General Question

flyawayxxballoon's avatar

Does "the missing link" really exist?

Asked by flyawayxxballoon (1352points) July 23rd, 2008
12 responses
“Great Question” (1points)

This is a rather puzzling question…is there really a missing link? If so, is it “Bigfoot?”

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Answers

syz's avatar

There is no actual “missing link”. There is not a literal animal that magically bridged the gap between the precursors of ape and man. The term is merely a reference to the fact that the fossil record is spotty and incomplete. The “link” would merely help explain the evolution of the line.

syz (35943points)“Great Answer” (7points)
Loneoak's avatar

The mistaken belief that there is a “link” that directly ties humans as they are now to other primates assumes that there was a clean evolutionary break. A lot of evidence points to a long time of interbreeding between proto-human species before Homo sapiens sapiens wiped out/outcompeted the others. There was never a clean disjunction that could be brought together with a “link.” It’s a poor metaphor.

Besides, Bigfoot isn’t an ape, he’s a redneck/grizzly-bear hybrid who eats beef jerky.

marinelife's avatar

There are a lot of missing pieces in the fossil record. So, we have many missing cousins.

ninjaxmarc's avatar

monkey in the middle

loser's avatar

yeah, I think I just waited on him

delirium's avatar

There’s also a severe zenos paradox element to the term “missing link”.

gooch's avatar

Does the absence of a missing link reinforce creationism?

syz's avatar

No. It merely causes one to consider how amazing it is that we have as much of a fossil record as we do – the conditions have to been perfectly met in order to leave these amazing hints of how life used to be.

syz (35943points)“Great Answer” (1points)
jvgr's avatar

There will always be a missing link.
The more we learn we also better understand what we don’t know and search anew.
It’s mare a matter of scale than knowledge.

Aesthetic_Mess's avatar

No. I was reading an article in a magazine that said, “Many researchers agree that this vast and detailed record (the fossil record that is) shows that all the major groups of animals appeared suddenly and remained virtually unchanged, with many species disappearing as suddenly as they arrived.”

Moegitto's avatar

After years of watching Indiana Jones, I think the mayans have the missing link

EverRose11's avatar

Picture the story of evolution like a chain. Each link in the chain should be forged by science. Each part of the story that cannot be supported by science is considered a “missing link.”

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