Elsewhere, that's certainly a type of evolution ... a cultural shift in our needs and abilities. But it has nothing to do with "real" evolution.
Interesting article on evolution
by Caedes 43 Replies latest social current
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IP_SEC
Elsewhere, that's certainly a type of evolution ... a cultural shift in our needs and abilities. But it has nothing to do with "real" evolution.
I disagree. Evolution is evolution whether the pressure is predator or technology. Our brain has evolved to the point it can wrangle evolutionary pressures that were once beyond our control. This is still evolution.
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drwtsn32
IP_SEC, but learned (or unlearned) abilities and behaviors are not "real" evolution. Those changes are not part of our genome; they cannot be passed on to subsequent generations.
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IP_SEC
Again I disagree drwtsn that these are learned and unlearned abilities. Technology is an evolutionary pressure. The discovery of fire permanently changed the genome.
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I dont know if there has been a study done on this but it seems that children raised in the digital age have an inate ability to comprehend the digital world better that previous generations. This isnt just being raised and learning, these are kiddos at 1.5 to 3 years of age.
Genetic memory has been put forth as a scientifically viable idea.
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Kudra
We had a semester long series of talks on evolution a year or so ago and one of the questions from the audience after one talk was "what will be one of the next steps in human evolution?"
The speaker said that while that is very difficult to answer, one thing is that we have been selecting for is females that reproduce later and later in life. So we should see that menopause might come later in future generations. Again, this would take quite a while...
Cool article, too Caedes.
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besty
agree that technology is human evolution
natural selection has been industrialized and commercialized
Humans 2.0 will incorporate technology where it gives them an advantage....
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drwtsn32
Technology is an evolutionary pressure.
Absolutely. That's what I've been saying in my posts above.
The discovery of fire permanently changed the genome.
Don't think so. Reference?
it seems that children raised in the digital age have an inate ability to comprehend the digital world better that previous generations.
It definitely "seems" that way, but it is most likely a result of children being exposed to it at a young age. There is no reason to think that is because of a genetic change. Keep in mind that evolutionary changes take a long time to happen. It'd be mighty convenient if a genetic change occurred right now because of the digital age which is upon us also right now.
Genetic memory has been put forth as a scentically viable idea.
I think it was planarian worms that were observed as being able to "learn" how to run a maze by eating another worm that already learned the hard way. It's wild, but it's certainly not the same thing as passing down knowledge and learned abilities through our genes. That simply doesn't happen. Lamarckism is dead.
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drwtsn32
agree that technology is human evolution
Evolution is genetic change over time. The only way the above statement is true is if the "technology" is genetic engineering. And that's definitely not "natural" evolution.
Of course many technologies affect evolution, but they are slowing it down or stopping it rather than speeding it up.
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Kudra
drwtsn32 is right.
Unless *only* the children who were able to learn "digital technology" (or whatever) the fastest were allowed to survive to reproductive age and the ones that couldn't were euthanized... I guess then you'd get future generations that were more adapted for "digital technology"...
:P
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Kudra
the basics of evolution are definitely not taught in schools.