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Who the man came from: facts and conjectures

Who the man came from: facts and conjectures
Who the man came from: facts and conjectures

Video: The Million Dollar Problem That Went Unsolved For A Century - The Poincaré Conjecture 2024, May

Video: The Million Dollar Problem That Went Unsolved For A Century - The Poincaré Conjecture 2024, May
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There is no riddle in this world more fascinating and complex than the question of who the person came from. Passions around this problem have been seething for centuries. Since religion played a central role in the life of our ancestors, for a long time the only version was the divine origin of man. In those years, scientists did not dare to publicly protest against this statement, since it was easy to get to the fire for it.

Years passed, the role of the Church in the daily life of people gradually decreased. More and more new theories arose, the authors of which tried to explain where the man came from. However, most of the initial theories somehow "revolved" around the divine origin of Homo sapiens. Scientists speculated that he could have come from some ancient ancestors, giants, and even people who once lived in the mythical Atlantis.

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The problem was that not one of the authors could provide any evidence of their version of the origin of people. In a word, the question of who the man came from has remained a mystery for seven seals for many decades.

That was until Charles Darwin made his famous voyage on the Beagle. Throughout his journey, he collected herbaria and collections of animals and insects, which he met on his way. In the end, he began to notice amazing patterns in the appearance and structure of various organisms. It was then that the famous work appeared on the beaks of finches living in the Galapagos Islands. Darwin noticed the continuity, which helped explain to him from whom the man came.

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The scientist noted that the appearance of the beak of birds changed depending on environmental conditions and nutritional conditions. Darwin suggested that the beak could change as a result of a long-term process, which he called evolution (gradual change). From the very beginning, the theory had many opponents, but only evolutionary theory could clearly explain who the man came from. The scientist claimed that our ancestors were … monkeys! However, it was this revolutionary statement that was perceived extremely hostile not only by supporters of the Church, but also by scientists.

However, over time and the development of paleontology, more and more evidence began to appear in the form of petrified remains. Studying them, many scientists began to be inspired by the ideas of Darwinism. Moreover, the works of Lamarck and other naturalists who worked on the classification of animals fit perfectly into Darwin's theory.

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Scientists of that time were perplexed by the "stepping" of the kingdoms of the animal world, since they did not know where to place the person: by all indications, he looked like higher primates, but in those years he could not be attributed to the "relatives" of monkeys. The appearance of the Darwinian theory perfectly explained all these ambiguities and saved the biologists from the need to take people to a separate kingdom, as creationists demanded.

Thus, the question of what a person came from was no longer standing. Darwin's theory began to be introduced in schools, and almost all scientists agreed with its main provisions. Of course, like most assumptions, this famous theory has its drawbacks. However, it is worth emphasizing once again that only the teachings of Darwin can explain the origin of the diversity of species that exist on our planet today.