Subject:
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Re: Future of Humanity (was: lotsa stuff)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 30 Oct 2001 15:03:38 GMT
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Viewed:
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899 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> What I'm getting at is that evolution is a
> natural process that produces changes in organisms in response to changes in
> environment (including the changes that occur in other organisms) but that
> we are now choosing, at least in part, what environmental factors to
> completely disregard. I am not saying that humanity will not change at all
> any more. I am just saying that barring a collapse in civilisation, our days
> of changing involuntarily are more or less over. (that doesn't mean we're at
> a dead end... well it sort of does but not in a BAD way)
Not a bad point, but it must be stipulated that since humanity is *part*
of nature, then the traits we, as agents of nature, elect to favor will
survive and be passed on in a manner exactly consistent with evolution. I'm
not sure that the "involuntary" part, while true, is significant; we've been
breeding domesticated animals for millennia, but no one would claim that
evolution has "stopped" for them.
Again, though; I think we have no real way to assert with confidence that
any conscious changes made to the genome will have significant long-term
evolutionary impact (short of species extinction, of course!)
Dave!
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Future of Humanity (was: lotsa stuff)
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| (...) I thought this was an interesting perspective: From the OU ==+== Infant mortality is a thing of the past, major diseases are treatable and natural disasters largely avoidable, so the merciless selective forces of nature are something of an (...) (23 years ago, 30-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Future of Humanity (was: lotsa stuff)
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| (...) Right. Or at least closer. What I'm getting at is that evolution is a natural process that produces changes in organisms in response to changes in environment (including the changes that occur in other organisms) but that we are now choosing, (...) (23 years ago, 30-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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