Thinking About Human Evolution

[mrdevious]

And when are we gonna evolve enough to use the rest of our brain and maybe meet God in the process?

evolution in that aspect is possible, but only if we don't allow those with inferior mental capacy to breed. until then, we'll remain slaves to televisions and spout of word-for-word phrases that our leaders use (ie. protecting your freedom).

[mrdevious]

our brain is still evolving, by our own will, but not our physical condition.

if u can and u want to evolve, u can reach places u would never think possible. u can seek and find new abilities of your brain. possibilities are infinite.

.

yep, we can personally evolve through mental developement. I really wish more of us would try to do so, rather than remain content in the same pattern of ignorance most people stay in as a security blanket.

[flamingskullballs]

i believe that we have been through this before, like, even more so in past centries...achieved technology that has now been forgotten...after society crashed we slowly went back to our most primitive instinct; the need for food...this could of happened multiple times...

too smart for our own good i believe...

we are more basic then we think...you can even see the herding instinct when driving down a highway, see no cars for miles, then see 10 at one time...

medicine goes too far sometimes...some must die for others to live, why dont people understand that???

[ADaisyChain]

I'm currently reading Food of the Gods which has to do with the evolution of conciousness through psilocybin mushrooms.

It mentions that as the population of a species increases there is less room for a mutation to be successful. That means because of how widespread we are our physical evolution is slowing down severely, possibly even coming to a halt.

Our ideas keep moving forward though, "evolving" if you could apply the word that way. And the rate at which our ideas, culture, and mind are "evolving" is increasing at a very fast rate as we become more and more dominant.

If a baby was born with two heads ((and this has happened even in humans)) and was more successful then a baby with one head, our society would still be able to halt it's continuation because we don't like two headed people.

I don't know alot about evolution as a whole, but that's what I've learned thus far from Food of the Gods. And keep in mind it's all theory. At least until I disprove the existance of god to the world in 2021.

[420ultimatesmokage]

I watched a program on the science channel a while back and it was talking about a university that did a study of mitochondrial dna which is outside of the nucleus. Mitochondrial dna is inherited from your mom and passed down threw the females. It mutates at a regular rate which you can use to calculate certain things about the population. Anyway, they found that out of everyone they studied their mitochondrial dna was suprisingly similar.

They did some calculations and concluded around 70,000 years ago, the humans were nearly killed out and left only a few thousand alive. From these few came billions of humans meaning that genetic variations are less because of near extinction. They call it a population bottle neck big to small to big again.
They also went on connecting that time period to a super volcano that happend around that time. Well, evolution takes amillions of years and I dont think that we will notice any change in the species for quite some time.

[mellow mood]

really wish more of us would try to do so, rather than remain content in the same pattern of ignorance most people stay in as a security blanket.

exactly what i think man

and exactly what makes this world so bad. as well as its what will make us all die

AAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHH

[ermitonto]

humans indeed change, but change itself is not evolution. evolution is the result of a certain area of the species having a survival advantage which makes them dominant in the gene pool. over the millions and millions of years creatures evolved because those most adept to the situation stayed alive, not because our genes recognized the need for survival. that is why we would stop after 4 billion years of evolving, because disantvantages to survival no longer mean death as they would in nature.

So you're saying genes no longer have any effect whatsoever on survival rates? There are some researchers who say that a very small portion of the population is naturally immune to AIDS because they lack a certain receptor. Would it be unreasonable to expect them to increase their standing in the gene pool if AIDS becomes a much more serious problem?

Also, how can we be sure that society and government won't ever bring about a program of eugenics?

I think you have to go on a case by case basis-disease wise. For example, the number of children with down syndrome might increase because more women are having kids when they're 35 or over with the help of drugs, which increases the liklihood of having a child with down syndrome.

However, many incidences of diseases that come up in close knit communities might decrease because of technology. We can choose potential mates from all corners of the earth, and more and more people are migrating from country to country. genetic variation is a good thing evolutionally speaking. It kind of "dilutes" bad genes.

Very good points.

[mrdevious]

So you're saying genes no longer have any effect whatsoever on survival rates? There are some researchers who say that a very small portion of the population is naturally immune to AIDS because they lack a certain receptor. Would it be unreasonable to expect them to increase their standing in the gene pool if AIDS becomes a much more serious problem?

Also, how can we be sure that society and government won't ever bring about a program of eugenics?

I wasn't saying that genes have no effect on evolution, I was saying that our current form of society uses medical technology, low-income housing, social assistance etc, which keeps the non-survivally-fit alive along with the survivally fit, making neither dominant in the gene pool. For those immune to aids, they will only become prominent if all those with aids are allowed to die naturally, or don't breed before death.

all I was saying is that because of our intelligence interferring with the natural process, evolution is not an innevitable thing without doubt.

[Mojavpa]

But are we overlooking a critical factor? With the rise of sanitation and modern medicine, it has been possible to save the majority of people who, in the wild, would otherwise have died from poor genes. People with debilitating disabilities and diseases of a genetic origin are often now able to stay alive and reproduce. Certain symptoms of these conditions that might otherwise repel potential mates are also minimized, and they may even appear to be perfectly normal. So, if all these people with poor genes are allowed to live in safety with the help of modern civilization, might we actually be slowing down the process of evolution?

No, most people in third world countries die from preventable causes, not genetic disorders. They die from famine, unclean drinking water, war, accidents, infections, etc before they have a chance to die from things like stroke, obesity, diabetes, cancer, cigarettes, etc. which we suffer from in the western world, primarily because we in the western world make poor food choices and we are incredibly sedentary. Our ancestors were incredibly active for tens of thousands of years and ate simple food, and our genes cant magically adjust to our new lifestyle.

[flamingskullballs]

i see it as more of getting worse...were not evolving, were devolving...we are killing our own species at a faster rate now than during any war, and we dont even mean to...

insanity...