if evolution was true, what are we evolving into now?

Answer 1

Here we go with the correct but still unpopular answer.

In order for evolution to proceed you need genetic variation that is acted upon by natural selection. Natural selection dictates that less fit individuals will reproduce less (or not at all) than more fit individuals. Without natural selection THERE IS NO EVOLUTION.

So, if you look at human beings, we've had the technology for centuries to assure that all humans (or at least a random sampling) reach adult reproductive age, regardless of fitness (those 6 billion people out there must be proof of that). Hence there is no natural selection in human populations, hence there is no evolution in human populations.

Human technologies may evolve, but humans as a species have stopped undergoing biological evolution long ago.

Unless something drastic happens you are already looking at the end product of human evolution.

I was pleased to see how many posters got this right in this thread. Thumbs up for you.

Answer 2

Evolution happens slowly, over very thousands of breeding cycles. You're not going to see major changes to slow breeders like humans in something as short as a human lifetime. Or even a dozen lifetimes.

Look at things that reproduce quickly, like bacteria. Or insects. Or better yet, look at the things that humans have controlled the breeding habits of. How many different types of dogs have we been able to create in a few hundred years? How much have we improved on the quality and quantity of our food crops? That's all just humans forcing evolution in a certain direction.

Evolution, the idea that populations change over time and adapt to living conditions, is as true and understood as gravity or chemistry. Even the Catholic church acknowledges that. Don't confuse that with the questions of how life got here, or if there is a divine presence. Those are no more related than the arguments that the universe must revolve around the Earth were when they were made hundreds of years ago.

Answer 3

Evolution requires a natural selection process, meaning that only the strongest, fastest, biggest or smartest reproduce. However, all humans reproduce even the stupid, short, or weak ones.

However, just because all humans reproduce does not mean there is not any selection process. I have a theory that there is a form of evolution in humans in that we all try to choose the best mate possible. Which for humans would be a combination of physical beauty & intelligence. The smarter or more beautiful you are the more likely you are to be able to attract a mate that is also beautiful and smart.

The result, as I see it is striations or layers within our society of increasingly more beautiful and intelligent humans. And then at the bottom a think layer of the unattractive and dense. Of course there are always diamonds within any family which exhibit remarkable beauty and smarts that defy their genetics but these people will be absorbed into the upper layers to further propogate the differences.

Answer 4

The evolution of any organism is caused by a need to adapt to its surroundings. The thing about humans is, we don't physically change to fit the environment we're in, we change the environment to fit us. So, humans don't have any reason to evolve. I think the closest thing to evolution that humans are experiencing are the immune systems of third world country citizens. If you placed an American citizen in a bad part of Africa or South America and told them to survive, the chances that they don't catch some disease, or illness in the first month or so is very slim because we're used to relatively clean environments. I'm not saying people from those countries don't get sick, that would be ridiculous but I do think they have far more powerful immune systems then those who live in first world countries. Just like some bacteria is becoming immune to penicillin, if you expose enough generations to the same thing, their genes will eventually change, and will then be passed on.

Answer 5

With time going on we're still evolving with our technology. With advances in medicine people will begin to notice our life expectancy growing and that there is prolonged life beyond what was typical say 100 years ago. Not only that, humans are evolving to what we use.

Shoes are the biggest example. Scientists have done experiments and observed many people over the years and compared to long ago where many people would have pinky toes to use as balance as they walked barefoot, especially during the hunting and gathering stages of our evolution. Shoes now are used more for balance and with so many different types of shoes for every type of foot, scientists are noticing the gradual decrease of the size of the pinky toe on many people.

People continue to evolve based off of our technology and that statement that someone said about us evolving into machines? Who knows with the way things are going now.

Answer 6

Evolution is almost certainly the mechanism by which we developed:

As far as what we are currently evolving into goes- Who knows ?

For the biggest part of recent human history our brains have been expanding very fast. Maybe this will continue, and we'll become cleverer.

But maybe not...

Answer 7

Evolution in it's simplest sense just means that the overall gene pool changes, it doesn't always mean a new species or an exciting new feature.

Possible human evolutionary trends:
-schism between rich and poor, have's and have-not's
-weaker bodies, stronger brains, less sense of smell, more emphasis on visual acuity.
-more blending of ethnic groups
-either a trend towards a more belligerent or a less belligerent species, depending on how well common sense prevails over the next 1000 years.

Answer 8

There isn't much selective pressure now. What is going to give people the best chance of having children who are successful? Maybe the earliest sign of the evolutionary process will be a decrease in dyslexia. The future is hard to predict.

Answer 9

Maybe humans are the final level of evolution

Answer 10

We're evolving our minds to the point that we're creating a generation of machines and one day. (since technology advances)

human kind as we know it, will be half machines and half humans and sooner or later, humanity as we know it will no longer exsist and become full-metal superbeings.


Thats my defenition of evolution of the human kind.