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Hannah Ackles

December 4, 2016

Mr. Leader

Biology

Evolution is Undeniable

There are around sixteen million species on Earth, but humans are the only ones to truly

comprehend and ponder our existence. Humans have an average of 30,000 days on Earth and

throughout that time, we try to reason with our existence and inevitable death. Through scientific

discovery, humans have researched our origin and the history of living things, which has lead to

the theory of evolution. Humans have been in our recent form for about 100,000 years, but

everything that we have gathered about evolution has emerged in the past 150 years - and theres

still much more yet to be discovered. In the 6th century BC, Greek philosopher Anaximander

theorized that fishlike animals were the first species when life began. While this idea was

extremely brief, this was the beginning of the exploration of evolution. Two millennia later, in

1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, in which he discovered the

mechanisms of evolution. It is argued that evolution is one of the most important developing

ideas in our world because it pertains to every living thing and system. In Bill Nyes book titled

Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, he writes about the science and research

behind life on Earth in the past, present, and future, and his thoughts will be discussed

throughout this essay. Although evolution is constantly researched, it is often debated and

questioned by creationists who are closed minded to the brilliant discoveries made by naturalists.
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Evolution is viable, undeniable, and very important to the future of all living things, as it is the

true medicine to human curiosity.

One of the largest issues with creationism is the fact that is resists any urge to be open to

research. If we want progress and advancements to be made, the first step to doing that is to be

open-minded and curious. As Bill Nye states Every day we have less life left to us, and yet

every day we have access to a greater and greater stretch of evolutionary time. (150) Though

humans dont have much time on Earth, every day there are new discoveries to be made about

our history. The Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, so clearly, there is still so much that is to be

explored. Our descendants will most likely see in the future that we missed some obvious things

when researching, but that will only happen if we accept and move forward with progress. The

fear of death that is only truly recognized by humans is a possible reason why some creationists

do not believe in evolution. But what we feel - specifically with thanatophobia and our drive to

reproduce - is because of evolution. What I have concluded is that it seems that the reason why

creationists are so opposed to evolution is because they are afraid of the future (or in other

words, death). It is common for humans to come up with scenarios and distractions to try and

push away the inevitability of death and the continuation of life after them. But the idea that life

improves and prospers after we die should be inspiring because that is the beauty of evolution. If

we think back to other forms of the human genus, such as Neanderthals, they most likely would

have never imagined humans as they are today, nor would they have imagined the diversity of

our species. It is very uplifting to think about what kinds of things our offspring will accomplish.
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Often times when we think about the future, we think about the future within our lifetime.

Arguably, the most important future is the one of our offspring. The multiplication of ecosystems

has lead to more mutations and variants that comes with time, which leads to biodiversity.

Earths various species depend on their ecosystems. However, humans are killing about one

species per day, which is increasing the rate of extinction around a thousand times more.

Biodiversity is a result of evolution, and it is also a safety net that helps keep that process going.

In order to pass our own genes into the future and enable our offspring to live long and prosper,

we must reverse the current trend and preserve as much biodiversity as possible. (140) Humans

often think about their own species, which is perfectly normal, but we have the power to make a

difference for every other species and preserve our planet. Sure, one species does not seem like a

lot, but if we kill one species, we will not have knowledge of the results of that species

ecosystem. If biodiversity is eliminated, our world will not be nearly as useful or healthy. It is

our role to learn about and from our past in order to continue our future.

Understanding the process of evolution and our past will only allow our planet to prosper.

It is known that because of mutations, species and populations split through time, but according

to Darwin, a common ancestor could be found for all living things on Earth. Looking at our

ancestors DNA will allow us to see how we evolve and where we are headed. Due to genetic

drift, it is possible to arrange DNA and genes in reproduction that will affect your population and

you. Though evolution is a long process, small frequencies can occur in microevolution within a

population or species. On the other hand, macroevolution can occur due to selection or

environmental changes. Simple information like this is very important to know in order to
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provide a successful future for our offspring. About half of Americans, according to a public

opinion poll, do not believe that life on Earth comes from evolution, which is frightening.

Evolution is not only about how living things came to be, but also benefits to improve the future

of living things, and that is something that many people forget when they think of evolution.

Through research and evolutionary discoveries, it is clear that naturalists have been able

to take resources from the past and make conclusions about the future. One of the most important

evolutionary research that can be conducted is regarding medicine. Cancer is an appropriate

example. Cancer cell mutations are made in a patients body, so that malignant cells find new

ways to get a supply of blood and become resistant to anticancer drugs. (279) Hormones from

other animals can be used to treat people and vaccines are created annually to treat the flu virus

that is always anticipated in humans. There is even a drug that is derived from an endangered

tree that helps treat cancer. Treating living things is dependant on the understanding of evolution.

Our understanding of medicine, blood types, the central nervous system, and where we

ultimately came from are all direct results of our understanding of evolution...That the essential

discovery of evolution was made barely a century and a half ago indicates how primitive we

must all be. (353) A deep understanding of living things as a whole will prevent us from making

any mistakes in the future.

Evolution is commonly known for its process of natural selection. However, scientists

and researchers are now looking into the idea of human cloning, which would mean the complete

bypassing of natural selection, and using artificial selection on ourselves. With the amount of
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knowledge that scientists have about human DNA, they could technically clone a human being

and skip over the long process. Many see human cloning as a cool sci-fi effect, but it is not as

easy or essential as it seems. Cloning takes an extreme amount of effort and time, and dangerous

results can occur if it is not done properly. A human clone would not have a different mix of

genes and would fall behind in many different aspects, which would eventually lead to the

halting of human evolution altogether. The survival of humans is dependant on the adaptability

of environments, and if evolution is halted, humans cannot achieve more and will die off. It is a

good thing that humans are curious about this idea, but the truth about it must be taught in order

to maintain a robust future.

While reading Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation by Bill Nye, I gained

a deep understanding of the importance of human curiosity and how that can foster a bright

future for our planet. I was put into perspective how miniscule our bacteria is and how large our

ecosystems are. I truly realized how short each individual life is, and how we must spend our

lives wisely to improve the quality of our planet and be a part of the forthcoming. Our minds

must be open in order to create a planet that will last. Humans must understand that birth, our

experiences, and death are all inevitable in our time, and while that is obvious, that should not be

frightening. Our past species have passed in order to create lives for us, and we must do the same

for future offspring. How we evolve is a beautiful process that will continue as long as we allow

it to with our curious minds.

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