Four billion years of evolution in six minutes | Prosanta Chakrabarty

Prevoditelj: Nikolina Daka Recezent: Sanda L

If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?

Ako smo se mi razvili iz majmuna, zašto još postoje majmuni?

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Well, because we're not monkeys,

Pa, zato što nismo majmuni,

we're fish.

nego ribe.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Now, knowing you're a fish and not a monkey

Znati da smo ribe, a ne majmuni

is actually really important to understanding where we came from.

zapravo je jako važno zbog razumijevanja odakle smo nastali.

I teach one of the largest evolutionary biology classes in the US,

Predajem jedan od najvećih kolegija o evolucijskoj biologiji u SAD-u

and when my students finally understand why I call them fish all the time,

i kada moji studenti napokon shvate zašto ih stalno zovem ribama,

then I know I'm getting my job done.

onda znam da dobro odrađujem svoj posao.

But I always have to start my classes by dispelling some hardwired myths,

No, uvijek moram započeti svoja predavanja razbijanjem ukorijenjenih mitova

because without really knowing it, many of us were taught evolution wrong.

jer iako toga nismo bili zaista svjesni, puno nas je krivo naučeno o evoluciji.

For instance, we're taught to say "the theory of evolution."

Na primjer, naučeni smo reći "teorija evolucije".

There are actually many theories, and just like the process itself,

U stvari, postoji puno teorija i baš kao i sam proces,

the ones that best fit the data are the ones that survive to this day.

one koje se najbolje uklapaju su one koje su se i održale do danas.

The one we know best is Darwinian natural selection.

Najpoznatija je Darwinova teorija evolucije prirodnom selekcijom.

That's the process by which organisms that best fit an environment

Ona opisuje proces kojim organizmi koji se najbolje prilagođavaju okolišu

survive and get to reproduce,

preživljavaju i razmnožavaju se,

while those that are less fit slowly die off.

dok oni koji se slabije uklapaju polako i odumiru.

And that's it.

I to je to.

Evolution is as simple as that, and it's a fact.

Evolucija je tako jednostavna, i to je činjenica.

Evolution is a fact as much as the "theory of gravity."

Evolucija je činjenica koliko i "teorija gravitacije".

You can prove it just as easily.

Jednako lako je možemo dokazati.

You just need to look at your bellybutton

Samo trebate pogledati svoj pupak

that you share with other placental mammals,

kojeg dijelite s ostalim pravim sisavcima,

or your backbone that you share with other vertebrates,

ili kralježnicu koju dijelite s ostalim kralježnjacima,

or your DNA that you share with all other life on earth.

ili vašu DNK koju dijelite sa svime što je živo na Zemlji.

Those traits didn't pop up in humans.

Te se osobine nisu prvo pojavile kod ljudi.

They were passed down from different ancestors

One su predane od različitih predaka

to all their descendants, not just us.

svim njihovim potomcima, ne samo nama.

But that's not really how we learn biology early on, is it?

Ali, ne počinjemo baš tako učiti biologiju, zar ne?

We learn plants and bacteria are primitive things,

Učimo da su biljke i bakterije primitivne vrste,

and fish give rise to amphibians followed by reptiles and mammals,

ribe se razvijaju u vodozemce, dalje idu gmazovi i sisavci,

and then you get you,

a onda ste nastali vi,

this perfectly evolved creature at the end of the line.

savršeno evoluirano biće na kraju linije.

But life doesn't evolve in a line,

No, život se ne razvija pravocrtno

and it doesn't end with us.

i ne završava s nama.

But we're always shown evolution portrayed something like this,

Evolucija nam je uvijek prikazana ovako,

a monkey and a chimpanzee,

majmun i čimpanza,

some extinct humans,

neki izumrli ljudi

all on a forward and steady march to becoming us.

koji su svi na stalnom maršu kako bi postali mi.

But they don't become us any more than we would become them.

No, oni ne postaju mi ništa više nego bismo mi postali oni.

We're also not the goal of evolution.

Također, mi nismo cilj evolucije.

But why does it matter?

Ali, zašto je to važno?

Why do we need to understand evolution the right way?

Zašto moramo pravilno razumjeti evoluciju?

Well, misunderstanding evolution has led to many problems,

Pa, nerazumijevanje evolucije je dovelo do mnogih problema,

but you can't ask that age-old question,

ali ne možete pitati to prastaro pitanje,

"Where are we from?"

"Odakle smo nastali?",

without understanding evolution the right way.

bez pravilnog razumijevanja evolucije.

