Single Line Becomes A Complex Mess That Echoes Evolutionary Process (VIDEO)

io9 came upon a fascinating video that succinctly illustrates how something simple can become quite complicated over time. Clement Valla asked 500 people to consecutively trace what was, at first, a single line. As each person traces the last person's line, the result becomes more and more jumbled and complex.

As pointed out by io9, this video is an illuminating metaphor for the process of biological evolution:

As each person was asked to copy the previous person's effort, the original straight line morphed into a chaotic mess of random squiggles. We're not saying this is exactly like how evolution works, but this is a pretty great depiction of how random errors and mutations can accumulate over time.

Take a look.

WATCH (via io9):

A Sequence of Lines Traced by Five Hundred Individuals from clement valla on Vimeo.

Comments

[Cynth]

04:25 PM on 02/16/2011

An interesting and humbling exercise -- and a visual play on the game of telephone. It reminds me how our perceptions, interpretations, expressions can distort the original artifact, facts, or truth, especially when passed on repeatedly and over time.

[David N Taiwan]

07:36 PM on 02/17/2011

True, just like what has happened with the bible's many translations and re-writes throughout the centuries.

[Scott Berfield]

01:54 PM on 02/16/2011

Don't think it actually says much about evolution - without a selection mechanism, there is no evolution, just drift. It is pretty cool, though.

[idyllick]

10:31 AM on 02/16/2011

In other words, "It don't mean a thing if it aint got that swing..."

[jh2]

10:08 AM on 02/16/2011

Evolutionary stages:
:41 split 1
:43 single line rejoin 1
:45 squiggly line mutation
:46 split 2
:47 single line rejoin 2
:51 two legs mutation
:53 legs become ball/one leg removed
:58 explosional split
1:03 great extinction event 1
1:07 spontaneous generation event "Cat"
1:08 great extinction event 2
1:14 Die off
1:17 spontaneous generation event "V"
1:18 great extinction event 3
1:28 rapid transformation
1:36 heat death

[999theantiantichrist]

09:54 AM on 02/16/2011

So.....uh.... which one of those lines explains the current crop of ....uh......tea?

[Robert Frank]

09:00 AM on 02/16/2011

it also proves that when information is NOT translated word for word EXACTLY it becomes distorted and ends up being a shadow of its former self...i.e. lies, half-truths..etc..

[ebanks84]

08:50 AM on 02/16/2011

What? You've got to be kidding!

[savroD]

08:35 AM on 02/16/2011

Love it!

I enjoy how something so simply demonstrable can be so powerfull; that is of course, if you are reasonably intelligent enough to understand the metaphor!

[Carachama]

08:34 AM on 02/16/2011

This is more akin to genetic drift than to natural selection. Genetic drift is when random mutations become set in a population due to random chance generally in a small population. The population size here is 1, so extremely small. This is a valid way by which evolution proceeds. To be more like natural selection, they could have told each person to choose the straightest of five lines and trace it five times, then have the next person choose the straightest of those five lines and trace it five times. If you did that, the traits of the lines would not have shifted so dramatically.

[Dillinger13]

08:19 AM on 02/16/2011

How does that show anything about evolution? that was just a visual 'chinese whispers'. Evolution isn't about distortion, it is about attributes that adapt for a specific reason and that is why they get passed down.

[Beans22]

08:27 AM on 02/16/2011

There are no specific reasons for adaptations. Evolution is random but the successful attributes are passed.

[NoLongerAnonymous]

08:28 AM on 02/16/2011

throw in intention without ethics and you have our current mess.

[skeptaholic]

09:02 AM on 02/16/2011

Change may be "random" in individuals. Adaptation refers to collective changes in species, especially successful changes. Evolution is the sum of those species changes that may have beneficial attributes, but also may encompass non-adaptive attributes that have no effect on success, like eye color, hair color or genetic diseases that manifest after reproductive years.

If, during that video, you split the screen and had two separate groups tracing that line from that point, you would likely end up with very different end results. And looking at it in reverse, you would see the divergent results return toward a "common ancestor."

[AGooglyMinotaur]

09:22 AM on 02/16/2011

Beans22 x2

[ScapeGoat]

08:18 AM on 02/16/2011

Interesting thing this science.
Gravity is a real fact. The theory of Gravity tries to explain the fact of gravity.
A Black Hole is a fact. The theory tries to explain the fact.
Evolution is a fact the theory of evolution tries to explain the fact.
The fact of evolution could care less if you believe in it or not. It will just keep on doing what it has done for billions of year.

[TheMediaWrangler]

09:09 AM on 02/16/2011

Very good point, but a slight over-reach in my opinion. The geologic record is a gargantuan fact (made up of many, many smaller facts). Stunning biological diversity and well-adapted ecological systems are gargantuan facts. The theory of evolution explains we have observed within these facts.

