Re: Will we evolve?

Your assumption that humans are no longer evolving is based on a false
assumption - that our technology has removed us from all evolutionary
processes. This is false, at several levels.

Firstly, you're taking your experience living in a developed nation as
being representative of the whole human race. In reality, those of us
in developed nations are a small minority. As such the majority of
humans are still exposed directly to environmental influences, and are
less able then we are to counter these influences' with technology.

You could argue that our technology has removed natural selection as a
driving force behind our evolution, which may or may not be true.
Natural selection is definitely a weaker force - these days (at least
in developed nations) nature only selects against the most detrimental
of mutations. But the huge jump in the rates of some genetic diseases
(i.e. asthma, severe allergy, MS, etc) we see as nations become
developed suggests that there may be environmental effects still active
in our population.

And even if we've completely subverted natural selection, there is
still plenty of room for us to evolve. A lack of natural selection
DOES NOT mean we stop evolving. In fact, a lack of selection should
drive a buildup in genetic variability, as we are not selecting
for/against any genotypes.

This buildup of genetic variability is most certainly evolution, and
allows for other modes of evolution (i.e. genetic drift). And you are
ignoring the one genetic force which in many cases is stronger then
natural selection - sexual selection. And I don't think there is a
single person here who would argue that sexual selection is not an
active process in our population.

And the last assumption you've based your idea on is also false - that
things will remain as they are now. Given the damage we're doing to
the environment, the amount of pollution we've dumped into our world,
the potentially destructive interactions of humans with other humans,
it is very well possible that natural selection may once again become a
dominant force in our evolution.

Bryan

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Relevant Pages

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