evolution means we are evolving for the better right?

Question

does any body out there really think that mankind is better?

Answer 1

theres no evidence in recorded history to suggest we have changed one bit ..

Answer 2

Yes, that is what it is supposed to mean, and I think that most of us are, otherwise wouldn't the majority of us, think that war is peachy keen, for example? If we were not evolving for the better, then most of us would not realize how primitive mankind as a whole is, and it would never have occurred to you to ask that question. Granted, we are not evolving as quickly as we probably should be, but do you understand the point I am trying to make?

I want to add, that it seems that many of the answers you got are from people who think that evolution is strictly a physical phenomenon, that has nothing to do with character or with the soul. They are mistaken, because the soul and character aspects are the very most important aspects of evolution. *sm*

Answer 3

The natural selection process work through generations. Those that are better able to reproduce are the success. Luck plays a part and it is actually a game of averages.

It is also important to understand that evolution is not like a ladder but more like a shrubbery. Creatures evolve into better exploitation of niches in the environment and it is not directed from lower animals to humans as a pinnacle of evolution. Some creatures have become highly evolved to live inside other animals even. An amazing refinement of the predator/prey relationship.
Have you ever considered that a tape worm might be thought of as more highly evolved than its human prey is. How about the malaria parasite.

Humans are evolving and one of the things we are doing is evolving into an environment that we are creating.
If you think about evolution of life as part of a system it becomes plain that the creature is interacting with the changes in the environment and with the evolution of other creatures as well.
Try a simple example like wolves and deer.
Deer are fast graceful and alert because if they were not fast graceful or alert the wolves would be able to eat them. Less fast or less alert deer do get eaten and do not reproduce. Wolves are fast, strong and sharp toothed because if they were not they would starve to death trying to catch faster and more alert deer.
Good so far and simple. Now add a parasite that infects deer lungs at one stage of its life cycle. It spends the second part of its life inside a wolfs gut. It makes the deer slower and the wolf sicker. It does one thing special though. It makes the deer's breath stink so the wolf can find it and makes the deer breath less effectively so that the wolf can catch it and eat it.
The rest of the parasites life cycle we do not need foir now.
I think you get the idea of how complicated it gets.
Evolution.
Lets take a look at Humans and domestic animals. Many of the animals we farm we have changed to the point that they could not survive in the wild, they can not even breed with the stock we developed them from. Evolution proved again. Try Corn, Potatos and Bananas. Plants that are totaly dependant on humans to breed and reproduce. The trade is that by evolving to our needs under our selection process they have increased their population to incredible levels. We have become increasingly dependant on them too.
I doubt if a man from 3,000 BC could even figure out how to make a living today. I doubt if his brain could function like ours do. I doubt if he could control his fear, impulses or plan for the future like we do. Even if he was raised with us from a baby. not so much less intelligent as just organized differently.
He certainly would suffer different diseases.

Answer 4

It doesn't necessarily mean "for the better" according to any abstract notion of good or bad, or any human notion. Organisms adapt to changing conditions in their environment or die. It's "for the better" in a purely pragmatic sense.

As for mankind, you're probably just talking about social mores, and that doesn't have anything to do with biological evolution. Do I think mankind is "better"? In some ways, yes; in others, no. We've certainly made progress, and at the same time created complications. Personally, though, I wouldn't want to live in any other time.

Answer 5

> evolution means we are evolving for the better right?

Nope. It just means that a change is occurring in the allele frequencies within the population.

Mammoths were "highly evolved" and yet if you look around, you won't find any living ones. It may be that they occupied too narrow nitches, and when the climate changed, they couldn't cope with changes in vegetation... [It's also likely that a superpredator hastened their extermination].

Answer 6

Evolution means we change because of our environment. Not necessarily for the better. If there was a global nuclear war, what was left of the human race in 100 years - the descendants of the survivors - would be stronger physically than us, and a great deal more savage, because you'd have to be ready to eat your buddy when there isn't any other food about. That would be evolution, but it would definitely not be an improvement.

Answer 7

better than what? evolution means that organisms will tend to be better suited to survive and reproduce in the environment they find themselves in than their ancestors were, if mutation provides the necessary variation. if the mutations are not forthcoming or if the environment doesn't favor change, there is no directed change (no 'progress'). the fact that there are now over 6 billion humans compared to a few million only a few thousand years ago is a good sign that humans are doing alright as far as survival and reproduction goes.

Answer 8

Evolution is the process of change in response to environmental changes. Supposedly the appendix in early man was a much bigger organ because its purpose was to digest raw meat. After man starting cooking meat before consuming it, then the theory is that the appendix shrank over the centuries because the appendix was not needed anymore. An example..

Answer 9

Some of us believe in Evolution because we are currently in that process... others... well, you have to wonder where they are headed...

I was shocked to find that I had met an Atheist who did not believe in evolution the other day... it turned out that he had read that Christian propaganda book called "Pandas and People" and then he decided that evolution was baloney!
LOL - that was the weirdest guy I ever met!

When I told him what the book was, he looked at me like I was from another planet... he couldn't believe that a Christian group would have reason to write any book other than the Bible... how ignorant!

Answer 10

What's better? Evolution mean we're evolving, period.

Personally I think mankind needs to give itself a lot more credit for what it is capable of. I think when catastrophe stikes we all rise to the occasion.

Answer 11

Evolution implies improvement. However, it is only an improvement in regards to a certain adaptive aspect, applicable to certain situations, often at the long-term expense of the ability to succeed in other situations. We, as a species, have improved in the most technical sense of the word, but doing so has created social strife, and ecological damage. Evolution, at what cost?