Let's talk about why things have "stopped evolving".?

Question

Who has thoughts on this topic?

*grin*

Answer 1

My theory is that the reason Evangelical Fundamentalist Christians don't believe in evolution is that it stopped happening to them several million years ago. They're throw-backs!

Answer 2

I can hear the religious crackpots complaining already! ;P

More seriously, there are conceivable factors that could slow evolution down, and some of them may be present in the modern world. Most particularly, of course, there are humans. We've made such huge changes to the environment that the conditions life forms have to adapt to now are quite different from those they had to adapt to 10000+ years ago. It's a known fact that there is such a thing as meta-evolution, that creatures not only evolve to fit their environment, but they also evolve to evolve to fit their environment. This fact suddenly adds a new dimension of 'evolutionary momentum', so to speak. In other words, organisms that have evolved the right body chemistries and physiologies to evolve effectively in late Cenozoic conditions may not be able to evolve as well in the new human-altered conditions, so evolution could appear to slow down in order to get on this new track, sort of like how you brake a car as you approach a turn in the road. I don't know of any real evidence that this is the case, but it is certainly possible.

Answer 3

I can't agree that things have stopped evolving. Mankind has even been the cause of adaptive evolution in some odd ways. Take a look at this:

UNDERNEWS
FROM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
OCT 24 2007
Edited by Sam Smith

ST. BERNARD DOGS PUNCH MORE HOLES IN CREATIONISM

SCIENCE DODEX - The St Bernard dog – named after
the 11th century priest Bernard of Menthon – may
have ironically challenged the theory of
creationism, say scientists. Biologists at The
University of Manchester say that changes to the
shape of the breed’s head over the years can only
be explained through evolution and natural
selection. The team, led by Dr Chris Klingenberg
in the Faculty of Life Sciences, examined the
skulls of 47 St Bernards spanning 120 years, from
modern examples to those of dogs dating back to
the time when the breed standard was first
defined. "We discovered that features stipulated
in the breed standard of the St Bernard became
more exaggerated over time as breeders selected
dogs that had the desired physical attributes,"
said Dr Klingenberg. "In effect they have applied
selection to move the evolutionary process a
considerable way forward, providing a unique
opportunity to observe sustained evolutionary
change under known selective pressures."

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb62/Randall_Fleck/orang_GIF.gif
[][][] r u randy? [][][]
.

Answer 4

Is it so wrong for her to express her feelings to you? I mean it seems to me that she's more into you than vice versa. Of course there are limits to what you can talk about and if she goes beyond that than definitely tell her to stop. Saying I love you, miss you, wanna be with you is just innocent stuff. If you are seriously lacking the emotion talk, then just te her your not comfortable with it and that you should wait until your married.

Answer 5

I must admit, I've heard people say that before.

The answer I give is that evolution is a monstrously slow process and I don't suppose that even if you went back to the very beginnings of human civilisation, you'd have a big enough time-frame to observe a visible change or evolution in animals.

I'd be interested to see what other people think.

Answer 6

If you can convince the microbes of that, you'll save the world. You're just what the world needs: Someone who can convince avian flu and tuberculosis that all the exchanging of plasmids and cooking up of increasingly broad and potent antibiotic resistance factors isn't really doing anything.

Right now those stupid little bugs keep swapping DNA until they figure out how to survive all those antibiotics, rendering them useless. What do they know? You should set them straight.

*grin*

Answer 7

Because evolution occurs on a generational and a population-oriented timescale. Which is to say, on a greater scale than is observable by humans about humanity (unless considerably greater evolutionary pressures are brought to bear).

Answer 8

Evolving never did start!
Every now and then some carnal minded
nit-wit like Darwin comes along with a sun
baked idea and all the weak minded jump
on the band wagon.
Now as I think back,when I was in school,they
tried to teach us about cave men or primitive
man.That was a lie.They never existed.

Answer 9

We haven't. As long as species (human and otherwise) are here, there is evolution. We are always adapting and striving to survive.

Evolution will never stop.

Answer 10

The only things I'm aware of that have "stopped evolving" are televangelists.