WEBVTT 00:00:01.039 --> 00:00:05.325 If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? NOTE Paragraph 00:00:05.349 --> 00:00:06.728 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:06.752 --> 00:00:08.840 Well, because we're not monkeys, 00:00:08.864 --> 00:00:10.014 we're fish. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:10.038 --> 00:00:11.077 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:11.101 --> 00:00:14.049 Now, knowing you're a fish and not a monkey 00:00:14.073 --> 00:00:18.500 is actually really important to understanding where we came from. 00:00:18.524 --> 00:00:22.261 I teach one of the largest evolutionary biology classes in the US, 00:00:22.285 --> 00:00:26.344 and when my students finally understand why I call them fish all the time, 00:00:26.368 --> 00:00:28.545 then I know I'm getting my job done. 00:00:28.979 --> 00:00:33.613 But I always have to start my classes by dispelling some hardwired myths, 00:00:33.637 --> 00:00:37.684 because without really knowing it, many of us were taught evolution wrong. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:38.849 --> 00:00:42.277 For instance, we're taught to say "the theory of evolution." 00:00:42.944 --> 00:00:46.761 There are actually many theories, and just like the process itself, 00:00:46.785 --> 00:00:50.539 the ones that best fit the data are the ones that survive to this day. 00:00:51.241 --> 00:00:54.384 The one we know best is Darwinian natural selection. 00:00:54.963 --> 00:00:58.923 That's the process by which organisms that best fit an environment 00:00:58.947 --> 00:01:01.167 survive and get to reproduce, 00:01:01.191 --> 00:01:03.857 while those that are less fit slowly die off. 00:01:04.698 --> 00:01:05.874 And that's it. 00:01:05.898 --> 00:01:08.842 Evolution is as simple as that, and it's a fact. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:09.785 --> 00:01:13.785 Evolution is a fact as much as the "theory of gravity." 00:01:14.150 --> 00:01:16.181 You can prove it just as easily. 00:01:16.205 --> 00:01:18.268 You just need to look at your bellybutton 00:01:18.292 --> 00:01:20.458 that you share with other placental mammals, 00:01:20.482 --> 00:01:23.502 or your backbone that you share with other vertebrates, 00:01:23.526 --> 00:01:26.867 or your DNA that you share with all other life on earth. 00:01:27.511 --> 00:01:29.724 Those traits didn't pop up in humans. 00:01:29.748 --> 00:01:32.504 They were passed down from different ancestors 00:01:32.528 --> 00:01:34.677 to all their descendants, not just us. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:35.619 --> 00:01:38.993 But that's not really how we learn biology early on, is it? 00:01:39.017 --> 00:01:42.436 We learn plants and bacteria are primitive things, 00:01:42.460 --> 00:01:45.614 and fish give rise to amphibians followed by reptiles and mammals, 00:01:45.638 --> 00:01:47.421 and then you get you, 00:01:47.445 --> 00:01:50.143 this perfectly evolved creature at the end of the line. 00:01:51.032 --> 00:01:53.766 But life doesn't evolve in a line, 00:01:53.790 --> 00:01:55.426 and it doesn't end with us. 00:01:56.591 --> 00:02:00.051 But we're always shown evolution portrayed something like this, 00:02:00.075 --> 00:02:02.463 a monkey and a chimpanzee, 00:02:02.487 --> 00:02:03.723 some extinct humans, 00:02:03.747 --> 00:02:06.999 all on a forward and steady march to becoming us. 00:02:07.621 --> 00:02:11.216 But they don't become us any more than we would become them. 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:13.641 We're also not the goal of evolution. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:15.298 --> 00:02:16.799 But why does it matter? 00:02:16.823 --> 00:02:19.695 Why do we need to understand evolution the right way? 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:24.108 Well, misunderstanding evolution has led to many problems, 00:02:24.132 --> 00:02:28.448 but you can't ask that age-old question, 00:02:28.472 --> 00:02:30.179 "Where are we from?" 00:02:30.203 --> 00:02:33.012 without understanding evolution the right way. 00:02:33.036 --> 00:02:38.892 Misunderstanding it has led to many convoluted and corrupted views 00:02:38.916 --> 00:02:41.963 of how we should treat other life on earth, 00:02:41.987 --> 00:02:43.852 and how we should treat each other 00:02:43.876 --> 00:02:45.542 in terms of race and gender. