12 Apr 05
I'm sure this must have been discussed before considering all the debates about evolution but i thought i'd bring it up anyway.
Is the human race still evolving as it used to?
In the past we are lead to believe that the fittest survive. Which humans passed on their genes was largely determined by their strenght, their intelligence, their looks maybe, the colour of their tail feathers etc..
Whereas now these don't have the same weight in modern society as they used too. People are born into money and don't need these traits to survive and procreate.
Bad eyesight can be fixed with glasses or lazers. Weakness can be changed with protein drinks, gyms, bad teeth can be fixed, diseases are treated with medication etc etc.
Does intelligence still help a persons changes to pass on their genes or be successful? <insert cheap shot at Dubya>
Also, as the birth rate in the western world declines the population in the 3rd world countries is exploding.
Have we taken evolution into our own hands in the 21st century?
12 Apr 05
Originally posted by dk3nnyIt's true that weaknesses and illnesses can be treated to allow people who wouldn't otherwise be able to survive or mate to do so, but this only affects evolution of they are hereditary disorders.
Bad eyesight can be fixed with glasses or lazers. Weakness can be changed with protein drinks, gyms, bad teeth can be fixed, diseases are treated with medication etc etc.
For example, Down's Syndrome can not be bred out of existence.
12 Apr 05
Originally posted by dk3nnyWe are evolving. That isn't something we can really stop. Are we evolving as we used to? That's too vaguely stated to really answer.
I'm sure this must have been discussed before considering all the debates about evolution but i thought i'd bring it up anyway.
Is the human race still evolving as it used to?
In the past we are lead to believe that the fittest survive. Which humans passed on their genes was largely determined by their strenght, their intelligence, their looks maybe, th ...[text shortened]... d world countries is exploding.
Have we taken evolution into our own hands in the 21st century?
An example of how evolution is still at work is when babies with genetic illnesses die before having children. On the other hand, if some poor kid were to mutate and as a result develop a photographic memory or a deep understanding of how computers or finances work, such a kid and his descendents who got the gene would have a much greater chance of getting rich and getting married and having kids.
12 Apr 05
Originally posted by AThousandYoungAre we still evolving: YES
We are evolving. That isn't something we can really stop. Are we evolving as we used to? That's too vaguely stated to really answer.
An example of how evolution is still at work is when babies with genetic illnesses die before having children. On the other hand, if some poor kid were to mutate and as a result develop a photographic memory or a ...[text shortened]... t the gene would have a much greater chance of getting rich and getting married and having kids.
Are we still evolving as we used to? Possibly not, too few of us die in childhhod (before reproducing) to exert selection pressure.
12 Apr 05
Originally posted by AThousandYoungWhy do you equate getting rich to getting married and having kids, when all the facts point to rich people having less children, while people in poorer countries are reproducing at an extraordinary rate?
such a kid and his descendents who got the gene would have a much greater chance of getting rich and getting married and having kids.
Of course we are still evolving, but I don't think that its evolution as it used to be. For one, in this culture of litigation, instead of survival of the fittest, we're rewarding people for being idiots.
Also, humans have only been evolving to handle civilisation for the past 8000 years (since the agricultural revolution). Humans aren't evolved to live in massively over crowded cities, hence the crazy behaviour exhibited by some people in cities. If it weren't for our adaptability, we wouldn't have survived the arrival of 'civilisation'.
D
12 Apr 05
Originally posted by RagnorakWell, all else being equal, someone who is rich will be better able to get married and have kids if they choose to do so. Also, what kids such people do have will be healthier and better able to reproduce as well if they so choose.
Why do you equate getting rich to getting married and having kids, when all the facts point to rich people having less children, while people in poorer countries are reproducing at an extraordinary rate?
Of course we are still evolving, but I don't think that its evolution as it used to be. For one, in this culture of litigation, instead of survival of ...[text shortened]... eren't for our adaptability, we wouldn't have survived the arrival of 'civilisation'.
D
I guess there's some factor which keeps people who are rich from wanting kids. If someone who was born rich or with the ability to get rich mutated so as to want lots of kids, then the genes that helped them get rich and desire kids would get passed on.
I wonder why rich people tend to have fewer children? I'll start a thread about that.
15 Apr 05
Originally posted by dk3nnyYou have hit on the single largest long term problem that we face as a species.
I'm sure this must have been discussed before considering all the debates about evolution but i thought i'd bring it up anyway.
Is the human race still evolving as it used to?
In the past we are lead to believe that the fittest survive. Which humans passed on their genes was largely determined by their strenght, their intelligence, their looks maybe, th ...[text shortened]... d world countries is exploding.
Have we taken evolution into our own hands in the 21st century?
I think that to ask "if we are evolving" outside of the time frame of "truly geologic" times is rather meaningless. I don't think that much change occurs in frames less than say 20,000 years. Humans like us are basically unchanged in the last 40,000 years.
"Technology is a plow share that will turn us under as dung if we can't get outside of the bounds and limits of this small little planet."
another famous old saying I just made up.
So we can:
Breed our species into oblivion.
Use technology to learn to live as sardines.
Go back to "primativism" as per PETA.
Go out to space and then turn Earth into a giant "park".
I vote to get out where the resources and energy is. "No Blade Of Grass" and "Soylent Green" made a big impression on me.
Mike