‘ Who made me here, and why? ’ : how has evolution brought the modern world into existence?
Rhydian Evans
It’s the most fundamental of human questions, to quote South African band Juluka: ‘ Who made me here, and why? ’ Evolutionary biology is our best attempt at using what we find around us – plants, animals, fossils – to satisfy the yearning to answer the question of our identity and origins. It allows us to begin to construct a story of our evolution and our place in the wider diversity of animals, life, and ultimately how we came to be from the dust, comets and emptiness of space. What, over billions of years, caused lifeless, desiccated molecules, inert as sand, to become animated and ultimately create not only the astounding diversity of living forms but also our own capability to speak, play music, and contemplate our own beginnings? It is taken to be common knowledge that Charles Darwin ‘discovered evolution’ , though this is at the very least an abbreviation. M ore precisely, Darwin’s contribution in 1859’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ was to propose and prove a mechanism – natural selection – by which evolution may occur. 1 As early as 8 th -century Iraq, however, scholar al-Jahiz proposed species changed over time, and so evolve from a common descendant, which despite vastly predating the history of evolutionary thought in the western canon, is routinely omitted from it. 2 Al- Jahiz’s ‘ Kitab al-Hayam ’ (Book of Animals) influenced thinkers in the Muslim and European worlds alike. Translations of even originals of the books containing al- Jahiz’s ideas were published in Europe beginning in the 17 th century. 3 In the 10 th century, ibn Miskwayh – one scholar influenced by al- Jahiz’s ideas – went so far as to correctly suggest humans and apes share a common ancestor. 4 In Europe, it took until the mid-17 th century for biologists to entertain ideas about the ‘ transmutation ’ of species. 5 Important for modern evolutionary biology is the transition from a theory of species as static to dynamic – most famously expounded by Lamarck, although he was only ‘one … amongst many’ . 6 (In)famously, Lamarck suggested organisms over the course of their life became better adapted as a response to their surroundings, resulting in traits which are directly heritable. 6 So they pass these traits onto their off spring, resulting in a model of evolution, as others including Darwin’s own grandfather proposed, 7 without natural selection as a mechanism. As I explore later, however, Lamarck may not have been entirely wrong. However, even to this day Darwin’s process of natural selection as the primary mechanism for evolution to occur is the foundation of evolutionary biology. Generally
1 Darwin 1859. 2 Malik 2018. 3 Bayrakdar 1983. 4 Hawi 1974. 5 Bergman 2005. 6 Zhao 2015. 7 Darwin 1818.
248
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker