RE: If you could, would you live forever?
04-06-2013, 02:34 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-06-2013, 02:35 AM by SleepingOrange.)
That... Is not even close to an accurate representation of how evolution works. Like, at all.
As in, I've heard anti-evolution activists who get the concept better than that.
There's no goal to evolution. There's no One Perfect Organism that some sort of quasi-theurgical nature entity set as some kind of finish line for evolution. All evolution is is the inheritance of traits that make an organism more suitable to reproduce in its environment.
Humans can be said to be in a low- or no-evolution state because there are few heritable traits that significantly impact the rate and success of human survivability and reproduction given that our society has implemented a number of safeguards to prevent "less fit" members of the species from dying off prematurely. "Not evolving at all" is not particularly accurate because genetic drift and certain heritable diseases are still factors (not too many kids with cystic fibrosis reproduce, for instance), but for the most part they have little effect on our mating selection. The species is always changing, but it will never be perfect, because perfect is a meaningless word in this context.
As in, I've heard anti-evolution activists who get the concept better than that.
There's no goal to evolution. There's no One Perfect Organism that some sort of quasi-theurgical nature entity set as some kind of finish line for evolution. All evolution is is the inheritance of traits that make an organism more suitable to reproduce in its environment.
Humans can be said to be in a low- or no-evolution state because there are few heritable traits that significantly impact the rate and success of human survivability and reproduction given that our society has implemented a number of safeguards to prevent "less fit" members of the species from dying off prematurely. "Not evolving at all" is not particularly accurate because genetic drift and certain heritable diseases are still factors (not too many kids with cystic fibrosis reproduce, for instance), but for the most part they have little effect on our mating selection. The species is always changing, but it will never be perfect, because perfect is a meaningless word in this context.