species lived at the same time.
Evolution is the cornerstone of modern biology. Estimated reading time Time 4 to read. Source: Wikimedia In fact, not only did Darwin never propose that humans are descended from monkeys , but the very idea is erroneous. The idea of kinship between humans and apes But if the foundational work of his theory caused an upheaval in science and in human thought in general, with The Descent of Man Darwin himself became the centre of debate and criticism.
Illustration comparing the skeletons of various apes to that of man. Source: Wikimedia Thus, at the time, The Descent of Man was considered a late intervention in this field, when the problem of human evolution was already the subject of wide discussion. The famous March of Progress This misconception of seeing all the other primates as humans in the construction phase has been compounded by an unfortunate and oft-reproduced drawing that shows different hominins walking in line behind the human being.
Javier Yanes yanes Do you want to stay up to date with our new publications? Receive the OpenMind newsletter with all the latest contents published on our website Find out more here. Comments on this publication Login to comment Log in Subscribe. Thank you for collaborating with the OpenMind community! Your comment will be published after validation.
0コメント