are we as humans interfering with our own evolution?

Question

I wasn't sure how to categorize this question so forgive me if this is in the wrong place. Evolution is a natural process correct? It is a process that takes hundreds and millions of years possible.. Im just wondering if mankind is hindering it's own evolution by ingesting all the manmade stuff ie medicines processed foods and such. sure 100 years ago man only lived to be about 40-50 but it was a natural thing. I hope that this made sense. Basically I want to know if Scientific advancements are really such a goood thing after all. I have my doubts. how bout y'all.

Answer 1

Perhaps our ability to discover medicines and develop processed foods, etc. was also brought about by our evolution. I think we were meant to know of these things and use them. There really is no way to escape evolution or mother nature. Perhaps because of our technological advances, we will evolve differently than if we did not have them, but we will still continue to evolve.

Answer 2

It wasn't so long ago that if you had bad eyesight, you were not able to compete and pass on that defect. Today we slap corrective lenses on the visually handicapped and they live long enough to pass this trait on to an increasing percentage of the population. The same can be said for juvenile diabetes which seldom allowed the afflicted person to survive to adulthood.
Fortunately, we have also evolved to the point where we will soon be able to correct such defects at the genetic level, unfortunately, we will not be able to make such technology available to the mass of humanity because of the cost and the fact that so many religions are having a contest to see which ones can out-breed the others.
To survive as a species, we have to shed our misconceptions and deal with our flaws in a rational way. We must adhere to Gronfrix's postulate which states, " The first sign a species is becoming sentient is when they have evolved to the point where they can abstract enough to invent a god. The first sign a species is achieving sentient maturity is when they get rid of their gods."

Answer 3

Well, they do say girls are getting their periods earlier than they used to and there's a theory that it's because of all the hormones injected into animals to make them grow bigger to produce more meat. They say plastic can give us cancer, actually a lot of things we come in contact with every day can give us cancer.

However, I don't think this is as much of a threat to our evolution as our reproductive habits. The smart, educated people are limiting the amount of children they have if any, while the stupidest specimens of the human race are popping them out all over the place. Survival of the fittest means that the best specimens are the ones who survive to reproduce. But now we have so many safety laws that people who can't even handle writing down a phone # are able to live to be 70 and have 7 babies just as stupid as they are. That is what scares me the most about the direction of human evolution.

Answer 4

Yes you are very much in the wrong place for this question. Re-ask it in the Biology board if you want serious answers.

From my understanding of evolution, we cannot stop our evolution, we can only effect it. With that said medicines and such will have an effect on how we evolve, but will not stop the process.

Answer 5

First of all we don't evolve.

Ask any scientist anywhere in the world to give you just one proven case of any animal or insect, or plant that has actually evolved into another one. They can't because it has never happened -- notwithstanding thier extreme arrogant bias.

However species can and often do change and adapt.

But the crucial point is they still remain the same species. Gorillas do not change into pansies, and sharks do not change into flamingoes.

You can bet your bottom dollar that the: micro pollutants such as diesel exhaustes, chemical residues from plastic containers, flouride in our water systems, etc. etc. etc. are slowly killing us on the one hand.

While on the other hand, the greatly reduced nutritional value of our foods from our depleted soils that rely on artifical and unnatural fertilizers is weakening our imune systmes.

We are living longer at this stage mainly because of the technology which has allowed us to improve human hygiene, and the medical breakthoughs which allowed us to control some diseases such as smallpox.

But our system has rapidly exapanded far beyond the capicty of the Earth to support it. Like all populations that grow larger than envirnments can support, it must crash.

Answer 6

True, we are inhibiting our evolutionary growth in some repects. But you could also classify cultural intelligence as evolution. Even without relative change in brain mass or anatomy, our culture has the ability to expand and improve our mental processes and thought patterns without physical evolution to take place. This has limits, and eventually we will need more physical evolution, but not for so many years to come.

Answer 7

I think it's much more likely now that we are than we have been before. That's a tough one to call on since evolution is a term used to describe the process of mutation that allows a species to survive or die in an ever changing environment. I think it's much more likely that we are changing our environment faster than we can evolve.

Answer 8

I think mankind is stifling his own evolution with manmade pills and fast food, they supress the body's natural defenses and the fast food makes people sick and die at a young age.

too many people dont care about nature anymore, most people are too busy screaming about when the world will end.

Answer 9

God might now certainly no longer be an interference once you think approximately that he's frequently there regardless. God is a sort interior the entire factor and is a factor of all what ever performs out is consistently with him and the single element that interferes is a human and the imbalance we create with Gods marvelous plan. it extremely is his universe so how could desire to that ever be authentic?

Answer 10

Yes, essentially you could say that. But that doesn't mean it's a *bad* thing. Just because something is 'natural' doesn't mean it's the best. Nature makes mistakes as much as, if not more than, man.