Delta4Embassy
Gold Member
I see the current version of humanity as terribly flawed. Self-destructive, hateful, violent et al. So naturally I wonder what might come next. Looking into it I find some interesting speculations both for and against our continued evolution along the Darwinian model.
FUTURE HUMANS Four Ways We May or May Not Evolve
"The human population will become more alike as races merge, he said, but "Darwin's machine has lost its power."
That's because natural selection—Darwin's "survival of the fittest" concept—is being sidelined in humans, according to Jones.
The fittest will no longer spearhead evolutionary change, because, thanks to medical advances, the weakest also live on and pass down their genes.
When On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, only about half of British children survived to 21. Today that number has swelled to 99 percent.
In developed countries, "the fact that everybody stays alive, at least until they're sexually mature, means ['survival of the fittest' has] got nothing to work with," Jones said. "That part of the Darwinian fuel has gone." "
"Miller added that artificial selection using genetic technologies will likely accentuate these changes in the future.
"Parents could basically choose which sperm and egg get to meet up to produce a baby based on genetic information about which genes contribute to which physical and mental traits," he said.
"If the rich and powerful keep the artificial-selection technology to themselves, then you could get that kind of split between a kind of upper-class, dominant population and a lower-class, genetically oppressed population," he added. "
FUTURE HUMANS Four Ways We May or May Not Evolve
"The human population will become more alike as races merge, he said, but "Darwin's machine has lost its power."
That's because natural selection—Darwin's "survival of the fittest" concept—is being sidelined in humans, according to Jones.
The fittest will no longer spearhead evolutionary change, because, thanks to medical advances, the weakest also live on and pass down their genes.
When On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, only about half of British children survived to 21. Today that number has swelled to 99 percent.
In developed countries, "the fact that everybody stays alive, at least until they're sexually mature, means ['survival of the fittest' has] got nothing to work with," Jones said. "That part of the Darwinian fuel has gone." "
"Miller added that artificial selection using genetic technologies will likely accentuate these changes in the future.
"Parents could basically choose which sperm and egg get to meet up to produce a baby based on genetic information about which genes contribute to which physical and mental traits," he said.
"If the rich and powerful keep the artificial-selection technology to themselves, then you could get that kind of split between a kind of upper-class, dominant population and a lower-class, genetically oppressed population," he added. "
