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Muenkel

Evolution....what's next???

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On a lighter note...

Many times I ponder the theory of evolution. I am not sure what I believe on this topic. However, I do wonder, if the theory is true, what next? Surely we don't believe we are the highest form of life.:P What will humans evolve into in the next million years or so?

Jokesters and science geeks are welcomed in this thread. Just keep it off the damn war!

Chris



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Chris






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>What will humans evolve into in the next million years or so?

We will, for the most part, devolve. Genetic defects that used to kill us now just annoy us and get us handicapped parking stickers and government subsidies. More of these genetic flaws will get passed on. (Note that any evolved trait is really a genetic flaw that's good for you - or at least helps you reproduce your genome.)

There will be a few exceptions, of course. Here in the US, people will evolve to live longer since many couples delay having children until their late 30's - this will tend to select for women who are healthier later in life.

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I don't think we'll last the long. Blow ourselves up, meteor impact, who knows. We're overdue for a meteor according to a lot of people.



I don't think meteors run on a schedule. Rather like Spirit Airlines.



Three times is enemy action

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We will, for the most part, devolve



Generally agree, unless we got over our fear of genetic engineering.

Some without the taboo's of our current society will try to make "better" humans. Some may succeed.

Too early to tell but I'm guessing the trend of not messing with human DNA is a relatively short lived trend.

An example here :www.betterhumans.com

Note - this is not an endorsement, just a prediction.

ETR

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Would now be a good time to read up on John Wyndham's books, "The Chrysalids", "Trouble with Lichen", "The Midwich Cuckoos"? If only to get a grip on the ethics of "Life Force"?

Mike.

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

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Well, I have no problem with the theory of evolution. I don't have much faith in religious teachings, and evolution sounds plausible, since it seems to have been happening since life began on earth.

As for the future of human beings, humm. I think cloning will happen, legal or illegal. I don't see any real reason to clone a whole person, but eventually, it will lead to cloning of body parts, eliminating the need for organ transplants as we know it today. Your heart starts to go bad, we can "build" your heart again, and transplant it. I guess stem cells could do the same thing. Bad side effect of cloning however, is we will be able to alter one's DNA eventually. We could make someone exactly as the parents would want by altering the DNA. This could go bad quickly if we started "making" people with for example, greater strength, intelligence, etc. Could lead to a society of the have's, and have not's. Granted it's a worse case scerio, but it's possble. Good points though, genetic diseases could be eliminated before the child is even born.

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>What will humans evolve into in the next million years or so?

We will, for the most part, devolve. Genetic defects that used to kill us now just annoy us



per our discussion of science fiction vs sci-fi this has been used as a baseline plot for LOTS of novels..some much better than other..not to be to inhumane, but it is also a very powerful argument for not allowing the severely handicapped to breed..

humanity needs to take a longer view of its cultural policies..
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Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

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This could go bad quickly if we started "making" people with for example, greater strength, intelligence, etc. Could lead to a society of the have's, and have not's



Hmm...

I think we are already there. How do you think a child from Congo compares to Bill Gates. What's the difference?

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Hmm...

I think we are already there. How do you think a child from Congo compares to Bill Gates. What's the difference?




After some thought on that one, I guess I would have to say there isn't a difference. But I'm saying there may be genetic advantages in the future for people that can afford it. If we have Person A and Person B living in the same society, and Person A is genetically altered, Person A will have the advantage over Person B.

Let me add a bit to this. I am thinking along the lines of the movie Gattaca Ha, not the best movie in the world, but it demonstrates my point. You have a society of have and have nots. The have's more or less control everything.

Guess thats a bit like it is today, those with the $ control it, those without, don't.

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Well, as an Anthropology student, I had to look into this a few years ago, and the general opinion is that we've pretty much stopped evolving. They can test this using mitochondrial DNA evidence which is passed on from the mother only and can actually trace the course of human evolution.

This is particularly cool for those twat racists who deny that we are evolved from Africans, since they proved that there is one tribe in Ethiopia who are more closely related to the 'first' human female (commonly referred to as "mitochondrial Eve").

If I were a more conscientious student I would have a reference for you. But I don't. Sorry.

This username sucks, so I'm BBKid now instead. Replies, insults, sexual favours and death threats to be sent there from now on.

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>humanity needs to take a longer view of its cultural policies..

We don't look further than the next election right now, and we laugh at things like Kyoto. I think it will be a long, long time before we consider planning for the long term future (unfortunately.)

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Eugenics is already standard practice in many parts of Asia. In India, China, etc, they mourn the birth of baby girls and celebrate the birth of baby boys. Fertility clinics, MRI clinics, etc. make big bucks predicting the gender of fetuses. If the fetus is female, chances are high that it will be aborted.
Also defective children die mysteriously at birth or are forced to live their lives behind closed doors because they are an embarrassment to their families.
This is already leading to problems in some Chinese villages because there are not enough brides for the young men. This forces them to look elsewhere for brides or turn gay. This sort of unresolved sexual stress will be bad for the village in the long run. On the other hand, if this limits population growth, then those villages will become tiny Chinese clones of Canada: i.e low birth rate forces them to import workers. Imported workers are rarely offered the best jobs, and in places like arabia they become slaves in everything but name.

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Many people believe that animals evolve. They don't offer up the neccesary proof that people have evolved, but they believe that too. I say no, we haven't changed since the very first day. We evolve the environment around us to meet our needs. We may be smarter, have better technology, but we will never be wiser, or able to take out the trash with our minds.
Don't Confuse Me With My Own Words

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>Many people believe that animals evolve.

Many people know this for a fact; they have _seen_ animals like fruit flies evolve in experiments that force rapid natural selection.

>I say no, we haven't changed since the very first day.

A lot of evidence contradicts that. We have fossil records that show remains of humans that are more and more different from us the older they are. We have genes that encode for all sorts of non-human traits; they've been 'turned off' and become part of our so-called junk DNA. We see human fetuses express earlier stages of evolution during development, and we see that animals closely related to us (apes, chimpanzees) have 95% of our DNA - even the 'junk' strings match closely. That suggests a common ancestor.

I suppose one could consider that god just did all that to trick us, but I don't believe in a trickster god.

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The body part cloning is an interesting thought. I'd hate to see cloning DNA to design people as I think that would screw up the genepool. I'm thinking of one catastrophic disease that could shatter the human population as there was no longer the genetic diversity in the population that would enable it to survive.

David

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>I'd hate to see cloning DNA to design people as I think that would
>screw up the genepool.

Cloning does not really affect the genepool - it effectively 'freezes' it if used to create cloned children of one of two parents. The only issue is if one genotype becomes very popular diversity is reduced.

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