Are human beings just a 'work in progress' on the evolutionary ladder?

Answer 1

Other answers have dealt somewhat with this but I'd say you need a death rate of around 50% at least (before the age people become capable of reproduction) to have a 'survival of the fittest' situation.

However I think we are a work in progress but whatever evolving we may be capable of will occur in the mind. We may advance morally or spiritually rather than physically.

That said the evolution may be confined to what each individual may achieve personally - intelligent people are not known for their high reproductive rates.

So, perhaps we have stepped off the ladder!

Answer 2

There are, i think, two sides to this question. The first is "are we evolving at all?" Yes, as long as humans can produce offspring and certain characteristics give survival advantages to those offspring, we are evolving.

The other side of the question is "what are we evolving into?" This is more difficult, and perhaps the word 'progress' is misleading. Evolution involves the constant adaptation of a species' gene pool to its environment, so if part 1 is true, we are adapting. Whether this is progress (i.e. humans getting 'better' in the greater scheme of things) is probably more subjective. We might be more/ less complex biologically, or have different cultural traits, but whether we ave improved (other than improvement covered by evolution) is a moot point. Just think of all those oldies who hark back to the good old days...

Answer 3

Not any more in our present guise.

We are more in a stage where God, (or whoever your supreme being might be), has pretty much got the game up and running and just watching how we screw up or improve. In general, more of the former than the latter.

If you look at whether there might be an "upgrade" of humans at some point then, allowing for the fact we don't blow the planet to smithereens or kill it in some other way, then yes, there can surely be the chance at some point in the future a better creature will evolve. Although, assuming we all come from slime, or whatever, we've been a pretty good attempt all things considered.

Then again. on a planet many millions of light years away, that improved lifeforce may already be wondering the same thing................

Answer 4

No, because evolutionists often try to prove this with the genetic mutations argument, but then we are presented with the problem that genetic mutations are caused by a loss in genetic material not a gain of genetic material so molecules to man evolution just doesn't work. The interesting thing is that Darwin studied a single species [finches in the galapagos islands] and yes Intra-species evolution [or within a single species] is true however just as we approach the speed of light things don't work the same as on an everyday situation level, the same is true for evolution while a dog can have long or short hair it is still a dog, or a finch a hard or soft beak it is still a finch. Now what evolutions try to claim is that this is proof to show that man came from the same place as a dog and a tree. Now while quite a stretch they try to indoctinate us with the worldview that it is cold hard fact. And that is just not honest. Which is another thing, if this is true, then survival of the fittest dictates that our actions really don't matter that if I am stronger than you, then I can do anything I want to you that my physical supremacy allows, not only that but evolution has no answer for the source of morality or Love, except maybe a chemical release causing us to feed the need to breed, but then what makes a man willing to live without consumation if his wife has cancer and is sick for years and years on end? how does His love for her equate this?

just some thoughts God bless. :)

Answer 5

I don't think we're a work in progress since I'm not sure we're progressing into anything in the end really anyway. I do believe in evolution, but I don't think there will ever be an end to it (if given enough time an resources) so how can we come up with a final product? If you look at it how you are, all creatures, even whatever we evolve into will be a "Work in progress" unless they're perfect. They might achieve this manually and technologically, but I doubt it would be in their genes. And when you think about it, we humans are jumbling up our genes. We don't kill those who have genetic defects or "undesirable" traits and many do reproduce. So this shall be interesting. Will the future really be better than us?

Answer 6

Evolution is not a planned activity, instead it is dictated by random chance. Therefore saying 'work in progress' is pointless. Work is directed at achieving an outcome, evolution is just random mutation in action. It has no true beginning, or end.

If you're asking, are we the end of evolution, then the answer is no. Unless something goes horribly wrong there will be no end to evolution. The idea behind evolution is that it is a constant and continuous process that will not stop till everything else has.

Answer 7

What? Work in progress??? Then with that, probably you are assuming that there is an endpoint of evolution. I'm sorry to say, but there isn't. We human beings will always evolve. So we cannot say that we humans are just "work in progress" of evolution. The ladder will always branch up, endlessly.

Answer 8

Not all human beings.
Some like to climb the ladder of evolution.
Some just like to be a ladder - (motivator) than a person climbing the ladder.
Some just like to be the wood - (dumb) out of which ladders are made!
SO, IT IS HUMAN BEINGS ON THE WHOLE WHICH MAKE THIS WORLD A PROTECTIVE, HAPPY, ADAPTIVE PLACE TO LIVE IN.
AND THE NEXT LEVEL IN THE EVOLUTION WILL BE A BETTER HUMAN BEING THAN BEFORE.

Answer 9

We are definitely the result of an evolutionary process. But we have actually managed to stop our own evolution.
I believe that humans don't evolve much anymore. Evolution is the result of lifeforms adapting to a changing environment. We don't have to adapt anymore, we adapt our environment to ourselves. Furthermore, evolution is the result of the stronger genes surviving, and the weaker ones dying. Our "weaker" genes do survive, aswell.
Just one example is In Vitro Fertilization: People who can't have babies usually do so because their genes don't match, or their children would be too weak to survive in a harsh environment. Using IVF, those people still have children, who will also have children themselves, resulting in a "non-evolving" gene-pool. People who have a genetic disorder still have children, passing the defect genes on and on throughout generations. In a harsher environment, those people would simply die before they could have children.
Maybe one day poor Africans or Indians will evolve into stronger humans because they have to adapt to their environment and don't have the possibilities to change it, so in the end they may take over the world.

(NB: I know all of this sounds harsh, I don't want to kill people with a genetic disorder, I'm not Hitler. I'm just trying to explain why I believe that humans don't evolve very much anymore.)

Answer 10

We are the last rung in the evolutionary process. A new form of evolution will spring out of our existance.

We are the first species capable of creating intelligence using artificial means. Evolution will die with us. I will create strong AI, and it will save the human race.