Why did Evolution stop?

Question

At the risk of being trampled on by atheists for my ignorance, I post this question out of sincere curiosity. Please tread lightly. I'm sensitive.

Ok, so far, the list of things I have to do:
1. Look at my grandparents bust sizes
2. Look up Cambrian Explosion
3. Keep an eye on my pinky finger
4. Ask and/or shake it.
5. Don't tell the scientists.
6. Smile upon Jeffd_57
7. Do not ignore relativety of course
8. check out movie idiocracy
9. give everybody a big HUG for responding with such respect for my question.

No 4 is ask or shake a tree. Sorry.

Answer 1

well it got to you and stopped at perfection

Answer 2

It hasn't. New species are evolving right now. any mutation that helps a species survive, and get passed down to the following generations IS evolution.

Nylon and nylon-based compounds were previously considered non-biodegradable, but last year a new species of bacteria evolved that can break down and digest the carbon polymer compounds that make up nylon, a material that is less than 40 years old. Evolution in action.

Also, think about all the new penicillin-resistant bacteria that have sprung up in the last ten years. Evolution, right there.

Think about all the new viruses that have popped up in the last two decades. Sure, some were simply previously undiscovered diseases, but others are whole new organisms. AIDS, for example, evolved from SAIDS, a simian-based auto-immune disorder.

Plus, look just one century back, to the worlds first recorded Influenza outbreak. 1918, during the first week of November, it would kill 14,000 people in the city of London. Of the survivors of the epidemic (which actually lasted 2 weeks), some were immune, others developed a resistance to the disease. They, in turn, passed that resistance down to their offspring, rendering a previously deadly disease into an annoying (if still potentially serious) disease. Human evolution in action.

Answer 3

It would only stop if all animal and plant life went extinct. Be sure not to confuse evolving with the perception of getting better. Evolution is about change, not growth, and not decay.

It is worth noting that after 4 billion years of Earth's existence, just within the last hundred years or so, humans have reached and interesting point in evolution in which we seem to have the ability to affect our own evolution and that of every other plant and animal. We've done so through our perceived destructive effects on the environment and some extinction of species. We've also done it through our attempts to reverse those effects. And now, genetic engineering? Wow!

Sociologically, we can inadvertently affect where evolution takes us next simply through social programs. It can be said that a society that protects all disabled and lesser intelligent people will change the course of evolution when compared with the way things have otherwise always been, i.e. survival of the fittest. Check out the movie "Idiocracy" for a scary/funny glimpse of where we might be headed!

Answer 4

It didn't-- it just goes very slow and takes millions of years in humans and animals. We're actually losing out pinky fingers as we speak-- take a look at how small they are compaired to the other fingers. And, look at your dog's dewclaws-- those used to be "thumbs" but dogs didn't need them so they're going away. Evolution is still there, but it just takes a while so it's hard to see when a human lives only 100 years or less.

Viruses evolve daily, however. They have to as we keep building up immunity to them.

It's a good question, and good that you're trying yo find your own answers instead of just agreeing with everyone else with no research. If you Google it, there's a lot more than I can tell you. Try Wikipedia too. You're not ignorant, you're just trying to learn.

Answer 5

Evolution hasn't stopped. The unit of evolution is the generation. You can only see a few frames of the movie, and it is a set of frames that don't have much action. Humans don't have to compete much to survive in most places with internet access. Any evolutionary change is lost in the environment changes that humans have created. In the Western World, the environmental shift is about to reveal the survival traits of the future. Those prone to diabetes do better in starvation conditions, but worse in our era of overnutrition. Vaccination and sanitation have eliminated diseases, but we see more asthma in people whose immune systems expect more challenge.

Answer 6

Evolution is a very slow process. Looking at fossil records of a few thousand years and not noticing any changes is not an indication that evolution has stopped. To say so would be a lot like looking at a 5-year old child for 2 minutes, not noticing any growth, and claiming that the child has stopped growing.

Answer 7

You may need to shake the tree agian. Like an iceage or a meter.

Answer 8

Organisms have stopped evolving?
Crap, nobody told the scientists!
That doctor I saw last week who said my 11 year old son is taller than me (5'8") because the human race is generally getting taller, that is to say - 'evolving', and it was nothing to worry about was lying? Noooooo.

You'd better announce this devastating news to the scientific community and give them your evidence.

They won't accept your assertion on blind faith by the way ;o)

Answer 9

All the answers so far have quoted micro-evolution examples (changes within a Kind).

I think what the questioner wanted to know is why macro-evolution (one Kind of life Evolving into a new Kind of Life) seems to have stopped.

Like maybe viruses evolving into something that is no longer a virus, dogs evolvling into something that is no longer a dog or humans evolving into something that is greater than human.

Darwin predicted that the fossil record would show numerous examples of things changing into something else, but even a century and a half later, all we have are a handful of disputable examples.

Particles-to-people evolution is therefore an unsubstantiated hypothesis or conjecture which means Evolution is not proven fact, so it should not be promoted dogmatically.

Answer 10

It's on a temporary Sabbatical, so it can find the missing link, or religion. I feel sorry for evolutionist. Really if it was not for evolution, what else would they have to believe in. Just lost in a soup of goo.

Oh, and just forget biology for a moment. Just try and explain everything from nothing (Big Bang, Inflation Theory), ignoring relativity of course, and then tell me you don't believe in the tooth-fairy. Looks like even evolutionist have faith!

Now, come on yall'. All yall'. I know you are just itching to give me those thumb downs ... come on now, just one thumb down for hypocrisy!

Answer 11

If evolution is true, then it happens over the course of millions of years... how do we measure changes that occur maybe once every 3-10 thousand years?