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Just because I'm a programmer doesn't mean my progeny automatically are. Nothing I learn is passed on through my genes. Hawking and yourself aren't describing

Just because I'm a programmer doesn't mean my progeny automatically are. Nothing I learn is passed on through my genes. Hawking and yourself aren't describing evolution, you're describing learning and education.

pmichaud 17y ago
No, you're missing the point. Hawking is saying that we're reaching the point where we actually can make modifications to our physical bodies both pre- and post-natally. I could see why you might be confused if you just read the first couple paragraphs of the article though.
- anamax 17y ago
  Pre-natal we can apply selection, changing the initial population. However, the effect of that on survival is complicated. Post-natal changes aren't inheritable. They can merely be applied to subsequent generations, which is not really evolution. These changes may affect survival, which can have a second order effect on genotype, but that's tricky and subtle. (If a culture cuts off foreskins for thousands of generations, will boys evolve to not have them at birth? By cutting them off, the population gets no benefit from having them, but there's no cost to being born with them.)
- jherdman 17y ago
  I did, in fact, read the entire article. Hawking says: """In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what Hawking calls, "an external transmission phase," where the internal record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA, has not changed significantly. "But the external record, in books, and other long lasting forms of storage," Hawking says, "has grown enormously. Some people would use the term, evolution, only for the internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too narrow a view. We are more than just our genes.""" See? He's not talking about evolution. He's trying to redefine a biological concept in terms of something much more. What he's describing is learning, and specialization of behaviour through learning.

pmichaud 17y ago

No, you're missing the point. Hawking is saying that we're reaching the point where we actually can make modifications to our physical bodies both pre- and post-natally. I could see why you might be confused if you just read the first couple paragraphs of the article though.

anamax 17y ago
Pre-natal we can apply selection, changing the initial population. However, the effect of that on survival is complicated. Post-natal changes aren't inheritable. They can merely be applied to subsequent generations, which is not really evolution. These changes may affect survival, which can have a second order effect on genotype, but that's tricky and subtle. (If a culture cuts off foreskins for thousands of generations, will boys evolve to not have them at birth? By cutting them off, the population gets no benefit from having them, but there's no cost to being born with them.)
jherdman 17y ago
I did, in fact, read the entire article. Hawking says: """In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what Hawking calls, "an external transmission phase," where the internal record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA, has not changed significantly. "But the external record, in books, and other long lasting forms of storage," Hawking says, "has grown enormously. Some people would use the term, evolution, only for the internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too narrow a view. We are more than just our genes.""" See? He's not talking about evolution. He's trying to redefine a biological concept in terms of something much more. What he's describing is learning, and specialization of behaviour through learning.