Would an understanding of evolutionary biology benefit the average person in daily life?

Question

I get the academic interest in evolutionary biology, but would like to better be able to communicate why it's important to people generally (beyond the obvious example of antibiotic resistance in bacteria). What else does understanding evolutionary biology do for us?

Answer 1

More than you think. It has a lot of potential advantages:

1. New treatments for malaria (no this isn't aobut resistance) are based on tis ancestors- which are related to weeds (so we can targt it with similar molecules- this is being doen now, with weed killers). Similar steps are being pursued elsewhere.
2. It's useful in working out where oil might be (if you can work out which species of plankton appear fossilised near deposits, there's a good chance the same ones will show up again).
3. New vaccines. A vaccine against one stran of a virus might not work against another- but you can work out with evolution which ones it will work on.
4. Here's an example: there's a monkey HIV virus called SIV (simian instead of human)- but it doesn't hurt them. That's because the monkeys evolved to lose the receptor it targets. And guess what? The black death targeted the same receptor in Europe- so now some 10% of Europeans in osme countries aere immune to HIV without ever having caught it. This can help get cures (also just knowing where these bugs come from is useful.
5. The same principles that dirve evolution also drive your immune system- it evolves to take on new bugs all the time. Knowing this helps you understand how it works.
6. New design software to build appliances can use evolution- this has been done.
7. It may be possilbe to force chemicals like RNA to evolve into drugs. We can already make it do things ti doesnt' normally do.

I would recommend the book "Evolution: the Triumph of an Idea" by Carl Zimmer- it outlines a lot of this.

Answer 2

In an advance culture people would be educated and learned enough to understand the basics of life. Evolution in its most simple definition is change. Everyone should understand change. Evolution is the source of change in all things living. That makes it very important.

Sad thing about America is that evolution has been taken out of many high school biology courses. Even in the advance courses. That does two things. Makes it difficult to teach biology. And reduces the students ability to compete with other students on college entrants exams.

Sadly in America education is being "dumbed" down. Primary education is just not teaching good high quality math and science classes.

Answer 3

I think there are several important concepts that are very useful. First of all, the concept of flexibility being beneficial for adaptation is important as an overall concept that we can use in our approaches to thinking, experimental design, or business plans, etc. To me that's the most important.

Another important concept is that change and perceived "defect" are not always bad, and sometimes can end up being very beneficial. This concept applies to lots of everyday situations and can even aid in teaching acceptance of other cultures, etc.

I think there are more similar concepts here, but to understand evolutionary biology conceptually, is very beneficial to the average person, as it helps their way of thinking and their approach to thinking.

Answer 4

I will add to the other good answers.

Recognizing out evolutionary relationships to other animals should make people more compassionate toward them. Separating ourselves from animals has oftentimes justified cruelty and insensitivity to their emotions and ability to feel pain the same way humans do.

Answer 5

Just as a basic knowledge of the physical conditions that govern our lives, the knowledge of evolution helps us understand the world around us, why it is as it is, why plants and animals (including, indeed, humans) behave and live like they do.
Knowledge (not only of Evolution an Physics) also makes us less susceptible to be dominated by people who seem to know things, but only pretend to do so in order to wield power over us. This knowledge enables us to see through their plots, spot the inconsistencies, the circular arguments, the fake truths etc.
Knowledge is Power.

Answer 6

Well, every now and then, I wonder what our species will evolve into in the distant future, if we make it that far. I guess that's not a daily occurance, though.

Answer 7

It can help to explain "teleologically" why things are the way they are, especially in sexual behavior (lets face it- sex is the crux of evolutionary biology) which most people (especially students) find relatively interesting...