The problem with creation myths is that they only try to explain themselves with no regard for observed facts outside of the book binding. Thus, they can't be literally true.

The problem with the "theory" of intelligent design is that it selectively ignores a multitude of facts that contradict it.

[ScapeGoat]

09:29 AM on 02/16/2011

Lrics to Eskimo Blue Day by the Jerrfeson Airplane :
Snow cuts loose from the frozen
Until it joins with the African sea
In moving it changes its cold and its name
The reason I come and go is the same
Animal game for me
You call it rain
But the human name
Doesn't mean $hit to a tree
If you don't mind heat in your river and
Fork tongue talking from me
Swim like an eel fantastic snake
Take my love when it's free
Electric feel with me
You call it loud
But the human crowd
Doesn't mean $hit to a tree
Change the strings and notes slide
Change the bridge and string shift down
Shift the notes and bride sings
Fire eating people
Rising toys of the sun
Energy dies without body warm
Icicles ruin your gun
Water my roots the natural thing
Natural spring to the sea
Sulphur springs make my body float
Like a ship made of logs from a tree
Redwoods talk to me
Say it plainly
The human name
Doesn't mean $hit to a tree
Snow called water going violent
Damn the end of the stream
Too much cold in one place breaks
That's why you might know what I mean
Consider how small you are
Compared to your scream
The human dream
Doesn't mean $hit to a tree

[ These are Eskimo Blue Day Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/

[ScapeGoat]

09:36 AM on 02/16/2011

"The problem with the "theory" of intelligent design is that it selectively ignores a multitude of facts that contradict it."

Intelligent Design is NOT a scientific theory. It does not explain real observed facts. Rather, Intelligent Design has an agenda to prove that the earth is 10,000 years old and that God made every thing. They start with the end point "God did it" and work backwards to make the "facts" fit the "theory".

In real science, the theory must fit the observed facts. Facts first , theory second.
If new facts emerge, then the theory must be modified to fit the observation.
NOT, make the "facts" fit into a preconceived notion.

[AGooglyMinotaur]

09:23 AM on 02/16/2011

You're right. "Theory" doesn't mean the same thing in science that it does in the popular realm. Many theories are completely proven.

[ScapeGoat]

09:28 AM on 02/16/2011

exactly:

In science, a theory must explain the facts that are observed. You can't make up fact to fit the theory. The theory must fit the observed facts.

[Beans22]

08:15 AM on 02/16/2011

What were the exact instructions for the experiment? Were they instructed to make precise duplications of the preceding line or was 'close enough' ok? I'm not sure the illuminating metaphor for evolution is terribly relevant. It's speaks more to the fact that no matter how many times you explain to someone how to use the toolkit in MS Paint, they will fumble around, trying to remember and end up scratching out a squiggly line and call it close enough. Or, you can look at as the evolution of art from realism to abstract expressionism. Not so much about evolution.

[Viracocha711]

08:13 AM on 02/16/2011

This also shows how something like the Bible that was repeatedly copied over 1500yrs & how different & distorted it would be from the original! Not only was it copied over & over but translated from a spoken language to various different languages before it ever got to be in its English form! To think the Bible has never changed is one of the most absurd ideas still believed today!

[NoLongerAnonymous]

08:25 AM on 02/16/2011

Particularly of interest when you throw in the human predisposition to personally benefit from intentional distortion. This is the predecessor to the corporate-driven mess we are living in today. Corporations foul the nest to fuel personal greed while we get sick on their residual trash (then of course we pay them to "make us well"). The ultimate terrorism: refuse to participate in this BS. Put chickens in your backyard, harvest water, grow food (NOT from Monsanto seeds). Rebel or get flattened.

[David N Taiwan]

08:33 AM on 02/16/2011

WOW!!!

I wish I'd thought of this response!! Thank you!

[Fbigdeal]

08:07 AM on 02/16/2011

huh? I wasted 3 mins watching - I was hoping at the end I will see an ape or a man emerge.. what's up wid dat?

[David N Taiwan]

08:42 AM on 02/16/2011

It's about the evolution of a line over 500 generations.

That's what's up wid dat.

[Fbigdeal]

05:59 AM on 02/20/2011

Only??? 500

[skeptaholic]

08:49 AM on 02/16/2011

I think I saw the image of Jesus in there. I did. Really.

[AGooglyMinotaur]

09:24 AM on 02/16/2011

Dude! He was on my waffle this morning too!

[999theantiantichrist]

09:41 AM on 02/16/2011

hahah... love it! hahahaha

[Slingingstones]

07:45 AM on 02/16/2011

Good morning fellow hominids.