Humans can't evolve.

[fix-the-spade]

Humans can' evolve, we have too many people with too many random genes able to breed. Even when inferior humans would die off, medical science saves them so they can breed and spread their stupid throughout humanity.

I think you'll find evolution happens (for better or worse) whether you like it or not.

As a species we are getting taller and our little fingers and toes are receding, we're also losing a pair of ribs and two pairs of teeth.
The idea of forced breeding is Eugenics rather than Evolution. Evolution is extremely slow, too slow for any living being to notice or measure, but it never stops.

 

[Kevvers]

I think the human species is evolving, but in a very erratic way, because humanity is now capable of changing its environment within a generation and evolution actually needs thousands of generations for serious changes.

I'm sure people have heard the theory that humanity will diverge into two species. One of incredibly tall long-lived aesthetes and the other a sort of servant race of shorter squat beings who actually did all the manual labour. This was the sort of thing very much on the mind of H.G.Wells. He described in "The Time Machine" the Eloi and the Morlocks which were supposedly how the classes had undergone divergent evolution.

TBH I think if you replace Morlocks with Robots, then that's where were headed. It sounds OK to me, except the population might have to be strictly controlled or we will all end up in a kind of rigid authoritarian society out of necessity when there are too many people to support. Either that or massive famines and starvation. What then? Space? Well its in Asimov's Elijah Baley stories. Probably should stop reading so much scifi.

Its pretty fair to say that this whole area is a complete house of horrors, and thinking about it too hard takes you to some nasty places. I wouldn't really worry about it.

 

[Doug]

Evolution does not mean becoming "stronger, faster, smarter, etc.", it means becoming more suited to the environment in which a species lives.

Humans will continue to evolve to match the environment we have created for ourselves.

Quoted for being correct.

In fact, this is the time when "major" evolution can occur. With limited constraints on what a human needs to survive (at least, in the first world), mutations that would not normally survive (either because they disadvantage the species or are simply "wasteful") are allowed to survive. These are the times nature "can experiment" largely freely. "What if humans work better with 2 thumbs? Lets find out!" - "What if they had tails again?" - etc.

Normally predators, limited food supplies, or outright environmental hostility would kill of these "mutants" and nature would have to stick to a narrow band of what a "fit" human is.

Obviously, if the world were to turn hostile again, the unadapted to the new environment would be likely to die off, but its entirely possible some of these "mutants" would survive better than the typical human of today, evolving the species down a different path.

 

[Puppeteer Putin]

The only way Humanity will evolve to be stronger, faster, smarter etc is to force the World's best and brightest to breed in an enclosed environment for several generations until we have a race of better people that can spread their favourable genes through out the gene pool. We already know that this will work because we have thousands of years of practice on dogs so all we need is public approval which won't happen, why won't the public approval?

Hold your horses there buddy. By your definition you wouldn't want those with one honed faculty to breed, only those that "tick all the boxes"? Sorry, no such thing. If you don't agree name me a Harvard Professor of Law that was also an Olympic Gold Medalist or a football player whom later became an astrophysicist. Human race thrives on diversity. We need the thickos for labour and intellectuals to think of something for them to do.

Here's a caveman analogy: We wouldn't of left the cave without the strong and brave but we would of been extinct had the paranoid not told us to watch out.

I could go on with the "If and but".. but I won't.

 

[Doug]

Humans can' evolve, we have too many people with too many random genes able to breed. Even when inferior humans would die off, medical science saves them so they can breed and spread their stupid throughout humanity.

Nature doesn't care if something seems "stupid". Look at the beaver or the duck-billed thingy. Or the kangaroo!

For example, sickle cell anemia is a genetic disease that can seriously damage a person's general health. However, this same mutation often results in an immunity to malaria. Hence, in area's where malaria is a widespread killer, these people with "stupid" genes are the "fit" ones.

I think you'll find evolution happens (for better or worse) whether you like it or not.

As a species we are getting taller and our little fingers and toes are receding, we're also losing a pair of ribs and two pairs of teeth.
The idea of forced breeding is Eugenics rather than Evolution. Evolution is extremely slow, too slow for any living being to notice or measure, but it never stops.

Interesting about the fingers, toes, and ribs, had no idea that was the current trend. Knew about the teeth.

Although you are technically incorrect about the speed of evolution - it occurs in microbes and some species of insect at an extremely fast rate due to their rapid lifecycles. This is how germs are managing to become resistant to antibotics.

As for flies, a few species of fruit flies are used in genetic/evolutionally science experiments due to their larger size and somewhat slower reproductive rates.

 

[Labyrinth]

Although you are technically incorrect about the speed of evolution - it occurs in microbes and some species of insect at an extremely fast rate due to their rapid lifecycles. This is how germs are managing to become resistant to antibotics.

It's also what makes HIV so dangerous, because it's population evolution is rapid beyond belief.

