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It might make the "nurture > nature" viewpoint interesting, too. If you create a zygote today and you incubate it 500 years from now, will it behave like someon

It might make the "nurture > nature" viewpoint interesting, too. If you create a zygote today and you incubate it 500 years from now, will it behave like someone from today? I would guess: probably not, since humans' physical evolution is vastly dominated by their cultural/technological/societal evolution.

thotsBgone 6y ago
> humans' physical evolution is vastly dominated by their cultural/technological/societal evolution Statements like these only make sense in a narrow context. Unless you're suggesting a dog raised like a human would act more like a human than a dog.
- gibolt 6y ago
  The context used within a single species seems like a reasonable application
- Iolaum 6y ago
  There have some rare extreme been cases where children lived with wild animals in forests and indeed they resembled their social behaviours. (Don't recall sources to include :( )
  - astrange 6y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_child https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_child Some of these stories are doubtful and obviously none of them are all that scientific… for one thing why are all the reports from Russia?
    - sebmellen 6y ago
      The story of Victor of Aveyron has substantial evidence behind it. There are certainly very few feral children, but they do exist. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_of_Aveyron https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_of_Aveyron
      - astrange 6y ago
        That's believable, but it can't teach us much because it's not an intervention study, which obviously you can't do… > According to Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard, Victor was a normal child at birth[citation needed] but was neglected by his alcoholic parents from an early age. Hmm. Did they know about fetal alcohol syndrome then? It's suggested he was autistic, which would've been true at birth.
        sebmellen 6y ago
        That's true. Unfortunately real cases are few and far between, so they're hard to study in any sort of methodic way. Plus, as time goes on and society becomes more pervasive, these cases will get progressively rarer. I think FASD is a good guess.
im3w1l 6y ago
We will evolve a lot more in the coming 500 years than we have in the past 500 years. There might not even be recognizable humans around anymore except for some backwards savages in a reservation.
- HarryHirsch 6y ago
  Hopefully the Falklands will still be around.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- neetrain 6y ago
  There will be no selection pressure. As long as whether you can survive and make children is independent from your gene, Evolution never occurs.
  - est31 6y ago
    There is still selection pressure today, not because you are too weak physically to make children, but because of sexual selection. Many people have a hard time finding a partner, often due to genetic issues. On the other hand, many people have genetic traits that help making them highly attractive and able to give their genes to many people. So selection is still around, but nowadays we select for different things than nature used to when medicine wasn't as well developed as it is today. Note that this selection alone won't cause any genetic change faster than what existed in the past. What really accelerates changes in the gene pool is us deliberately doing them. We'll start with eliminating hereditary diseases, but I don't think we'll stop there. We'll likely study which genetic variants give rise to desirable traits and then make those mutations to upcoming children of interested individuals.
- danielheath 6y ago
  What do you think is going to kill enough people to create such an unprecedented selection pressure?
est31 6y ago
Behaviour is influenced both from genetic origins as well as from environmental ones. The latter includes things like "how you were raised" but also which hormones and stimuli you were exposed to during gestation. Newborn babies already cry in different ways depending on the languages they were exposed to during pregnancy.
- anonytrary 6y ago
  Sure, but I doubt how newborn babies cry is heavily correlated with how they turn out at young adults... Medieval man born today could probably learn calculus easily because calculus is a standard now. I don't think intelligence has changed much.
  - est31 6y ago
    That was only an example to show that environmental influences start very early. Your environment continues to influence you until you die, even if that influence in your final years is of a supportive nature. Many elderly people can live quite well in their homes they lived in since decades but once they come to a nursing home, they often become disoriented. And yes, medieval people were as intelligent as modern people. Many of the smartest minds of humanity haven't lived today but hundreds or thousands of years ago. I'd put all behaviorally modern humans are into the same category.
  - sam_bristow 6y ago
    I also expect that a large part of the average intelligence that has changed would be due to improved nutrition.
    - astrange 6y ago
      It recently (last few generations) went down and then up again because we thought it'd be a great idea to give the whole world lead poisoning.
      - dotancohen 6y ago

thotsBgone 6y ago

> humans' physical evolution is vastly dominated by their cultural/technological/societal evolution Statements like these only make sense in a narrow context. Unless you're suggesting a dog raised like a human would act more like a human than a dog.

gibolt 6y ago
The context used within a single species seems like a reasonable application
Iolaum 6y ago
There have some rare extreme been cases where children lived with wild animals in forests and indeed they resembled their social behaviours. (Don't recall sources to include :( )
- astrange 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_child https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_child Some of these stories are doubtful and obviously none of them are all that scientific… for one thing why are all the reports from Russia?
  - sebmellen 6y ago
    The story of Victor of Aveyron has substantial evidence behind it. There are certainly very few feral children, but they do exist. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_of_Aveyron https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_of_Aveyron
    - astrange 6y ago
      That's believable, but it can't teach us much because it's not an intervention study, which obviously you can't do… > According to Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard, Victor was a normal child at birth[citation needed] but was neglected by his alcoholic parents from an early age. Hmm. Did they know about fetal alcohol syndrome then? It's suggested he was autistic, which would've been true at birth.
      - sebmellen 6y ago
        That's true. Unfortunately real cases are few and far between, so they're hard to study in any sort of methodic way. Plus, as time goes on and society becomes more pervasive, these cases will get progressively rarer. I think FASD is a good guess.

im3w1l 6y ago

We will evolve a lot more in the coming 500 years than we have in the past 500 years. There might not even be recognizable humans around anymore except for some backwards savages in a reservation.

HarryHirsch 6y ago
Hopefully the Falklands will still be around.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
neetrain 6y ago
There will be no selection pressure. As long as whether you can survive and make children is independent from your gene, Evolution never occurs.
- est31 6y ago
  There is still selection pressure today, not because you are too weak physically to make children, but because of sexual selection. Many people have a hard time finding a partner, often due to genetic issues. On the other hand, many people have genetic traits that help making them highly attractive and able to give their genes to many people. So selection is still around, but nowadays we select for different things than nature used to when medicine wasn't as well developed as it is today. Note that this selection alone won't cause any genetic change faster than what existed in the past. What really accelerates changes in the gene pool is us deliberately doing them. We'll start with eliminating hereditary diseases, but I don't think we'll stop there. We'll likely study which genetic variants give rise to desirable traits and then make those mutations to upcoming children of interested individuals.
danielheath 6y ago
What do you think is going to kill enough people to create such an unprecedented selection pressure?

est31 6y ago

Behaviour is influenced both from genetic origins as well as from environmental ones. The latter includes things like "how you were raised" but also which hormones and stimuli you were exposed to during gestation. Newborn babies already cry in different ways depending on the languages they were exposed to during pregnancy.

anonytrary 6y ago
Sure, but I doubt how newborn babies cry is heavily correlated with how they turn out at young adults... Medieval man born today could probably learn calculus easily because calculus is a standard now. I don't think intelligence has changed much.
- est31 6y ago
  That was only an example to show that environmental influences start very early. Your environment continues to influence you until you die, even if that influence in your final years is of a supportive nature. Many elderly people can live quite well in their homes they lived in since decades but once they come to a nursing home, they often become disoriented. And yes, medieval people were as intelligent as modern people. Many of the smartest minds of humanity haven't lived today but hundreds or thousands of years ago. I'd put all behaviorally modern humans are into the same category.
- sam_bristow 6y ago
  I also expect that a large part of the average intelligence that has changed would be due to improved nutrition.
  - astrange 6y ago
    It recently (last few generations) went down and then up again because we thought it'd be a great idea to give the whole world lead poisoning.
    - dotancohen 6y ago