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Humans have stopped evolving


Still Waters

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Human beings have stopped evolving after becoming the only species to “put halt to natural selection of its own free will”, Sir David Attenborough has said, as he predicts the “cultural evolution” of the future.

http://www.telegraph...d-evolving.html

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Great article, but I'm not so sure I agree. He mentioned we have stopped evolution when we started being able to raise 95% of the children we give birth to, but in many parts of the world the mortality rate of under 5s is still really high.

And this: "He also insisted he was grateful to live in the modern day, saying that things were likely to get worse with future generations looking back “at a world that was less crowded, full of natural wonders, and healthier.”.......I am seeing that now, looking at my grandparent's generation.

Edited by Aggie
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The evolutionary process hasn't been stopped...we've simply been able to change (and only somewhat) away from natural selection by the use of medical and technological advancements. Evolution has not been stopped in the least.

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Speaking as someone who doesn't have wisdom teeth I have to disagree.

My wisdom teeth never came in either. I'm not complaining though!

I forgot to put in my general reply:

2958Greed%20Is%20Stopping%20Human%20Evolution.jpg

Edited by Asadora
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Looking at some of my neighbours I'd have to say yes!!!

But seriously this is a dumb question, EVERYTHING continuously evolves... forever...

The Earth, Plants, Animals, The weather, The universe and of course everyones favourite topic THE CLIMATE

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Sir Attenborough is correct, all the Malthusian traps that have kept human overpopulation in check have been removed by science and social engineering. One Telegraph reader (Veritas) posts a silver lining.

"What a frightening prospect - the underclass surviving to breed us all into mediocrity. Fortunately the problem is self correcting. Soon after the real people who produce things to pay taxes to keep these individuals on the benefits they need to stay alive cease to exist the underclass will very rapidly die out and the process can start all over again."

There, that's my politically incorrect post of the week.

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I believe he is arguing that we are indeed evolving quite rapidly but in a cultural sense, and natural selection has been diminished because the weakest are now often able to survive and even thrive. It is interesting that through the use of technology, we have eroded the evolutionary impact of natural selection, but at the same time have greatly magnified cultural evolution. Thank you internet.

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I agree in part,we've certainly slumped due to the reasons stated but not stopped,everything in nature naturally moves forward at various rates,our progress has definitely slowed I'm sure but I have no solid evidence base (so I guess I should shut up)

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This upper class white guy tells you natural selection is over while immigration brings all sorts of different cultures and some have lots of kids, and tend to have a lot less funds. I wonder how many kids this guy has.

Meanwhile in other countries some allah akbar guy has like 5 wives, and his sons immigrate to europe all the time and set up shop here. Their strict culture of religion that is tough to just stop the extremism in all those poor countries with p***ed off citizens that already hate Euro American troops everywhere. Don't even want to go into Israel and Palestine and all that nonsense.

Somewhere down the line we need to toughen up otherwise in 500 years the worlds not going to look like it does today. Greece and Rome disappeared along with the culture and it wasn't in just a day. The demographics change the culture changes. I'd be surprised if a lotta of European cultures survive, or if the American lifestyle does either.

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Based on the level of inexorable ignorance that is displayed by my brother-in-law on a daily basis, I would have to say the answer is, well, yes.

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About time someone with authoritative integrity voiced the obvious, love the responses so out on a limb here (trembles with fearful trepidation) because I am alive only because of medical science...

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People like to think that evolution is the constant process of becoming 'better' or 'more complex', when it's nothing more than a specific mutation allowing one kind of thing to survive better than another. That is evolution. If a Tiger suddenly became immune to bullets and required next to nothing in terms of food, then it would eventually survive and replace the tigers we have now. The Scottish Wild Cat is becoming extinct, not because of lack of food or predators, but because they are mating with feral 'domesticated' cats. This is making hybrids and thus the proper wild cats, die out.

A single cell exists, it produces ATP by photosynthesis, one day, a single cell ends up mutating and producing more energy by photosynthesis. This obviously reproduces better and thus replaces the original cell, or becomes a new one on it's own. However, one of these cells mutates, this time the mutation is the ability to consume the photosynthesis cells, this allows more time to reproduce as they are the only creature able to use this source of energy. Thus, it survives and is now a new 'species' in itself. One of the photosynthesis producing cells mutates to have a defence mechanism to protect itself... So on so forth. Evolution is nothing more than a random mutation providing that one creature the ability to survive better, be it defence against predators, increased range of ways of getting energy, attracting more mates, so on, so forth.

Humans have stopped evolving in that sense. There are 'super-humans', such as the man who can run naked through -40oc temperatures and be perfectly fine, this, in a sense, is a positive mutation, but having this mutation isn't going to help him have any more children or survive better than a non-mutated human. Humans have access to central heating, large stores of food, clothing and physical attributes are not always looked for by a mate. We have invented currency, something which many believe is more important than looks. Some believe personality and stuff is more important. Mutations that humans are experience, right now, are not going to make anybody more successful. Furthermore, people keep saying "we're evolving flat thumbs cause we text all the time" - They don't understand what evolution is. It is not a beneficial mutation to have flat thumbs and mutations don't happen that quickly.

