Poll: Rate of Human Evolution

[Hateren47]

The rate which we evolve depends on how you look at it. In terms of natural evolution (the ones most suited for their environment survive to reproduce) it has stalled. We can survive most defects and live perfectly normal lives. Survival of the fittest has been over ruled.
But the random mutations are still there and we now have man made remedies to strengthen our bodies, so in some sense our evolution has been artificially sped up to fight our environment.

All that said, evolution doesn't exactly move at a fixed "speed".

 

[Lerxst]

Evolving, but I can;t say it's for the good.

Our knowledge might be improving, but our society isn't. We have huge amounts of technology which are first used to wage war; other breakthroughs are a side effect.

Instead of hunting and gathering we have factory farms slaughter animals by the millions for our consumption.

We eat genetically modified food on a daily basis without question.

We have cell phones and Internet but we actually communicate less to those in our immediate vicinity - at work, at home, etc.

We have new religions (compared to 2,000 years ago) but use them to create differences and fight in their name.

Our medical breakthroughs allow us to live longer, but then we use our longer lifespans to continue the above cycle.

 

[manythings]

We had to adapt to a changing world before, now we change the world to suit us removing the need for physical advancement. We still need to get smarter and smart people are being created all the time.

 

[chaos order]

oooo i made the exact same thread not too long ago!

OT: i think the rate we r changing is atleast slowed somewhat

 

[Vilcus]

-snip-

-snip-

The funny thing is that the billion was both a typo and an exaggeration. I meant to put millions, but even then evolution doesn't always take millions of years (although some species do remain largely unchanged over large time spans, but even they change if only slightly). Thank you for posting that though, it's always nice to read up on evolution.

 

[Seldon2639]

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.

There's a difference between physical evolution (I'm still waiting on the gills) and all genetic variation. It would be difficult to argue that there's no "punishment" for being mentally genetically behind. We are getting smarter as a species, and the smartest among us are more successful.

 

[DazBurger]

Well... We are getting taller and taller and less hairy as generations goes.

A roman soldier was about 160 cm tall if not less, and Napoleon was about 170 cm, which was quite tall for that time.

 

[archvile93]

It's things like this that make me think that now is a good time for genetic meddling of fetuses.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Other - "Too slow to be perceived today"

 

[demoman_chaos]

Stalled. Natural selection has been eliminated and the unfavorable genes are sticking around instead of disappearing like they should be.

 

[Ralen-Sharr]

I would say it's stalled entirely. Anyone born with a condition that puts them at a disadvantage would not have survived to breeding age to pass on the genetics that cause that condition even 1,000 years ago. Today, damn near anyone can survive, despite a horrible medical condition due to a genetic defect, to live and have kids. Nobody being weeded out means no "bad" genes are left behind for "good" genes to take their place.

I think evolution could easily be forced, by selective breeding if we really wanted to do it.

 

[Ciler]

Aside from evolution by natural selection, there are also other factors like sexual selection.

Many mutations are not beneficial, but we create technology to overcome those changes (e.g. bad eyesight)... in the end we're still evolving. In any case, since there's no accurate way to measure the "speed" of evolution over our species as a whole, I'm going to pick "Remaining Constant".

 

[Browbeat]

Without the appropriate environmental stimuli, we will not have to physically adapt and evolve any longer. With heating and air conditioning, weapons and industry, humanity need not evolve very much further.

If any evolution happen, it will be the expansion of the mental frontier and the atrophy of the physical body (barring worldwide calamity, of course)

So, maybe in about 40,000 years, we'll see some Psykers and Inquisitors...

 

[David Eller]

Internet increases intelligence just by interacting with it.

Essentially, we are artificially improving ourselves.

Hence, we are speeding up.

As for natural evolution, "Dutch butt" = Epic Win

 

[Oh That Dude]

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.

His point is that there aren't a significant number of people not surviving for there to be any significant adaptations. Also it's more accurate to say that individuals who survive and are more successful than their peers thanks to their mutations are more likely to pass them on.

 

[Ickorus]

Constant, evolution doesn't happen overnight you know. =]

On a related note have you noticed that each generation of children is getting progressively taller?

 

[Soviet Steve]

I think it's slowing down/ending, but it wont matter, once cybernetics and nanomachines get going nad we get the ability to transfer our minds to machines, nature wont really have much of a say in evolution of humanity.

 

[webby]

Internet increases intelligence just by interacting with it.

Essentially, we are artificially improving ourselves.

Hence, we are speeding up.

As for natural evolution, "Dutch butt" = Epic Win

Artificial improvements are temporary as having a wealth of information at hand doesn't alter the make up of our brain or how we receive, process and recall information. Basically, if you took the internet away from me right this second I would be exactly the same physically and mentally as if I had never had the internet, I'd just have to crack open an Encyclopedia instead of using Google or manually search through scientific journals instead of having them quickly searchable.

Basically, the internet is not human evolution, it is technical evolution.

 

[David Eller]

Internet increases intelligence just by interacting with it.

Essentially, we are artificially improving ourselves.

Hence, we are speeding up.

As for natural evolution, "Dutch butt" = Epic Win

Artificial improvements are temporary as having a wealth of information at hand doesn't alter the make up of our brain or how we receive, process and recall information. Basically, if you took the internet away from me right this second I would be exactly the same physically and mentally as if I had never had the internet, I'd just have to crack open an Encyclopedia instead of using Google or manually search through scientific journals instead of having them quickly searchable.

Basically, the internet is not human evolution, it is technical evolution.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35464896