Is there such a thing as human evolution anymore?
Posted by James on August 13, 2013 · 7 Comments
Question by imrh: Is there such a thing as human evolution anymore?
From my understanding of evolution, it is a product of natural selection and not a predetermined clockwork sort of progress (as in, it’s not like we have something in our genetic makeup that says we’ll just suddenly have bigger brains and no toes in a thousand years). I’m asking if there is such thing a selection anymore? We have basically entered an age where most anyone can find anyone to procreate with and the natural aspects (survival, the ability to provide food, the ability to nominally protect your young, etc..) have been eliminated. I’m not some facist, just someone interested in biology and would like to hear some thoughts. The toes reference before was a starter because I’ve heard that a couple times (as in it would make sense for them to fuse as they serve no purpose) even though I can’t see a situation where certain humans will be sexually selected for having fused toes? Understand? If you do, I would love to hear your thoughts. I guess disease is really it.
Best answer:
Answer by I know nuttin
I believe that evolution is God’s way of letting His/Her creations sort out their own flaws. He/She may have created us in His/Her own image, but with the knowledge that we were flawed and would always be.
That said, our flaws would always require refinement and improvement. So, God created a chaotic, self-balancing system such that favorable traits would be reinforced, while unfavorable traits would be weeded out. Hence, evolution.
So, natural selection, to me, does not imply the lack of conscious design. God may have set in motion the original design, and let it unfold from there on its own.
So yes, there still is human evolution and there always will be unless our entire species is selected out (a possibility which God saw fit to allow to happen).
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Climatic changes and environmental changes can bring about changes in humans too. There could be changes in genes and this can lead to evolutionary paths. I believe we are still evolving. Evolution is a very slow process and takes hundreds of thousands of years for a species to change from one form to another. That is one of the reason why finding a missing link is hard.
Evolution happens most rapidly in small, isolated populations. The planet now consists of 6 billion+ individuals with excellent transportation systems such that isolation is now very difficult. New genes that code for new traits are diluted. Unless people with these traits actively seek each other out- for several generations in a row- they don’t stand a chance.
Human evolution has, as such, grown virtually to a halt. We must rely upon the ability to work with what we’ve got in order to go forward- barring any unforseen events that would depopulate the planet, or cause isolated populations to thrive.
your question ,biologically is interesting
yes ,know the natural selection is much less because we learned to survive even being sick people because of the medical technology ,and food ,and hygiene, so on
but we do try to make a sexually selection by our selves
.i mean girls want for partners good looking strong physical,good genes males
and boys look for women as perfect as possible to look like good reproduction possibility for perpetuation of there genes
this are the ways we select each other
.Now there are children borne with defects and they usually survives ,because of the technology,but there chance’s to multiple in future are very low ,because of our selection of good partners
DNA are not static. They keep changing their mutability according to the environment. Every organism try to improve their gene through mutation and exchanging genes with other organism.
I’ve wondered this myself. If we were still living in the survival-of-the-fittest wild, people with a gene for,say, dwarfism, for example, would probably have less of a chance of survival than someone without it. I don’t want some PC police on me for this, but it’s simply true that those with dwarfism are stubbier than people without and this makes them a bit slower and therefore easier prey for whatever animals would hunt us in the wild and they would be relatively quickly wiped out.
These days people with dwarfism can live with very little trouble or worries about being attacked by lions or grizzleys.
Though I do think that it is good that people with afflictions that would make them less capable in a wild hunt-or-be-hunted world can live without trouble nowadays, I often wonder if it will bring about human devolution. I can’t stress enough that I am not supporting some kind of genetic cripple-genocide, only observing what MAY be true. People who are “genetically infirm” so to speak, live and breed normally like everybody else, meaning that their genes continue to spread rather than be culled out as they would be in nature. Eventually, over many many years, this could weaken humans genetically.
I am not a biologist by any means and only research the topic for recreational purposes and do not say that my theories are absolutely true, just my amateur opinion. I know the theory itself sounds a bit scary and Hitler-y, but I am open to other theories.
consider this evolution when we use natural selection as a cause is not theory but fact the evolution of humans is what some dispute so consider this do Eskimos have fury white coats yes from the polar bear they killed do jungle tribes that are hunted by tigers have huge claws to fight them off with yes they are called spears natural selection shows creatures will adapt to their environment but when man goes out at night he takes a flash light so the genes of the man with bad eyesight but a flashlight go on to his son and so on we do not adapt to our environment but adapt it to us.
It is certainly possible that human evolution has stopped. Since evolution is blind to anything that happens to us after the reproductive years, and most of our health problems happen after we have kids, it doesn’t seem that those health problems would be weeded out in later generations. Also, since we help our less-than-healthy members survive and reproduce, and at least in the U.S. food shortages don’t (usually) limit anyone’s ability to have kids, I’m not sure what natural selection would be selecting for. It seems we have traded the natural improvements that come with evolution for something else – maybe kindness or fairness to our less fortunate members. Please note I’m not adding any moral message to any of this; it just is what it is.