Why You’re Wrong About Evolution (And Why It’s Embarrassing Me)
Every time I hear someone say “If humans evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” I feel a small part of my considerable intellect die. The frequency of this question makes me wonder if we should rename our species from Homo sapiens (“wise human”) to something more appropriate, perhaps Homo confusus. Today, we’re going to address this and other painful misconceptions about evolution that make scientists everywhere sigh dramatically into their coffee cups.
The Monkey Business: A Tale of Common Ancestry
Let’s begin with the most egregious misunderstanding that plagues our species’ collective intelligence. Humans did not evolve FROM monkeys — we share a common ancestor WITH them. The distinction is crucial, and the fact that I have to explain this makes me question our educational system’s effectiveness. Imagine if someone looked at you and your cousin and asked, “If you descended from your aunt, why does your aunt still exist?” The absurdity is comparable.
The evidence for our common ancestry is overwhelming, written in every cell of our bodies. When we examine our DNA, we find that we share approximately 98% of it with chimpanzees, our closest living relatives. This isn’t some cosmic coincidence — it’s our family history written in nucleotides…
