Define the term evolution. “Evolution cannot be equated with progress”. Justify this statement. (2020)

Evolution is the sequence of gradual changes which take place in primitive organisms over millions of years in which new species are produced.
Since there is no actual progress in the concept of evolution, the two concepts should not be linked. Simply put, evolution is the process of producing a variety of life forms and modifying this diversity through environmental selection. The only indication of evolution’s progress is the appearance of animals with increasingly sophisticated body plans through the millennia. The examples that follow will make this clear. The old species don’t have to vanish or be eradicated from the planet when a new one emerges.

It will all depend on the environment. Also, it is not as if the newly formed species are in any way better than the older ones. It is simply that genetic drift and natural selection processes have combined to form a population having different body designs which cannot interbreed with the older population. It is a common belief that chimpanzees are the ancestors of human beings. It is, however, not true that human beings have evolved from chimpanzees. Both chimpanzees and human beings had a common ancestor a long time ago. The two offspring of that ancestor evolved in their separate ways to form modern-day chimpanzees and human beings.

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