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> I wonder if humanity could remain as-is for a billion years? Are you kidding? What was humanity a billion years ago?

by denton-scratch 4y ago

rbanffy 4y ago
Remember evolution is based on the survival of the fittest. Not necessarily of the smartest.
- wrycoder 4y ago
  That would be fungi.
  - denton-scratch 4y ago
    There was a book published in the early 70's, called "Musrum", by Thacker and Earnshaw. It inspired in me the idea that Fungus spores are maybe the most-likely way for life to travel star-to-star. That's not what's best about that book, BTW; it's a magical book. I'd love to see a copy. [Edit] Not Bradshaw - Earnshaw.
- denton-scratch 4y ago
  Not only on "survival of the fittest"; evolution also supposes that species change more-or-less randomly. TBH, I'm not sure what your point is; my point was that whatever evolution is based on, evolution happens, and on these timescales it happens in the blink of an eye.
  - TremendousJudge 4y ago
    No, individual mutations are random. Selection of the mutations in the gene pool happens through environmental constraints. Species don't change randomly, they change in an infinite optimization search for fitness. We humans aren't immune to this just because we have culture and medicine of course.
    - denton-scratch 4y ago
      Yes, that's more accurate.
- Aperocky 4y ago
  Frankly, there are no evolution pressure on humans right now. The only "Evolutionary" pressure today is the willingness to procreate, which is generally low across much of the developed world. This "pressure" is completely different from evolutionary pressure for virtually every other single species on Earth.
  - dmd 4y ago
    Anyone who makes a statement like that, basically by definition is not thinking in evolutionary timescales. There are always evolutionary pressures, and they are nearly never visible at the kinds of timescales biological individuals operate at.
  - rbanffy 4y ago
    > there are no evolution pressure on humans right now I don't think all humans have the same chance of making successful descendants. Whether that has correlation to genetics is an open question.
  - SoftTalker 4y ago
    In fact for humans the evolutionary pressure has reversed. We're able to save many people who are too "unfit" to have survived without modern medicine and industrial technology.
    - vlovich123 4y ago
      Said another way, the fitness criteria for survival has shifted. A reversal implies there’s a single linear direction for evolution when we know there definitely isn’t. That’s why there’s a mix of heights, body builds, intelligences, soft skills like charisma, skin colors, etc etc. In fact, ops claim that we could somehow stop evolutionary pressure is itself bonkers. At that point the evolutionary pressure might become for the traits that enable you to maintain some definition of stasis. Above all else, human culture is never static so there’s always a bias for internal evolutionary pressure even if we manage to control external factors (which even then we’re not able to beyond some point).

> I wonder if humanity could remain as-is for a billion years? Are you kidding? What was humanity a billion years ago?

rbanffy 4y ago

Remember evolution is based on the survival of the fittest. Not necessarily of the smartest.

wrycoder 4y ago
That would be fungi.
- denton-scratch 4y ago
  There was a book published in the early 70's, called "Musrum", by Thacker and Earnshaw. It inspired in me the idea that Fungus spores are maybe the most-likely way for life to travel star-to-star. That's not what's best about that book, BTW; it's a magical book. I'd love to see a copy. [Edit] Not Bradshaw - Earnshaw.
denton-scratch 4y ago
Not only on "survival of the fittest"; evolution also supposes that species change more-or-less randomly. TBH, I'm not sure what your point is; my point was that whatever evolution is based on, evolution happens, and on these timescales it happens in the blink of an eye.
- TremendousJudge 4y ago
  No, individual mutations are random. Selection of the mutations in the gene pool happens through environmental constraints. Species don't change randomly, they change in an infinite optimization search for fitness. We humans aren't immune to this just because we have culture and medicine of course.
  - denton-scratch 4y ago
    Yes, that's more accurate.
Aperocky 4y ago
Frankly, there are no evolution pressure on humans right now. The only "Evolutionary" pressure today is the willingness to procreate, which is generally low across much of the developed world. This "pressure" is completely different from evolutionary pressure for virtually every other single species on Earth.
- dmd 4y ago
  Anyone who makes a statement like that, basically by definition is not thinking in evolutionary timescales. There are always evolutionary pressures, and they are nearly never visible at the kinds of timescales biological individuals operate at.
- rbanffy 4y ago
  > there are no evolution pressure on humans right now I don't think all humans have the same chance of making successful descendants. Whether that has correlation to genetics is an open question.
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  In fact for humans the evolutionary pressure has reversed. We're able to save many people who are too "unfit" to have survived without modern medicine and industrial technology.
  - vlovich123 4y ago
    Said another way, the fitness criteria for survival has shifted. A reversal implies there’s a single linear direction for evolution when we know there definitely isn’t. That’s why there’s a mix of heights, body builds, intelligences, soft skills like charisma, skin colors, etc etc. In fact, ops claim that we could somehow stop evolutionary pressure is itself bonkers. At that point the evolutionary pressure might become for the traits that enable you to maintain some definition of stasis. Above all else, human culture is never static so there’s always a bias for internal evolutionary pressure even if we manage to control external factors (which even then we’re not able to beyond some point).