Bacteria have a simpler body plan when compared with human beings. Does it mean that human beings are more evolved than bacteria ? Explain your answer.

Explanation

Taking the totality of life characteristics into account, it is hard to label either bacteria or human being as evolved. Evolution is simply the generation of diversity and the shaping of the diversity by environmental selection. Also, it is not as if the newly generated species are in any way better than the older one. It is just that natural selection and genetic drift have together led to the formation of a population that cannot reproduce with the original one. The only progressive trend in evolution seems to be that more and more complex body designs have emerged over time. If complexity of body design is the benchmark for evolution, then human beings are more evolved than bacteria. While bacteria have the simplest body design, human beings have the most complex body design. However, if ability to survive in extreme conditions is the standard for evolution then bacteria score much higher compared to human beings. While human beings can survive only in certain conditions, bacteria can survive even under the most extreme conditions. Many bacteria known live in sulphur springs and in craters of volcanoes. In fact, one of the simplest life forms of bacteria that inhabit the most inhospitable habitats like hot springs, deep-sea thermal vents and the ice in Antarctica. From this perspective, bacteria appear to be more evolved than human beings. In other words, human beings are not the crest of evolution, but simply yet another species in the abundant spectrum of evolving life.