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:47.253 --> 00:02:50.260 So let's go back four billion years. 00:02:50.927 --> 00:02:54.051 This is the single-celled organism we all came from. 00:02:54.075 --> 00:02:57.400 At first, it gave rise to other single-celled life, 00:02:57.424 --> 00:02:59.916 but these are still evolving to this day, 00:02:59.940 --> 00:03:02.130 and some would say the Archaea and Bacteria 00:03:02.154 --> 00:03:04.004 that make up most of this group 00:03:04.028 --> 00:03:06.151 is the most successful on the planet. 00:03:06.175 --> 00:03:08.651 They are certainly going to be here well after us. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:09.500 --> 00:03:13.180 About three billion years ago, multicellularity evolved. 00:03:13.204 --> 00:03:16.315 This includes your fungi and your plants and your animals. 00:03:17.021 --> 00:03:20.790 The first animals to develop a backbone were fishes. 00:03:21.385 --> 00:03:25.306 So technically, all vertebrates are fishes, 00:03:25.330 --> 00:03:28.693 so technically, you and I are fish. 00:03:28.717 --> 00:03:30.415 So don't say I didn't warn you. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:31.526 --> 00:03:33.607 One fish lineage came onto land 00:03:33.631 --> 00:03:37.537 and gave rise to, among other things, the mammals and reptiles. 00:03:37.561 --> 00:03:41.885 Some reptiles become birds, some mammals become primates, 00:03:41.909 --> 00:03:44.670 some primates become monkeys with tails, 00:03:44.694 --> 00:03:49.487 and others become the great apes, including a variety of human species. 00:03:49.511 --> 00:03:51.887 So you see, we didn't evolve from monkeys, 00:03:51.911 --> 00:03:54.062 but we do share a common ancestor with them. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:54.824 --> 00:03:57.744 All the while, life around us kept evolving: 00:03:57.768 --> 00:04:01.710 more bacteria, more fungi, lots of fish, fish, fish. 00:04:01.734 --> 00:04:04.321 If you couldn't tell -- yes, they're my favorite group. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:04.345 --> 00:04:05.346 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:04:05.370 --> 00:04:08.307 As life evolves, it also goes extinct. 00:04:08.331 --> 00:04:11.618 Most species just last for a few million years. 00:04:11.642 --> 00:04:14.395 So you see, most life on earth that we see around us today 00:04:14.419 --> 00:04:16.614 are about the same age as our species. 00:04:16.958 --> 00:04:20.260 So it's hubris, it's self-centered to think, 00:04:20.284 --> 00:04:22.855 "Oh, plants and bacteria are primitive, 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:25.117 and we've been here for an evolutionary minute, 00:04:25.141 --> 00:04:26.584 so we're somehow special." NOTE Paragraph 00:04:27.172 --> 00:04:31.489 Think of life as being this book, an unfinished book for sure. 00:04:32.085 --> 00:04:35.418 We're just seeing the last few pages of each chapter. 00:04:36.386 --> 00:04:38.648 If you look out on the eight million species 00:04:38.672 --> 00:04:40.297 that we share this planet with, 00:04:40.321 --> 00:04:44.839 think of them all being four billion years of evolution. 00:04:44.863 --> 00:04:46.582 They're all the product of that. 00:04:47.386 --> 00:04:52.218 Think of us all as young leaves on this ancient and gigantic tree of life, 00:04:52.242 --> 00:04:56.543 all of us connected by invisible branches not just to each other, 00:04:56.567 --> 00:04:59.853 but to our extinct relatives and our evolutionary ancestors. 00:05:00.499 --> 00:05:03.856 As a biologist, I'm still trying to learn, with others, 00:05:03.880 --> 00:05:07.075 how everyone's related to each other, who is related to whom. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:08.831 --> 00:05:11.109 Perhaps it's better still 00:05:11.133 --> 00:05:14.829 to think of us as a little fish out of water. 00:05:14.853 --> 00:05:17.773 Yes, one that learned to walk and talk, 00:05:17.797 --> 00:05:20.146 but one that still has a lot of learning to do 00:05:20.170 --> 00:05:22.841 about who we are and where we came from. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:23.348 --> 00:05:24.499 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:24.523 --> 00:05:28.501 (Applause)