Poll: Rate of Human Evolution

[webby]

A pretty straight forward question but with a lot of wiggle room for the answer.

Assuming a Darwinian theory of evolution (that is "survival of the fittest" to put it succinctly) I feel it is difficult to say whether human beings will evolve further physically. I say this because the entire theory of darwinian evolution is that those most adapted to their environment will survive and pass on their genes. However, as humans have progressed into the modern age we generally now adapt our environment to suit our needs. We have air conditioning or heaters to further assist clothes in easily regulating our temperature, we have vehicles to easily transport us and our goods all over the planet, we have no natural predators and medical developments are now taking care of people allowing them to live (and I hate to use this word but can't think of a better one) "normal" lives. There's a possibility of us perhaps becoming immune to certain diseases eventually, but inoculations and things of that ilk mean it would only be the incurable diseases which may be adapted to. Even removing completely useless things from the body hasn't fully occurred. Wisdom teeth and the appendix are still present despite being useless and causing potential medical problems.

Mentally humans may be evolving but this is far trickier to gauge as improved methods of storing and retrieving information may account for an improved level of knowledge.Also technological stacking means that outdated ideas are left by the wayside whilst effective ones are carried forwards. Technological evolution is much quicker with ideas being able to be tested and incorporated or discarded quickly. With these technological advancements humans ability to control their environment increases thus diminishing our likelihood of ever needing to physically evolve further.

These are just the ramblings of a foolhardy individual though, what's your take on human evolution?? Has it sped up due to the technology we now surround ourselves with?? Is evolution a constant thing with factors having an equal effect? Has the past done the rough work and we've now entered the more subtle parts of evolution like a sculptor putting the finishing details onto his statue?? Is evolution complete bunk and religion is the only answer? Is there some other option I've missed entirely in my ignorance?

 

[sms_117b]

I've said stalled entirley, this is due to carers and health and safety laws and a few other things, but essentially, whats the point of evolving when there's no "punishment" for being genetically behind.

 

[KnowYourOnion]

Evolution doesn't work like that. It's just random mutations in genes. Species as a whole adapt because the ones who can't survive don't pass along their mutations. So it'll probably stay at the rate it's always been at.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Chances are that the rate of evolution hasn't changed at all. Mental capacity is also a form of physical change (larger brain mass, cranial capacity etc) so your arguement that physical evolution has stalled but mental evolution is alive and well kinda cancels itself out.

 

[webby]

Evolution doesn't work like that. It's just random mutations in genes. Species as a whole adapt because the ones who can't survive don't pass along their mutations. So it'll probably stay at the rate it's always been at.

I'm aware of how evolution works. My point is that if there is no genetic advantage for any sort of mutation from the norm why will that mutation last?? For example, a guy may be born slightly stronger than average. He is no more likely to survive than anyone else because when is strength an everyday necessity?? Sure, the faster and stronger can go on to become athletes and therefore become rich and therefore become more desirable to the opposite sex, but that will be balanced out by people who are weaker and slower (which will be the vast majority) also surviving to pass on their genetics.

I'm also aware that evolution doesn't have to be positive, as was pointed out previously the more sedate lifestyle we now have could lead to some strange eventualities but because the athletic build is still desirable in a mate I'm unsure it will be quite the degradation that Wall-E portrayed.

Chances are that the rate of evolution hasn't changed at all. Mental capacity is also a form of physical change (larger brain mass, cranial capacity etc) so your arguement that physical evolution has stalled but mental evolution is alive and well kinda cancels itself out.

I said mental evolution was tricky to gauge but that our technology is evolving. I said our mental evolution may be more to do with improved technology allowing more data to be found easier than an actual physical change in the brain.

 

[Vilcus]

It doesn't matter what we think, because evolution takes millions of years. We aren't going to see a change in our physiology over night, because the few random adaptations that occur in humans haven't been around long enough to affect a certain gene pool. Natural selection is a theory, it hasn't been absolutely proven, but they are still adding to it as of today. Evolution will go at its own pace, not ours. We can't force it unless someone starts splicing shark DNA into everyone... which would be awesome.

 

[Distorted Stu]

I do belive our interlect or our social skills are evolving quickly, look at the giant strides in technology and eductaion weve achieved in 100 years alone!

 

[KnowYourOnion]

Stuff that was said

My bad!
but yeah I can see where you're coming from here but it just means that evolution will happen at the same rate individually but will take longer to affect a large percentage of the species because it will take centuries or perhaps millennia to "diffuse" through a population. If that makes any sense whatsoever

 

[Raregolddragon]

I do believe we will see a sudden jump in a few decades with robotic body mods and all. So I will have to say speed up.

 

[paragon1]

It'll stay the same or speed up. If evolution is basically an accumulation of genetic mutations that aide or at least don't hinder a species survival, then humans will continue to evolve. There's nothing stopping mutation, and technology ensures more people survive. That means more mutations will accumulate and be passed on, right? Or have I critically misunderstood something?

 

[Dogstile]

I do believe we will see a sudden jump in a few decades with robotic body mods and all. So I will have to say speed up.

