Answer only if you believe in the Darwin's theory of evolution?

Question

What traits do you think will humans lose in the next 10 million years (genetically)? Will there be any mutations? Do you think there is a certain population on earth living in a certain geographic region whom can end up going through certain genetic transformations as a result of being on the same isolated (island for example) region over an extended period (millions of years). Could earth be an isolated region where the human species have evolved into what they are right now? Yes I have asked too many questions but I dare you to spend time thinking about a logical answer ( if you can come up with one)?

Answer 1

I think that understanding where we have been as a species, what we have done, and how we have changed because of what we have done will help give you the answers you seek. When humans left the tropics, they quickly adapted to other climates through culture rather than just through biological means alone. (eg. light skin in northern climates to better make vitamin A, but also clothing) Culture, the ability to live in complex groups with different roles, can be seen in a primitive form in our closest relatives, so the development of complex culture must have been a crucial part of the change that allowed us to spread over nearly the entire planet. The culture of today must be a combination of physical and technological evolution, and it stands to reason (at least mine) that as technology changes, new selective pressures are brought to bear on the human population. For example, success (and therefore reproductive success) today rests more with intelectual reasoning ability than physical success.

As far as your question about isolated groups, I think that part of human history is at an end. If we survive long enough (big if!) we will all be very much alike all over the world. Indeed, the global village that is being created by computers may give us a glimpse into the future.

Ten million years? Ten times as long as Homo Sapiens has existed. I think the strongest case can be made that we won't last that long and that we will be part of the great wave of extinction going on right now. That said, I would say that if we continue to exist, one possibility is that the present trend toward interconnectedness evolves until the network becomes us and humanity becomes a colonial organism. Another possibility is that we will evolve to become our machines - you start with heart pace makers and end up a robot.

One last thought. Thinking about the far future may be great intelectual play, but it's not nearly as important as the things that need to be done today. Things like learning how to live with our fellow humans without killing each other, or learning how to live on our planet without destroying it.

Answer 2

I'd say our hips will get smaller. We are removing the problem of having to squeeze a baby's skull through an opening that's just a bit too tight now.

Being isolated doesn't result in genetic transformation, it just keeps new mutations from being diluted to irrelivancy. No, not on earth people get around too much for geographic isolation to allow exageration of genetic drift.

"Could earth be an isolated region where the human species have evolved into what they are right now?" I'm a little puzzled about what you're asking here. I doubt that earthly life has ever been connected to non earthly life. Isolation requires a prior connection. I've heard the speculation of the panspermia hypothesis, but if life was spread that way there should be meteorites with identifiable primative life in them in the extensive collections of meteorites. There are none, there are organic chemicals aplenty, but none are self contained metablosms or have fragmentary genetic material.

Earth could become an isolated region for diversification, if people ever colonize the universe, and if faster than light travel is impossible. Current physics suggests that going much faster that 20% light speed isn't a realistic possibility.

I don't think that clearcut speciation will happen. I think that humans will develop into a 'ring species' wherein the endemic populations at the fringes of our range will be geneticly incapable of breeding with the endemics at the opposite edge of the range while being capable of interbreeding with neighboring endemics.

All the above is pretty hypothetical.people could deliberately make themselves into seperate species by genetic engineering, or could engineer new species of human for various reasons. Some catastrophe or political conflagration that could prevent geneflow might happen, which would allow natural diversification and speciation.

Answer 3

Mutations occur all the time, most with little effect on the individual that bears them, and even fewer on the evolution of a population or species. Humans are interbreeding at an ever increasing rate, and no population is isolated anymore. The single human population is huge, and buffered from ecological change by technology.

Under these conditions, gene and/or trait loss is highly unlikely. About the only thing that will evolve is our innate immune systems, as pandemic diseases sweep across the world.

Answer 4

This is an interesting and complex question! A number of things can happen:

(1) Genetic (or morphogenetic) change may be induced through self-selection. Easily the most overt change will probably be in superficial appearance. Everyone wants to have children with attractive mates, so conceivably unattractiveness may become rarer in the population.

(2) As iijakii mentions, the changes can be self-induced. Where this may happen is in the case of medical abnormalities and immune deficiencies. If we ever get to that degree of knowledge, we may choose to affect these conditions at the gene level.

(3) Environmental forces may encourage changes in our genetic expression. An extreme example is what may happen if we decide to live in environments very different from our native habitat. What happens to people in the low gravity of Space? A high gravity world? The high pressures of the deep oceans?

There is an interesting article on the latest research in epigenetics in the current Discover magazine (http://www.discover.com/issues/nov-06/cover/ -- sorry, to read whole article, must be a subscriber). It details how subsequent generations can change dramatically not by changes to the DNA itself, but by influencing the epigenome, which are "switches and markers [that] help switch on or off the expression of particular genes."

It may not be a matter of actually changing someone's genes (whether deliberately or evolutionarily), but rather how things influence the expression of the genes we already have (which could also happen either deliberately or evolutionarily).

Another recent study that was in the news discussed the tallest people (on average) in the world. Contributing factors included better nutrition and healthier lifestyles, but were there other selective factors? Who was this population? THE NETHERLANDS.

I don't know if I answered you adequately, but I hope I have given you some food for thought!

