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I hate to sound unimpressed, but does biological evolution strike anyone else as rather irrelevant, now? I doubt we will be held hostage by these mortal coils f

by wwwtyro 14y ago

I hate to sound unimpressed, but does biological evolution strike anyone else as rather irrelevant, now? I doubt we will be held hostage by these mortal coils for much longer.

hnriot 14y ago
Anyone that thinks their smartphone and self driving car will in any way impact the evolutionary pressures is very self deluded. Evolution will act on our species' population for many hundreds of centuries before any significant impact from technology is seen. Also I am not sure you understand what "mortal coil" means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_coil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_coil
- duaneb 14y ago
  > Evolution will act on our species' population for many hundreds of centuries before any significant impact from technology is seen. You don't think that, say, genetic engineering will change the genome? I'm betting we'll be primarily artificially designed by the end of the century.
- innguest 14y ago
  > Also I am not sure you understand what "mortal coil" means: I did not know that - I really thought "mortal coil" meant the human body. Now that I know I'm wrong, nevertheless I must point out that qualifying "coil" with the word "mortal" is not only misleading but empty of meaning. The Wikipedia article says that "mortal coil" = "the bustle and turmoil of this mortal life" but I do not believe that "mortal" fits well as an adjective for "coil" just because it refers to a "mortal life". It seems like a very tenuous connection. Not one of Shakespeare's best poetic terms by far. EDIT: Thanks for teaching me something interesting today, hnriot.
- yen223 14y ago
  > Also I am not sure you understand what "mortal coil" means I'd like to think it is a poetic reference to our DNA. To stay on topic, I agree with the parent. I think we have reached a point where our genetic makeup is no longer the primary factor determining our destiny as a species. One could say that intelligent design now trumps evolution, as it were.
busyant 14y ago
> biological evolution strike anyone else as rather irrelevant, now? Depends. I can envision a lot of scenarios where infectious disease wreaks havoc on our species. Random mutation might have a significant impact on who would survive such a scenario and I don't think we (as a species) are anywhere near being able to circumvent natural selection of a sufficiently dire infectious disease. jmho
- wwwtyro 14y ago
  Fair and fairly scary point.
- jsankey 14y ago
  Indeed, and a very real scenario that is already starting to play out is the evolution of bacteria outpacing development of new antibiotics. We've quickly forgotten the impact these diseases had just a century ago, and without further breakthroughs (which of course are very possible) we could easily see, e.g. TB return as a major cause of death worldwide (i.e. even in developed countries). It's not only our own biological evolution that deeply affects us.

by wwwtyro 14y ago

I hate to sound unimpressed, but does biological evolution strike anyone else as rather irrelevant, now? I doubt we will be held hostage by these mortal coils for much longer.

hnriot 14y ago

Anyone that thinks their smartphone and self driving car will in any way impact the evolutionary pressures is very self deluded. Evolution will act on our species' population for many hundreds of centuries before any significant impact from technology is seen. Also I am not sure you understand what "mortal coil" means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_coil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_coil

duaneb 14y ago
> Evolution will act on our species' population for many hundreds of centuries before any significant impact from technology is seen. You don't think that, say, genetic engineering will change the genome? I'm betting we'll be primarily artificially designed by the end of the century.
innguest 14y ago
> Also I am not sure you understand what "mortal coil" means: I did not know that - I really thought "mortal coil" meant the human body. Now that I know I'm wrong, nevertheless I must point out that qualifying "coil" with the word "mortal" is not only misleading but empty of meaning. The Wikipedia article says that "mortal coil" = "the bustle and turmoil of this mortal life" but I do not believe that "mortal" fits well as an adjective for "coil" just because it refers to a "mortal life". It seems like a very tenuous connection. Not one of Shakespeare's best poetic terms by far. EDIT: Thanks for teaching me something interesting today, hnriot.
yen223 14y ago
> Also I am not sure you understand what "mortal coil" means I'd like to think it is a poetic reference to our DNA. To stay on topic, I agree with the parent. I think we have reached a point where our genetic makeup is no longer the primary factor determining our destiny as a species. One could say that intelligent design now trumps evolution, as it were.

busyant 14y ago

> biological evolution strike anyone else as rather irrelevant, now? Depends. I can envision a lot of scenarios where infectious disease wreaks havoc on our species. Random mutation might have a significant impact on who would survive such a scenario and I don't think we (as a species) are anywhere near being able to circumvent natural selection of a sufficiently dire infectious disease. jmho

wwwtyro 14y ago
Fair and fairly scary point.
jsankey 14y ago
Indeed, and a very real scenario that is already starting to play out is the evolution of bacteria outpacing development of new antibiotics. We've quickly forgotten the impact these diseases had just a century ago, and without further breakthroughs (which of course are very possible) we could easily see, e.g. TB return as a major cause of death worldwide (i.e. even in developed countries). It's not only our own biological evolution that deeply affects us.