The reason robotic body mods won't happen on a grand scale is your body sees it as a hostile set of cells and actually trys attacking anything that's in you that's not supposed to be. So i doubt that'll happen.

(or is that only for transplants... hmm)

 

[Eumersian]

I'm personally hoping that there will be something simple to help us gain one new seemingly constant trait as a species. This includes CCR-5 deficiency, which is prominent in northern Europeans, that basically grants immunity to AIDS. Or perhaps something like more peroxisomes in our cells, which break down Hydrogen Peroxide. This would be useful because it then wouldn't be as toxic to us as we would be able to break it down faster, thus opening up larger opportunities for use (notice how on the bottle it says for use on small cuts and abrasions?)

 

[Raregolddragon]

I do believe we will see a sudden jump in a few decades with robotic body mods and all. So I will have to say speed up.

The reason robotic body mods won't happen on a grand scale is your body sees it as a hostile set of cells and actually trys attacking anything that's in you that's not supposed to be. So i doubt that'll happen.

(or is that only for transplants... hmm)

I think that is only with organ transplants. I am thinking more along the lines of the better organs or new limbs.

 

[XJ-0461]

I don't know what's happening. But then again nobody does. It really doesn't matter what you think about it, if it's happening or not, or how fast it's happening. Evolution is such a slow process that no living being can witness it. Like a lot of the big questions, I believe that the concepts are so impossibly large that no human can understand them, so it's pointless trying to get your head around them.

That's only my opinion of course. Feel free to believe what you want, and I won't hate you for it.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Chances are that the rate of evolution hasn't changed at all. Mental capacity is also a form of physical change (larger brain mass, cranial capacity etc) so your arguement that physical evolution has stalled but mental evolution is alive and well kinda cancels itself out.

I said mental evolution was tricky to gauge but that our technology is evolving. I said our mental evolution may be more to do with improved technology allowing more data to be found easier than an actual physical change in the brain.

Alright fair enough. But bear in mind evolution takes hundreds of thousands of years to show appreciable results and our current technological age hasn't even been going 100 years yet. Hell, it hasn't even been going 50 years.

Another point is how much are you drilling down on 'human' evolution? Taken as a whole, the vast percentage of the human race still lives in what we would call 'Developing' countries, without the scientfic breakthroughs and sedentary lifestyle enjoyed by so-called 'Developed' countries. So even if the ingenuity of developed countries is slowing the precess of our own evolution the human race as a whole is continuing on at normal speed.

 

[webby]

It doesn't matter what we think, because evolution takes billions of years. We aren't going to see a change in our physiology over night, because the few random adaptations that occur in humans haven't been around long enough to affect a certain gene pool. Natural selection is a theory, it hasn't been absolutely proven, but they are still adding to it as of today. Evolution will go at its own pace, not ours. We can't force it unless someone starts splicing shark DNA into everyone... which would be awesome.

I get that this may be an exaggeration but I still feel it needs responding to.

That bottom one which is approximately 7 million years ago is Sahelanthropus Tchadensis which looked something like this:

Then there is homo erectus less than 1 million years ago:

Finally, from about 30,000 years ago, the neanderthal:

It is widely reported that Neanderthals share about 99.5% of their DNA with humans, admittedly chimps are between 96 and 99% but still. This just shows how small amounts make big differences. Now obviously I'm not saying we'll wake up in the morning and be completely different, but it's churlish to rule out the effect of our current living conditions on evolution. I'm not saying we can force it, simply questioning whether without a punishment for genetically falling behind if we have a driving imperative to continue evolving.

A few references for those that care:
http://www.archaeology.org/9709/newsbriefs/dna.html
http://www.ecotao.com/holism/hu_neand.htm

Alright fair enough. But bear in mind evolution takes hundreds of thousands of years to show appreciable results and our current technological age hasn't even been going 100 years yet. Hell, it hasn't even been going 50 years.

Another point is how much are you drilling down on 'human' evolution? Taken as a whole, the vast percentage of the human race still lives in what we would call 'Developing' countries, without the scientfic breakthroughs and sedentary lifestyle enjoyed by so-called 'Developed' countries. So even if the ingenuity of developed countries is slowing the precess of our own evolution the human race as a whole is continuing on at normal speed.

To be fair, I'd say that our technological age has been going for centuries now. From the moment we started using tools to aid us in living comfortably we have always being improving them. From sharpening a rock to make it more useful to design a crane to build skyscrapers, the purpose is still the same basic idea; minimise the work we have to do. Sure, the improvements are coming thick er and faster now, but that's because we keep records of our advancements and our communication is much improved.

As for your talk of 3rd world developing countries, you have valid point. However, even poor countries get some form of assistance. Although there is a debate I read somewhere that we may end up dividing into 2 separate species at some point, that seems like nonsense and hyperbole to me though. I will try to find a link.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Evolution in Humans, like any other organism, happens over a large amount of time, so we will see where it goes.

Unless, however, we technologically advance to the point of having complete control of it.

 

[Something Amyss]

We are evolving, and it's hard to tell how fast, but it seems stunted, so I'm thinking slowing. But I could be wrong.