So, to sum up, he's right. It has stopped, at least it's slown down to such a speed that it might as well of stopped. There has to be mutations akin to X-Men and Heroes (superpowers, essentially) before it'll make a change to humanity, because that way, those superpowers could basically kill everybody else and become the sole 'mate' to those they left alive.

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Sir Attenborough is correct, all the Malthusian traps that have kept human overpopulation in check have been removed by science and social engineering. One Telegraph reader (Veritas) posts a silver lining.

"What a frightening prospect - the underclass surviving to breed us all into mediocrity. Fortunately the problem is self correcting. Soon after the real people who produce things to pay taxes to keep these individuals on the benefits they need to stay alive cease to exist the underclass will very rapidly die out and the process can start all over again."

There, that's my politically incorrect post of the week.

Some of the greatest minds of all time have come from the "underclass"...but then again I don't think judging by your comments that you have the intellect to realise that.

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itz not even possible for any creature to stop evolving. like a few others on this post have stated, i think its true that it has slowed, but also like others have said, there still are plenty of places on earth where survival of the fittest is still a very real thing.

but other than the diseased and dying countries, lets get back on the rich, medicated countries. ill make a few points that proves evolution still is and always will be going forward.

first, diseases. this one kind of speaks for its self, but some people arent aware that world wide plagues can actually happen at any time. and large populations can die out. the argument stating medicine and not evolution will save us is misleading at best. and it leads to my next point. but real quick, people are still continuously being born with immunities to diseases which have no cure. and these mutations gives them an advantage over others to reproduce.

but my next point referring to the medicine thing. society in itself was a form of evolution. because of our unique behaviors and intelligence on this planet, we are therefore capable of evolving in different ways than common animals. the gathering to form societies gave those humans an advantage over the rest and if you notice, most people who do not live in some sort of society have died off millenia ago. second, technology as an evolution. not only does it give advantages to reproduce, but pioneers in these fields are considered great men and therefore are more fit than others. and this technology leads to the medicine, computers, harvesting, communication, etc. the list goes on. but all these advancements give advantages to survive and reproduce. therefore making it a form of evolution.

the last point im gonna make is related to the pioneers comment i made above. the fact is, because of our society, great value is put on men and women who are geniuses, athletes, or otherwise great in their field. whether it be racing or banking. if you are good at something, you are way more attractive than others and therefore are more fit.

all of these examples lead to children who share the traits of their parents AND prove to illustrate that these mutations in ability and advancement will make one, or many, more fit than most. and the cycle continues from there.

final thought: just because we do not mutate a third arm or less teeth or lose our appendix, does in no way, shape or form conclude that evolution has halted in the human population. and in fact, because of science, we know it is literally impossible for mutations and advantages to stop occurring. evolution is merely moving slower because of large population size AND evolution must be looked at from a different point of view due to our intelligence. we have the unique ability to collaborate for the benefit of mankind and regardless if a mutation makes one a better actor, a better athlete, a better banker or a better inventor, the fact is it still provides an advantage to the individual to reproduce and therefore it IS INDEED evolution at work.

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I've seen this thesis before. We don't notice human evolution in that ancients were little if any different from us, but that is only a few thousand years and evolution, while it happens over such time periods, typically takes longer.

That we have changed our environment doesn't mean natural selection doesn't still apply. So long as some parts of the population produce more progeny than other parts natural selection will continue.

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I think evolution continues. I know this is one of the most disgusting and idiotic things i've ever heard > ""What a frightening prospect - the underclass surviving to breed us all into mediocrity. Fortunately the problem is self correcting. Soon after the real people who produce things to pay taxes to keep these individuals on the benefits they need to stay alive cease to exist the underclass will very rapidly die out and the process can start all over again."

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I think he's right. A crocodile and some species of fish have not changed or evolved in millions of years because they already are the best at what they do. Aside from our bodies being pretty rubbish humans have no need to change. If we need to do something we invent machines to help us.

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Great article, but I'm not so sure I agree. He mentioned we have stopped evolution when we started being able to raise 95% of the children we give birth to, but in many parts of the world the mortality rate of under 5s is still really high.

P.

And this: "He also insisted he was grateful to live in the modern day, saying that things were likely to get worse with future generations looking back “at a world that was less crowded, full of natural wonders, and healthier.”.......I am seeing that now, looking at my grandparent's generation.:-) :-)

Every generaton has had somebody say that.

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The evolutionary process hasn't been stopped...we've simply been able to change (and only somewhat) away from natural selection by the use of medical and technological advancements. Evolution has not been stopped in the least.

I digree with you and the story. Humans do not evolve have never evolved. We change the planet to our needs. We do not change to fit the environment. They only difference between you and a native is two weeks. It takes that long to acumate for us to change to the environment.

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