Evolution: Life on Earth is One Big Extended Family

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED: I saw this poster at Mount Saint Vincent University, in the science department. What this shows is that every life form that exists, or that has existed on this planet, all came from the same life-creating process that began life on this planet, All present life forms evolved from common ancestors at the base of each branch of the tree of life, and from a common pool of simple life forms that began billions of years ago.

This section of the graphic shows that humans appeared at the very end of this evolution, but it is by no means the end of evolution. Furthermore, mammals and humans appeared after three mass extinctions which wiped out prior species (like the dinosaurs) but also gave rise to even greater complexity and diversity in the form of mammals.

But the tiny graph at the top right of this photo shows the relationship of vertebrates (animals, humans) to all of life, which are dominated by the simplest life forms: the eukaryotes, bacteria and archea. We are at the very end of the branch of life forms called eukaryotes, which includes plants and animals.

This is how I meditate on dependent origination, interdependence.