Of course we could be heading up an evolutionary dead-end, where no further "advance" is possible, where genetically we have reached a blind - alley. Just a thought.

Evolutionary dead ends are a result of over specialization. You become so specialized at one way of living change is impossible (in an evolutionary timely manner) and extinction is inevitable. If anything humans are becoming less and less specialized, this is because technology allows us to fulfill a very broad range of environments and niches across the globe. One could argue that our dependence upon this technology is our "specialization", but the rate at which technology changes and upgrades, I highly doubt dependence on technology would be our evolutionary downfall.

This is really interesting.

Our specialization is cognitive thought. Perhaps that could become an evolutionary dead end if people become so internalized that they fail to respond to the rest of the ecosystem.

Yes cognitive thought could be our downfall. The ability to think abstractedly also allows us the propensity for many other things, like irrational violence.

I see what you are saying Camlax, but what if the genetic programming were faced with a relatively quick environmental change? Insufficient time to adapt, to mutate, or become selective?

And why would you not have sufficient time? Because you lack the ability for flexibility in your lifestyle. It still comes down specialization, or rather over specialization. Its very fine line between staying a step ahead of the competition and being able to adapt to your surroundings.


There are other factors, take like littler size. A species which produces large amounts of offspring will be better off in the face of quick environmental changes. But it will be to no avail if there is no flexibility within the species.


A good example of what you are talking about is Australopithecus boisei. In Africa, 1.5 million years ago the climate started to change. It became dryer and rained less frequently. A. boisei was an expert root and tuber eater and one of the seemingly more promising ape-man. The climate change was quick and many types of water filled tuber and root disappeared from the African plains. Boisei could not adapt, so went the way of the dodo. Here the time was insufficient for change to occur, it (the climate change) was abrupt, but what really was the cause of extinction? Not the climate change, many other species survived that. The cause was the over specialization of eating the watery tubers.