# Major Evolutionary Steps Arise More Than Once by Martin Nowak > “I believe the following aspects of evolution to be true without knowing how to turn them into (respectable) research topics. Important steps in evolution are robust. Multi-cellularity evolved at least ten times. There are several independent origins of eusociality.” > **— Martin Nowak**, *2005 Edge Annual Question, stated belief* ## Sources and Context - **Direct publication and locator:** [Martin Nowak’s 2005 Edge Annual Question response](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10815) — introductory “I believe” sentence immediately before the indented evolutionary examples. - **Exact original excerpt:** “I believe the following aspects of evolution to be true without knowing how to turn them into (respectable) research topics. Important steps in evolution are robust. Multi-cellularity evolved at least ten times. There are several independent origins of eusociality. There were a number of lineages leading from primates to humans. If our ancestors would not have evolved language, somebody else would have.” - **Context and editing:** The poster begins with Nowak’s own introductory sentence immediately before the indented examples, preserving his belief posture. The next three sentences are contiguous; later examples and the separate language counterfactual remain in the exact original excerpt. No editorial words were inserted. - **Local Edge archive:** [[research/Edge 2005 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2005 Full Quotation Curation]], response EDGE2005-082. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Evolutionary Biology|Evolutionary Biology]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Evolutionary Biology|Evolutionary Biology]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “I believe the following aspects of evolution to be true without knowing how to turn them into (respectable) research topics. Important steps in evolution are robust. Multi-cellularity evolved at least ten times. There are several independent origins of eusociality.” — Martin Nowak, 2005 Edge Annual Question, stated belief https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-martin-nowak-major-evolutionary-steps-arise-more-than ```