if we were product of evolution, r we getting physical & mentally superior? then why?

Question

we get more & more defective gene, mutated ones & new genetic disorder dieases. r we degrading like a copy after copy situation.

Answer 1

Evolution doesn't make organisms better... it makes them better suited for their environment.

Answer 2

We're not getting physically superior. In fact, it seems we're slipping a bit in that regard -- but evolution would predict this because there is no longer a strong selective pressure towards physical fitness. With moderrn health facilities, even horridly unhealthy people can usually make it to an age where he/she can procreate. This also would explain the growing preponderance of genetic disorders.

However, our mental capacity IS evolving -- the brain cavity has gotten larger over the generations, and the brain contained within it is geting more and more folded (long explaination made short: folds are important for intelligence).

Mutated genes, by the way, are exactly how evolution works. Well, that's a minor oversimplification -- imperfections in copying the genetic material (which includes much more than base-pair mutations) are how evolution works.

Funny how you can only do a comparison but using the fact of evolution, and the theory describing it, I can actually analyze and answer your question directly, and could even construct experiments to test my hypotheses.

Answer 3

Sort of. The copy after copy situation is a bad way to look at it. The idea of evolution is that there are many defective and mutated genes, etc, but the negative ones die out, and the positive ones thrive and spread within the species. With modern medical advances, there is a trend where negative traits don't affect people near as much, which keeps them from dying out or staying at a minimum. This could be argued as a sort of degradation of our genetics, but I think that our medical advances will allow this to not hurt us.

Answer 4

Evolution is vastly misunderstood. Evolution doesn't necessarily mean every mutation gets 'better'. On the contrary, Darwin believed the vast majority of mutations were detrimental. Only in rare cases does an animal or plant get lucky and actually gets an advantageous mutation. Natural selection is the mechanism through which evolution occurs. What it means is that beings with genetic defects tend to die off earlier, and become more unlikely to pass on these defects to their offsprings. The lucky few who actually have advantageous mutations get to pass these on to their descendants who, in turn, have a better chance of surviving.
The human species is in a case of its own. With the advent of modern medicine, we allow people to survive which nature would have taken out of the reproductive gene pool. Many diabetics, for example, would die at a young age if it weren't for medical intervention. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but the fact remains we are allowing more bad genes to survive and to make their way into the human gene pool.
The point to understand is that evolution doesn't mean the beings are 'better' in any way - that is a value assessment, which science refrains from doing. It simply means they are more adapted to a particular environment.

Answer 5

We are hardly evolving. Evolution doesn't work the way you seem to think. It isn't like, "We just get better over time." There are genetic mutations in a generation. If that mutation is beneficial, the creature with the mutation will be more likely to breed, creating more with that mutation. Eventually, that mutation may become a deciding factor in whether or not that creature lives to mate or gets a mate. In time, the entire species ends up with the mutation, and the race has evolved.

Humans barely evolve. Why? Because technology and emotion make it hard for natural selection to work. With technology, people survive things that should have killed them in nature, and emotion leads to the weak of the species finding mates as often as the strong do.

Answer 6

First of all, I'm going to guess you are NOT evolving if you are too lazy to type "are" instead of "r".

Mutated and defective genes have been around, and there are not "new" genetic disorders. We just now have the techonology to diagnose and undesrtand them. Why do you think people are living longer these days? 1000 years ago, 50 was ancient. And people drowned babies born with birth defects.

Answer 7

No. It's a simple matter of numbers. The more people there are in the world, the greater the likelihood of mutations. And in today's media driven society, you hear about a lot of stuff that used to be overlooked. We not degrading as a species.

Answer 8

We're not evolving as we used to because modern technology makes survival extremely easy, even for the weak and stupid. These people are able to reproduce, an opportunity they probably wouldn't have in the wild.
There is some evidence, however, to suggest that we are getting smarter over time. I believe the figure is something like 3 IQ points per generation, but it hasn't yet been established to my knowledge whether this is the result of people actually getting smarter. IQ tests are tricky things.

Answer 9

humankind has now embarked on cultural evolution where we bypass natural evolution by saving all those with defective genes so that they can pass them on to the next generation instead of allowing natural evolution to have its way. that's way the appendix won't go away: we save the vast majority of people with appendicitis and they pass on the appendix genes.

Answer 10

Humanity has done very little in the past 10,000 years but build a few cities, make babies, and fight amongst himself. Don't let them kid you.
It's not the Age of Aqaurius that is opening our minds right now.
It's our Highest Power.

Answer 11

I don't know - I'll have to go home and ask the monkey next door - he was born a monkey then grew into human form.