Answer 5

4-7 years of school and those deepsh!ts nevertheless have all of it incorrect!!! Why do they prefer to pit up Darwin against God? right here is the actual deal: the thought of Evolution coincides with the story of introduction. Evolution potential that the 1st style of existence began on the seas, progressed to diverse species, some went to thrive on land, and a team of bipeds grew to become people. The introduction tale is parallel interior the comparable way: God created the animals interior the sea on the... what day replaced into it? Then the animals on land and at last, guy. He created us in His very own image and likeness. Is He greater Caucasian or greater of an asian? Neither. via fact he's not previous bearded guy interior the sky yet a spirit that binds us all of His creations jointly. image and likeness interior the form of the complicated workings of our minds extremely than our actual attributes. So end b!tching with reference to the God->guy, monkey->guy, God=monkey formula!!! of path, you will not think of that the 7 days of introduction replaced into performed in 168 hours. a million day in God's schedule must be tantamount to one hundred million years or so... except you're a narrow-minded sh!t that take the words the Bible actually. God created guy. might he in basic terms magically seem out of nowhere? No, i do no longer think of so. So God created guy with technological know-how as His gadget? definite, maximum possibly. So what then is the evolution concept? The Evolution concept is an thought reinforcing the debts of the introduction interior the Genesis.

Answer 6

Many races have already developed as a result of geographic isolation, but that is largely a thing of the past. Today with modern means of transportation, genetic mixing of the races is the norm, and becoming more so in every generation as the old taboos against interracial marriage are fading away.

Answer 7

Physically, our earth-bound evolution is going to be geared towards the attributes that allow longer life and a longer reproductive period (e.g. efficacious metabolisms, cells that produce less free radicals, etc.) as these people are more likely to have, and have more, offspring.

...If the human race moves to Space a lot of adaptation and natural selection will happen there. Weak hearts will fail, bones will deteriorate, muscles will atrophy etc. Until you eventually get long skinny people bred for little gravity.

Answer 8

To answer this we must first consider why there is evolution to begin with. A couple of billion years ago the planet had acquired enough organic compounds and the conditions were right for life to form from the primordial soup. The environment at that time was extremely harsh to say the least. The atmosphere was quite weak and highly poisonous, providing little shielding to cosmic radiation. The moon was much closer to the planet causing incredible shifting and upheaval of the tectonic plates and volcanism was rampant. The very first single celled microbes formed at the bottoms of the oceans where the sheer volume of water provided the shielding needed from solar radiation, and thermal vents in the oceans floor provided the needed nutrients for survival. Once the process started, it didn't take long for these first compounds to form what is called the biomass. What is important to remember here is that the biomass of the planet has been pretty much the same since that time. What this means is that if you were to take ALL of the first organisms and weigh them they would weigh the same as ALL the living organisms today. Same biomass, different permutations. We call these permutations evolution. Humans tend to think of evolution in strictly selfish terms. It is not uncommon, as the question implies, for people to think of humans as the end in a long chain of evolving life. This assumes that the chain is like an arrow and we are the tip. When in reality, humans are a link in the chain that travels through time in the form of a wave, all modern permutations abreast of the other. Now as to what causes evolution. Necessity. It truly is the mother of invention. As a bird needs a stronger beak for cracking tougher seeds during a dry spell, natures provides the next generation with that beak. If the seasons turn rainy and the beak needs to be long and slim for probing for grubs, again, nature provides. This begs the question, why is the biomass evolving at all? Well, why would you diversify your portfolio? To limit risk and increase potential, of course. Now back to the weight of the biomass and how that relates to human evolution. As stated earlier, throughout the history of the planet the weight has been consistent, What this means in human terms is that as there are more and more humans there is by default less and less other forms of life as the mass becomes concentrated in one species to the detriment of others. That is why we are witnessing the first global extinction caused by a specific life form as versus a catastrophic event. Are we a species gone wild? Like some form of mutant virus? Are we condemned to destroy ourselves through over population and depletion of recourses? Possibly. However, there is another possibility as well. From the very beginning the biomass has been evolving. Creating many different permutations both large and small but seemingly the direction is not as random as it may appear. Some of the permutations, such as ants and bees, have a hive mind and do quite well. Others, like the oversized dinosaurs, were a non-viable species and died off, as their ability to adapt was limited. Even in the great catastrophes the biomass itself remained unaltered as to weight. Yet even after such a massive undoing on multiple occasions, the biomass not only recovers, but, outdoes itself with even more complex permutations. Why? Necessity. And now we find ourselves, humans, at the apex of the biomasses evolutionary symphony. And we wonder, where will we go from here? I think I may have an answer that is both unique and believable. We are the first permutation that because of necessity and an evolutionary stroke of genius on the part of the biomass will be able to actually engineer the next evolutionary phase of existence for the biomass. We are not, nor have ever been nothing more then an expression, one of a multitude, of the biomass. It only makes sense that it, not us, is what is truly evolving. I firmly believe that because of the way we are designed. To over populate, to over consume, we are in the process of forcing our own evolution just to insure the survival of the “human” (read biomass) id. Whether it is through genetic science, artificial intelligence, space exploration, man machine interface or some as yet unknown medium, soon we shall find ourselves forced to alter the physical properties of the vehicle that carries the will (mind) of the biomass in such a way as to insure it’s ultimate survival and enable it to control it’s environment in such a way as to make any further permutations unnecessary. When the conscious mind of the biomass is finally able to directly control itself in such a way as to be able to leave it’s birthplace and seek like minds amongst the stellar nursery then you will realize the ultimate in our, the entire biomass’s, evolution.

Answer 9

Hair gone.
mutations - no- because all the genetic defects will be corrected.
if Isolation is there and long enough time, yes there will be special capability to adapt to the localized environment. For example, people who live close to north pole has the high tolerances of low temperature. And people who live in high altitude has better lung capacities in low oxygen environment.

Answer 10

personally, i don't think human existance will be a reality in 10 million years.
if it is, then we will have evolved the ability that some microbes have, to change our respiration to utilize different substances.
for instance, humans better learn how to breath CO2 rather than oxygen, and possibly evolve a epidermal trait of being able to withstand higher energy wavelengths of light from our sun.


that is of course, if we don't poison our own environment to the point of being unhospitable to our own existence, like many microbes do in lab cultures.