Misunderstanding it has led to many convoluted and corrupted views

Nerazumijevanje je dovelo do mnogih zamršenih i iskvarenih gledišta

of how we should treat other life on earth,

o tome kako bismo se trebali odnositi prema životu na Zemlji

and how we should treat each other

te jedni prema drugima

in terms of race and gender.

u smislu rase i spola.

So let's go back four billion years.

Vratimo se unazad 4 milijarde godina.

This is the single-celled organism we all came from.

Ovo je jednostanični organizam od kojeg smo svi nastali.

At first, it gave rise to other single-celled life,

Na početku je doveo do drugog jednostaničnog života,

but these are still evolving to this day,

ali oni još uvijek evoluiraju

and some would say the Archaea and Bacteria

i neki bi rekli da su prabakterije i bakterije,

that make up most of this group

koje čine većinu ove grupe,

is the most successful on the planet.

najuspješnije na planetu.

They are certainly going to be here well after us.

Svakako će biti tu dugo poslije nas.

About three billion years ago, multicellularity evolved.

Prije otprilike 3 milijarde godina nastala je višestaničnost.

This includes your fungi and your plants and your animals.

To uključuje gljivice, biljke i životinje.

The first animals to develop a backbone were fishes.

Prve životinje koje su razvile kralježnicu bile su ribe.

So technically, all vertebrates are fishes,

Tehnički, svi kralježnjaci su ribe,

so technically, you and I are fish.

tehnički, vi i ja smo ribe.

So don't say I didn't warn you.

Nemojte reći da vas nisam upozorio.

One fish lineage came onto land

Jedna vrsta riba je došla na kopno

and gave rise to, among other things, the mammals and reptiles.

iz kojih su, između ostalih, nastali sisavci i gmazovi.

Some reptiles become birds, some mammals become primates,

Neki gmazovi su postali ptice, neki sisavci su postali primati,

some primates become monkeys with tails,

neki primati su postali majmuni s repom,

and others become the great apes, including a variety of human species.

ostali su postali čovjekoliki majmuni, uključujući raznolikost ljudskih vrsta.

So you see, we didn't evolve from monkeys,

Prema tome, nismo nastali od majmuna,

but we do share a common ancestor with them.

ali dijelimo zajedničkog pretka.

All the while, life around us kept evolving:

Cijelo vrijeme život oko nas je evoluirao;

more bacteria, more fungi, lots of fish, fish, fish.

više bakterija, više gljivica, puno ribe, ribe, ribe.

If you couldn't tell -- yes, they're my favorite group.

Ako niste primijetili, da, oni su mi omiljena skupina.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

As life evolves, it also goes extinct.

Kako život evoluira, također i izumire.

Most species just last for a few million years.

Većina vrsta traje samo nekoliko milijuna godina.

So you see, most life on earth that we see around us today

Tako da, većina života na Zemlji kojeg vidimo oko nas,

are about the same age as our species.

otprilike je jednako stara kao naša vrsta.

So it's hubris, it's self-centered to think,

Oholo je i umišljeno misliti,

"Oh, plants and bacteria are primitive,

"Biljke i bakterije su primitivne,

and we've been here for an evolutionary minute,

a mi smo ovdje evolucijski kratko

so we're somehow special."

pa smo nekako posebni."

Think of life as being this book, an unfinished book for sure.

Mislite o životu kao o knjizi, zasigurno nedovršenoj knjizi.

We're just seeing the last few pages of each chapter.

Mi samo gledamo zadnjih par stranica svakog poglavlja.

If you look out on the eight million species

Ako pogledate osam milijuna vrsta

that we share this planet with,

s kojima dijelimo ovaj planet,

think of them all being four billion years of evolution.

razmišljajte o njima svima kao o četiri milijarde godina evolucije.

They're all the product of that.

Oni su svi proizvod toga.

Think of us all as young leaves on this ancient and gigantic tree of life,

Mislite o svima nama kao mladim listovima na ovom prastarom, ogromnom drvu života,

all of us connected by invisible branches not just to each other,

svi povezani nevidljivim granama, ne samo jedni s drugima,

but to our extinct relatives and our evolutionary ancestors.

nego i s našim izumrlim rođacima i našim evolucijskim predcima.

As a biologist, I'm still trying to learn, with others,

Kao biolog, još uvijek pokušavam naučiti, s drugima,

how everyone's related to each other, who is related to whom.

kako su svi srodni jedni drugima, tko je u rodu s kime.

Perhaps it's better still

Možda je još uvijek bolje

to think of us as a little fish out of water.

misliti o nama kao o maloj ribi izvan vode.

Yes, one that learned to walk and talk,

Da, ona koja je naučila hodati i pričati,

but one that still has a lot of learning to do

ali koja još uvijek ima puno toga za naučiti

about who we are and where we came from.

o tome tko smo i odakle smo došli.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)