I suspect the period of devolution may have begun around 50-100 years ago...... no Newtons, no Einsteins are being born any more!! The scientists, the philosophers, the artists, the statesmen.... pick any area of excellence and we find them all much below the extraordinary level similar people had attained around 100 years back or before.
2007-07-24 21:52:53 · 6 answers · asked by small 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
I couldn't agree more.
2007-07-25 02:30:31 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Well, if a species ‘devolution’ is it’s ‘failure to adapt’, by definition this would proceed extinction.
That said though, do current events REALLY put the human clock one minute from midnight? I mean, considering evolutionary timetables, is a 100 year lull in smart guys enough to justify that big a judgment?
And are we even having a lull? If Newton was born in 1642, and Einstein in 1879, doesn’t that make our next watermark genius due somewhere around 2116?
As for the near greats, Were the guys who developed airplanes any smarter than the one’s who developed jets? Where the guys that figured out electricity any smarter that the one’s who created the internet? Were the women who fought for a woman’s right to have ‘male’ careers any smarter than the ones who’ve figured out those careers are more or less genetic suicide?
Doesn’t the elevated birth rate among the less intelligent seem a natural response to societies rising need for cheap labor?
Seriously, what has happened to our simple trust that the fittest would survive?
What has happened to our Faith in Darwin? :-)
2007-07-25 06:23:03 · answer #2 · answered by Phoenix Quill 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe it was Darwin that said we allow our misfits to procreate. That and because we choose mates based on sentimentality we stand to weaken the gene pool.
However, due to good prenatal care, nutrition, and the availability of information and education that was not available back then, today we have plenty of mental "rock stars." Perhaps the geniuses we have today that are cracking the human genome and making our computers faster and smaller have a tougher time sticking out because there are so many of them. Perhaps not at Einstein's level, but who is at his level? Guys like him and Da Vinci only come along once in a great while. Besides, geniuses don't shine in this age, we are far more interested in Speares and Lohan!
2007-07-24 22:14:22 · answer #3 · answered by Christopher 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Makes me think of Devo lol, anyway to be serious I think there's some Newtons & Einsteins that have yet to be born so don't think the impossible.
2007-07-25 18:05:37 · answer #4 · answered by ♆Şрhĩņxy - Lost In Time. 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
deep...you should consider writing a book.
2007-07-25 01:04:51 · answer #5 · answered by Spiderpig 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
eh? ... I guess you're joking...
Also, what about Stephen Hawking?
2007-07-24 22:05:53 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