The age of evolution

Ask questions about projects relating to: biology, biochemistry, genomics, microbiology, molecular biology, pharmacology/toxicology, zoology, human behavior, archeology, anthropology, political science, sociology, geology, environmental science, oceanography, seismology, weather, or atmosphere.

Moderators: AmyCowen, kgudger, bfinio, MadelineB, Moderators

Locked
Andrewmorish
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2017 2:01 pm
Occupation: Parent

The age of evolution

Post by Andrewmorish »

This a Question that I need answered
If the age of the earth it 10's of thousands of year old, then why have not evolved further. There must of been Humans that under stood how to get oil, metals and other things from the earth, forward thinking people must of made more inventions. wooden and stone tools cant have been used for 10's of thousands of years.

Some people say that the age of humanity works on cycles and that civilizations fall and rise, we must of know how to fly well before the wright brothers.

What I am trying to say is that is there a limit to evolution, can we as humans only invent some much before its reinvented.

Thanks and i await a reply
FRickels
Former Expert
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:06 pm
Occupation: Student

Re: The age of evolution

Post by FRickels »

Hi Andrewmorish!

This seems like a very deep question for the K-5 forum, but I think I can still provide some insight.

To answer your first statement ("There must of been Humans that under stood how to get oil"), that is true. However, even if humans understood how to get to the oil, their tools at the time would not have been able to use the oil effectively. Therefore, the oil would not be used until someone could invent a way to use it. Evolution is a very slow process that we cannot observe happening directly in front of us, but we can observe it over many years. It takes many years for people to think of, invent, and perfect inventions. Similarly, humans could have had the idea of flight well before the Wright brothers successfully experimented with it, but not had the tools, materials, mathematics, or intelligence to make it work.

We as humans are constantly both inventing and reinventing ideas. There is no substantial evidence that proves that humans (or any other organism) have stopped evolving. Hope this answered your question well enough!

FRickels
FRickels
jskanderson
Former Student Expert
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2016 8:50 pm
Occupation: Student

Re: The age of evolution

Post by jskanderson »

Andrewmorish wrote:This a Question that I need answered
If the age of the earth it 10's of thousands of year old, then why have not evolved further. There must of been Humans that under stood how to get oil, metals and other things from the earth, forward thinking people must of made more inventions. wooden and stone tools cant have been used for 10's of thousands of years.

Some people say that the age of humanity works on cycles and that civilizations fall and rise, we must of know how to fly well before the wright brothers.

What I am trying to say is that is there a limit to evolution, can we as humans only invent some much before its reinvented.

Thanks and i await a reply
Hey Andrewmorish,

I agree with FRickels; we often don't see questions this impressive over human civilization and its evolution of thought on the K-5 forum! That being said, I hope to direct you over to ScienceBuddies' projects relating to broad topics like these related to society, human behavior, and evolution if you wish to explore this idea (and related ones) further!

Human Behavior projects: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... n-behavior

Sociology projects: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... /sociology

Hope this helped, and please don't hesitate to ask us any more questions/concerns!

-JSK
~ Call me JSK :D
"Be the person who you wish to see in the world."
Quark2
Former Expert
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 7:25 am
Occupation: Student

Re: The age of evolution

Post by Quark2 »

Surprisingly, numerous studies have shown that the Earth is actually 5 billion years old, and simple life forms have existed for at least 3.8 billion years. If this 5 billion year time period was scaled into a year, humans would have first appeared at around 11:59 P.M. on December 31. This truly gives us perspective as to how short humans have inhabited the Earth, and how much we have already evolved in the short period compared to other organisms. The rate of human evolution is by no means slow, and has limitless possibilities as to what we can achieve in that short time period. However, human evolution has come at the expense of other species that also inhabit this planet, as we take their habitats away, ultimately resulting in extinction.

Hope I have broadened your view regarding the age of the Earth and human existence, as well as the role evolution plays for us and other species.
Locked

Return to “Grades K-5: Life, Earth, and Social Sciences”