Evolution diagram should be 'expunged from record' as it portrays 'wronger things': Expert

The famous diagram of evolution - an ape figure turning into an upright human - should be “expunged from the record” of everything, according to an expert. According to Daily Mail, Dr Adam Rutherford, a geneticist at University College London, argued that the diagram should be removed from the biology book as it portrays “wronger things” about evolution than anything else. While speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival, Rutherford said that the image of a line of men starting with a monkey who slowly get more upright to a white guy with a beard was “damaging” for understanding the science of evolution. 

The original diagram, named The Road to Homo Sapiens, begins with Pliopithecus, a 22 million-year-old ancestor of the gibbon line. It depicts 14 other primate figures, ending with the modern man. Rutherford said that the original diagram depicts a “directional sophistication and intelligence”. He added that it is from a textbook in 1965, and further went on to say that if he had one wish he would “expunge it from the record of everything”. 

Rutherford said that the image points to the idea that evolution has a direction. He explained that the original diagram depicts that there are ape-like ancestors and they begin to walk upright and eventually become us. He added that this isn’t how evolution works as humans evolve to occupy whatever environmental niche they are in at that time. 

Evolution diagram should be 'much messier' 

Further, the geneticist went on to say that in future, homo sapiens can quite easily evolve into a “completely different shape or go back to being quadrupedal (walking on all fours)”. “That's just how evolution works. The idea that evolution 'improves' is not correct,” Rutherford added. He said that all organisms have adapted to exist in their environment. 

It is a very human, hubristic point of view, that we think of ourselves as the pinnacle of evolution, he said. Rutherford added that the fact the diagram is still widely circulated is “not the biggest crime in the universe,” however, it is “misinformative”. He explained that it implies that we know the route of evolution, but apart from the relationship between Neanderthals and homo sapiens - which is that they were our ancestors - we don’t really know what our ancestors were, he added. 

Rutherford said that there are a load of theories and loads of specimens of older humans, however, the researchers haven’t been able to draw lines between those and humans. “That picture says 'this is the route' and even names them. But I think one of the most important things in science is teaching people what we don't know, rather than just what we do know,” the geneticist said. He went on to say that the diagram should be “much messier” and “much more like a network”. 

(Image: Twitter)