Does technology help or hinder human evolution?

Question

Or perhaps I should say "WILL technology help or hinder human evolution?"

Answer 1

It's probably going to be the way humanity evolves for now. I can easily see a world where people begin to rely on external memory banks to remember information, use sophisticated machines to perform mathematics, and a global communication system to argue the existence of God. Wait, that's already happening! :-)

Seriously, we may find that cybernetics will develop a new breed of humans that have advanced abilities in some field. This, of course, is not biological evolution, but societies evolve all the time, so why not mention that?

It is possible that humanity will begin to use the sciences of biochemistry and genetics to do biological enhancements and perhaps eliminate most genetically-caused disorders, such as hemophilia. Indeed, to answer the question, it is more likely that near-future advances will likely accelerate human evolution.

Answer 2

I differentiate between primitive technology and modern technology.

Primitive helps and modern hinders.

Primitive technology is all the things that hunter gatherers everywhere did to survive - making fire, rope, containers, clothes, shelter, meals and transport methods with their immediate natural environment in a way that did not exceed need as it does now. But the average person does not know that technology like our ancestors did.

Modern technology, and the fossil fuel platform on which it stands, is our undoing, because it destroys water, land and air in innumerable ways. After fossil fuels are exploited, the technology we've experienced will become a memory. (And the dreams of alternate wonder-fuel sources will too, when we realize that their discovery and maintenance is inextricably linked to fossil fuel economy and technology). Meanwhile, there has been a population explosion since nomadic ways stopped and everyone learned how to be "comfortable". This population is full of folks that are not naturally strong, because modern technology has saved the lives of so many weak. So the weak will then start to die and we'll all be shocked. And the strong will get stronger and smarter about primitive technology.

So I guess in the long long run this "technology" we have now will only be a weird blip in the evolution of Homo Sapiens. And an unfortunate extinction of countless others.

Answer 3

oh don't make me answer this question again... this was my SAT prompt for the essay. : \ ugh... but I liked my answer, so I will tell it to you

I think it hinders evolution. We spend so much time making things that will make our lives "easier". Take calculators for instance... I took the SAT, and I couldn't get through a single math section without having to use it at least five times. My parents could take that test without a calculator. It's just how their mind works. They understand why the answer is correct. They never had the opportunity to stick an equation in their TI 89, and have it spit out what X equals at them....

Our generation will write downt he number it tells us, and not even stop to think if it is correct, or why it is.

But there are some advancements that do both... hinder and help. Medicine. The most obvious. It keeps us healthy, and helps us to live longer. But we have to have a freaking shot every month... It weakens us. If we don't have all our shots when we are kids, we will get so sick... yet, cats and dogs can go their entire lives without having to have any medicine, and be fine.

I don't feel like writing the rest of my answer, so I will leave it at that.

There are certain things that help, and some that hinder. it just depends on how you look at it all.

Answer 4

it is my belief that technology will help human evolution when humas use it, and hinder it when humans depend on it.
example... next time you go to a store, take a bunch of change with you. if the bill is 14.85, offer 20 to pay for it, and then, after that amount has been entered in the computer, offer the check out person 35 cents and just watch for the look of mysery as the person comes to the realization that they have no clue how much change to give you anymore.

Answer 5

Its helps, have a look back in history to see examples,
The wheel, the printing press, the airplane, electrically etc etc.

Depending how you use it it will mostly help human evolution only in times of war does technology hinder human evolution when it is used to help kill people.

Answer 6

Two conflicting answers...
1) Medical technology is making Darwinian evolution irrelevant as people who would not have survived fifty years ago are given a chance to live a full life. This allows them to reproduce, passing on those "bad" genes.
2) Technology as a whole could be viewed as mankind's accelerated version of evolution, as new technologies allow us to do and survive (adapt) in ways not possible in the past.

Answer 7

Certainly it helps. Don't you see the material growth of the human civilisation? But definitely the softer part of human evolution i.e. the moral values are getting a setback with advancing technology. But then you must lose something to gain something. There is no free lunch.

Answer 8

I feel it hinders our evolution since we no longer have to adapt to changes in the environment, we adapt the environment to suit us
The only element of natural selection is intelligence. And that's even a bit fuzzy.

Answer 9

If you mean 'evolution' in the biological sense, no effect at all, as evolution takes place over a really long time.

Perhaps you could clarify your question: why do you ask?

Answer 10

its probably going to hinder it cuz it will destroy us all with nuclear weapons or other dangerous weapons