Will we continue to evolve?

Thoughts

evolution as i understand it is a process of necessity... so as long as there isnt a necessity than no.

You never know.

I'd like to get rid of appendixes. Aren't they daft, eh?

Things change and mutate all the time.

The question is will humans take part in the process by adding chips or whatever to us?

Not in a strictly natural way. The best way for a human to adapt it to get better stuff so there's no evolutionary need to evolve. As our understanding of genetics improves we might be able to artificially evolve, but that won't happen for a long time.

We won't really evolve because there aren't any significant factors that prevent large numbers of people from reproducing.

I'd like to get rid of appendixes. Aren't they daft, eh?

Look up Appendix and Immune Systems, some studies recently have found that it might be useful, and also useful in other aspects. Quite interesting. I'd be happy to keep it and hope to get through life without having to get rid of it due to appendicitus and so on. 🙂

YouTube video

That was the looniest part of the whole movie.

Depends how often Republicans are voted into office. 😖hifty:

Evolution, at the very least, is simply a species adapting to its environment. Humans can pretty much control their immediate natural environment, so there's not much pressure coming from that as there used to be. Our man-made environment is another story. If we develop, say, an increasingly short-sighted and frenetic society, certainly there will be an evolutionary advantage to those already genetically skewed in that direction.

Basically, change is a constant. I would think evolution, as a subset of change, would be likewise.

Originally posted by King Kandy
That was the looniest part of the whole movie.

Nah.

by definition all species are constantly evolving by having offspring which live in an environment.

Evolution is not synonymous with progress or improvement, so even the lack of selection pressure to make us harder, better, faster, stronger does not mean we are not evolving.

Originally posted by inimalist
by definition all species are constantly evolving by having offspring which live in an environment.

Evolution is not synonymous with progress or improvement, so even the lack of selection pressure to make us harder, better, faster, stronger does not mean we are not evolving.

Okay, that raises an interesting question. Given the world we exist in, how would it influence our future evolution? Higher dexterity for typing? Changes in language processing? Decline of an immune system?

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Okay, that raises an interesting question. Given the world we exist in, how would it influence our future evolution? Higher dexterity for typing? Changes in language processing? Decline of an immune system?

well, rather than thinking about traits that we use, we need to think of what it is that allows people to procreate.

I think there is a tendency toward less variation in the physical features of women, but I'm unaware of statistics that show there is a huge population of people who want to have kids, yet are unable. Lots of fat and ugly people have babies. I guess sterile people...

I think it is going to be a form of sexual selection rather than natural selection, with various social groups becoming so insular that cross-group inter breeding wont occur as often. The problem is, the nature of human technology seems to push against this.

So, like, maybe selection against people who can't drive and thus get into car accidents and die before reproduction, but I honestly wouldn't know.

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Okay, that raises an interesting question. Given the world we exist in, how would it influence our future evolution? Higher dexterity for typing? Changes in language processing? Decline of an immune system?

I've said in the past some things about the future of human evolution that seemed quite crude at the time but still stand a small measure of scrutiny.

Need for higher levels of intelligence equals larger brains.

Lesser need for physical strength due to applications of technology means smaller bodies.

Larger need for sensory input to those larger brains (particularly vision) = larger or more sensitive sensory organs (namely larger eyes)

Living outwith the solar system or any star system = no need for skin pigmentation to protect from UV light = white/grey skin.

So in summary...large head with large eyes...small body...grey skin.

I think I recognise that type of appearance.

Originally posted by jaden101
I've said in the past some things about the future of human evolution that seemed quite crude at the time but still stand a small measure of scrutiny.

Need for higher levels of intelligence equals larger brains.

Lesser need for physical strength due to applications of technology means smaller bodies.

Larger need for sensory input to those larger brains (particularly vision) = larger or more sensitive sensory organs (namely larger eyes)

Living outwith the solar system or any star system = no need for skin pigmentation to protect from UV light = white/grey skin.

So in summary...large head with large eyes...small body...grey skin.

I think I recognise that type of appearance.

So those "Greys" people are always talking about must be humans, humans from the future traveling back in time to secure DNA from archaic man . Ah ha, it's so simple.

Them BASTARDS...

Originally posted by jaden101
Them BASTARDS...

You likely just called your great (X1,000,000,000,000,00) grandchildren bastards.

after 100 000 000 000 generations it becomes ok

same with incest...