 

[Easykill]

I'm a believer in eugenics; it's why I 'm not having kids. Forced breeding is stupid however, because it's forced. I believe in letting people do whatever they want. Besides, if you want superior, just wait for the robots and DNA changing viruses. Plus: Racists.

 

[Tyrant55]

You've been playing too much Bioshock.

Definitely sounds like it.

What do you mean medical science saves the stupid? There is no medical cure for stupidity, but we are able to cure many lethal diseases at this point. Without medical science the way it is many people you know would not be alive right now. I know I wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for medical science, so I find your post offensive and arrogant.

 

[TOO S0BER]

Hmmm. You may have a point that evolving would be difficult because we do tend to save everyone from their terrible fate by flashing them with medical science.

As far as "perfecting" the process on dogs. Well...dogs are hyrbid monsters because every self-absorbed rich person wanted all the specific attributes and it became a crossbreading orgy against god (No, I didn't mean that in the zealous Christian way. I am christian but not zealous. I'm actually having conflciting thoughts on that subject.). Kind of like in cliche movies where you have the stuck up fat rich woman wearing all the gawdy jewelry and fur coats and other than her alligator skin purse she has some little yappy dog that has genes from at least three other dog species.

Ok, on the "best for humanity" part. Ahem. "Best for humanity" is very subjective to what culture you're from. The Palestinians for example, it says in their constitution that the Jews must die. Is that best for humanity? According to Israel's allies and Israel that is a resounding "NO!". The process of people isn't random as you (kind of) put it. It has to do with a very complicated emotion called love. And yes, ethics and morals are getting in the way but I would MUCH rather be dead than live in a world without moral and ethics. The world would be chaos, people would be like "Hello thar" *stabs you randomly and runs off like a psycho person laughing in the distance*. But because MOST people are moral, in some way, won't usually do that (or at least where I live).

I'm not flaming, just pointing out some stuff. I flame some subjects because They tend to be zealously defended by people with no concept of opposing viewpoints and have zero respect for them. I repect your view on forced breeding making humanity "better", but I wholeheartedly disagree with some stuff you used to support it.

And this is a joke i just thought of concerning the dog-breeding: What do you get when you cross a Bull dog and a Shitzu? A bullshit. harr harr harr

 

[MrGFunk]

Evolution does not mean becoming "stronger, faster, smarter, etc.", it means becoming more suited to the environment in which a species lives.

Humans will continue to evolve to match the environment we have created for ourselves.

Doesn't this mean we're going to be fat because a lot of inventions are labour saving and promote sedantry lifestyles.

If that's the case I've evolved a bit in the last few months. boo, new jeans (for my new genes)

 

[Brokkr]

I definitely think that there are too many stupid people who are being allowed to reproduce. Safety measure have gotten so that the ones that would have died for being stupid are now kept alive. This destroys natural selection for humans. Nothing will ever be done about it though because doing so bears a slight resemblance to Hitler and his "Master Race".

 

[TOO S0BER]

I definitely think that there are too many stupid people who are being allowed to reproduce. Safety measure have gotten so that the ones that would have died for being stupid are now kept alive. This destroys natural selection for humans. Nothing will ever be done about it though because doing so bears a slight resemblance to Hitler and his "Master Race".

So what you're saying is people who would have died from, say, heart cancer, are stupid? Hello people stupid is NOT a disease. There is no stupidity gene. Yes there is stuff like ADD and ADHD but it is not in the same category. Medical science helps people to have a chance to live when they're dealt the "terrible disease OMG" card. It's like you're labeling people with diseases are stupid for having that disease, which is arrogance. Oh you have brain cancer, so you're stupid. That's basically what you and the guy that started this thread are saying. And I find it insulting because my friend, who was very intelligent, made straight A's and the like, died from a cancer. So yeah.

 

[Doug]

....Since we have full control over our environment,...

Really? Tell that to the ice storms, hurriances, rains, floods, etc.

We have control over the relativity tiny environments of our homes, and on a larger scale, some of the aspects of our cities. But never be fooled - nature is in control of the environment, not humans.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'm always surprised that people Godwin on the first post.

The basic problem is that we can't control which genes get selected unless it's done on a massive scale and then the 'failures' not allowed to breed. This overturns Human Rights, which leads to a disbelief in Democracy, which can only be controlled by Martial Law...and all those Lawmen don't believe in Human Rights.

Skinner and the rest of the behavioral psychologists proved this back in the 60's.

For Humanity to adapt and evolve, as it has already; note the changes in height, food consumption, chest size, society since the Victorian times; it needs a large gene pool of random genes to alter away from the Ubergene in case of an alteration in the society we live in.

This only makes us as good as we could be at this specific time/place. Someone like Schwarzenegger (for example) simply could survive in Medieval times as there wouldn't be the necessary nutrients to feed him up to his bulk.

So, we are evolving, but we'll never reach the Ubermensch because so is our environment.