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We know better than evolution all the time. Else: No medicine, no operations, no science (random list of things, more can be added). Doesn't sound like a very g
by sgift 6y ago
We know better than evolution all the time. Else: No medicine, no operations, no science (random list of things, more can be added). Doesn't sound like a very good world to me.
- remarkEon 6y agoNo we don’t. All of these thing you mention are simply attempts to attenuate evolution, not conquer it. Moreover, all of the things you mention are a new feature set developed from evidence given to us by evolution.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoEvolution is already conquered. Done. Defeated. We've left it behind when we invented language and writing. About the only area where biological evolution is relevant now is pathogens, because these evolve on timescales comparable to technological development of humans.
- remarkEon 6y agoThe arrogance in this response is palpable. Humans managed to create a means to communicate with each other. End of evolution right there. We figured out germ theory and then vaccines. The DEATH of human evolution. We have the Internet now so that must mean human evolution just stops, because integrated circuits or something. We look back on proto-humans, who had many tools, with the same arrogance. There’s no reason our species won’t evolve further to look back on the “internet” and laugh. Timescales, huh.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoYup, it's all about timescales. Fact: in large animals like humans, with long lifespans and low reproduction rates, evolution takes thousands of years to fixate any change in the population. That's about the time human civilization existed. In those few thousand years, we went from primitive tools to germ theory, vaccines, rocketry, etc. (and most of interesting developments happened in the last few hundred years; we're riding an exponent here). Evolution for humans just doesn't matter, because at this point, we're doing meaningful changes to ourselves and our environment at a rate faster than it takes for a human to reach reproductive age. We didn't wait for evolution to adapt us to colder climate, fix our eyesight or change melanin levels; we just developed clothes, glasses and sunscreen - which also made these features not influenceable by natural selection pressures. And whatever mutation happens that doesn't kill a person, we work around it socially or technologically - which means its impact on reproductive fitness is usually close to zero. Biological evolution is no longer the force driving the shape of our species. There is an evolution of humans happening, but it's social and technological, not biological.
- zpeti 6y agoYou're missing the point though. Your built in emotions, hormones, drives, are still from your evolution. Yes, forwards humans might not evolve biologically. But you still evolved from systems dating hundreds of millions of years back. You simply can't just say these don't matter any more, because it's ignoring reality. Every time you're turned on by someone attractive, its evolution thats doing that. And good luck thinking rationally when you are truly in love. (or to take a different example, when your body has a temperature in reaction to a disease. Good luck overriding your absolutely terrible mental state with rational human thought).
- Quekid5 6y ago> You simply can't just say these don't matter any more, I think what you're missing is that... nobody in this thread is saying that.
- elbear 6y agoIf we know better than evolution then why are most people unhappy? Because we've created environments unlike those we evolved in. We live lives at odds with our evolutionary instincts.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoWhy would we be happy in our ancestral environment? Evolution doesn't optimize for happiness, but for reproductive fitness.
- elbear 6y agoFair enough. Well, the birth rate in developed countries is decreasing. In any case, I think we have managed the counter the forces of natural selection that affect our physical health, but not those that affect our mental health.