Does the new finding of the first animal on earth say anything about where we ought to be headed as a species?

Question

The simple sponge has previously been deemed the first animal on earth, but new studies claim that the far more complex comb jelly was first. One evolutionary scenario which may explain why the comb jellies would actually have been first among animals is that the sponge evolved its simpler form from the more complex form.. So "evolution is not necessarily just a march towards increased complexity."

I guess what I'm trying to say is would our prgression as a human race be seen with flying cars and homes on mars or farming our own land, riding in wagons, etc?

Answer 1

" guess what I'm trying to say is would our prgression as a human race be seen with flying cars and homes on mars or farming our own land, riding in wagons, etc?"

How about both?

The excellent but cancelled TV series firefly and the movie it spawned serenity both are set  after an exodus from earth , with colonies on planets and moons of a new solar sytem.

Sure we get there but with very little in the way of luxuries and we revert to a pioneer culture.

Answer 2

???

The idea that evolution is "a march towards increased complexity" has long been understood to be mistaken.

??? Your last paragraph makes no sense.

We are continuing to advance technologically -- not that long ago, there was no Internet; then there was, but it was much simpler and slower. To take one example.

Riding in wagons? We've been doing that for a couple thousand years, at least.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, you are looking to compare biological evolution to cultural/socio-economical evolution, and while it may seem like they go hand-in-hand, they do not.  I do appreciate the Firefly/Serenity nod.  I agree that it is a possible glimpse of a potential future, but remember they refer to the 'Earth-that-was', which means technology and records may have been lost in the destruction of the planet (I don't remember right off if they even delve into that topic), and things would need to be relearned.

As for biological evolution, I think this new finding more greatly supports the theory that organisms adapt to their environment.  Getting less complex isn't anything new.  Humans have no tails, the appendix is a useless non-functional organ, we can live without tonsils...all signs of being able to become less complex.  On the other hand, those can also be seen as signs of becoming more complex.  It all depends on one's stated definition of complexity.  In this case, the finding uses the presence of a CNS as a sign of complexity.

Of course, there is the Creationism view that must be considered.  I cannot agree with anyone stating that everything was created in 7 Earth days.  I can allow for the much more acceptable idea that 7 days refers to a much larger definition, 7 revolutions of the universe, for instance, which conceivibly would take billions of Earth years.  To enable Creationism and Evolution to both be true, this is a must.  Another 'must' is that things being created, rather than a 'poof' now it exists approach, would have to be prodded/molded into the desired organism.  In this case, that would mean response to environmental stimuli causing modification of the organism (i.e. evolution).

That along with the Theory of Natural Selection, which would also tie it all together with a nice bow, gets harmony from the less extreme 'how-did-we-get-here' people.  The rest can stay in their 'I cannot accept that your version might have some truth because my religion says so' and 'I can only believe what I can personally prove' (and similar) corners.  Ok, don't get upset if that offends you.  I appreciate your personal opinions even if I cannot understand them, I only ask that you be willing to think about other theories and agree that under certain conditions, they may be plausible.

Answer 4

From an evolutionary stand point it would be seen by neither of those things. It would be seen in things like our athletes becoming faster and stronger as the years go on, and people being taller on average than our ancestors. Small biological changes that increase our survivability as opposed to any technological innovations. The fact that our brains are developed enough that we can juggle the multitude of variables required to have built our technology is a real accomplishment.

Answer 5

Cultural evolution is not at all the same as biological evolution, and that's a really dangerous road to go down.  Any time you want to be horrified at people's small-minded stupidity, do some research on Social Darwinism and eugenics.  There's a reason that creationists like to bring up Hitler and racism in discussions of evolution (not that they have a point; people will often use science in ways it isn't meant to be to justify their prejudices; see evolutionary psychology).

And neither culture nor biological evolution has a direction.  We adapt to the environment or we die, that's it.  If adaptation means becoming more complicated, so be it.  If not, s***w it.  We have examples of both species and cultures moving in either direction, although Google is completely failing me right now with the species thing.  d**n!  Anyway, we usually talk about civilizations "collapsing", but, often, the people making up those civilizations go on doing perfectly well afterwards, just without, say, a centralized government or agriculture.  Check out the Mayans, for one, or Europeans after the fall of the Roman Empire.

So, really, we have no direction as a species, beyond survival.  Not that I think we need to be all aggressive and kill-y and doing whatever we want.  It's becoming more and more obvious that the only way we will survive as a species is by cooperating and working together.  Whether that ends with a Jetsons-like Utopia or with far fewer of us living as our ancestors did, as long as our species survives, then we've won.  We'll see what happens, I suppose.

Answer 6

Us heading out to space repeats the event of the first jelly fish heading out into that big, giant ocean, unknowing that millions of years of awe was ahead.