Tim Worstall

Darwinian Selection

Slightly weird:

Providing the strongest evidence yet that humans are still evolving, researchers have detected some 700 regions of the human genome
where genes appear to have been reshaped by natural selection, a
principal force of evolution, within the last 5,000 to 15,000 years.

Yes, I know that the US has a disproportionately large number of people who reject the whole evolution thing altogether but is this really news? Somewhere rattling around in the back of my mind is the information that redheads eveolved in this sort of timescale (thus proving that we are the latest and best form of humanity, of course: Gingers Rule OK! etc).

But seriously, does anyone truly think that evolution stopped?

In

12 responses

  1. Andrew Paterson Avatar
    Andrew Paterson

    I fail to see how humans can carry on evolving personally. Free will has overridden natural selection. Let’s say I happened to be born with a genetic advantage which allows me to leap extra long distances… But unfortunately I’m a bit on the plain side looks wise. Is my leaping ability really going to help me to attract a woman and have more children? Maybe when such ability would have made me a better hunter but not anymore…
    PS- I’m good looking really 😉
    Tim adds: Whether a specific attribute which might have helped at some point in the past will help now is irrelevant. It’s whether any attribute now makes a difference. For example, the invention of Linuz might have raised the chance of a geek having sex.

    Reply
  2. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    it’s a very big and important part of a lot of (particularly populist) evolutionary psychology claims that there has been no significant evolutionary change since the hunter-gatherer days. Genetic evolution which post-dates the invention of agriculture could undermine a lot of the supposed facts about human nature which depend on specifics of hypothetical hunter-gatherer societies.

    Reply
  3. The Remittance Man Avatar
    The Remittance Man

    I would have thought that anyone who considered today’s humanity as the ultimate development of mankind would be suffering from serious delusions of grandeur if not arrogance.
    More practically, one only has to look around to see that there’s still a lot of room for improvement [insert space for everyone to pick their favourite candidate(s) in need of genetic enhancement]. Whether it’s Andrew being able to leap tall buildings or geeks scoring with supermodels I doubt anyone can say. Assuming it’s our environment that dictates which traits are advantageous I suppose it would be safe to say that hunter-gatherer characteristics are less likely to be predominant when compared to others.
    RM

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  4. embutler Avatar
    embutler

    Yes ,of course ,mutations are continuing ,but evolution will not be called into play ,unless the mutations are advantageous…ask any alligator or turtle how the evolution race is going for them

    Reply
  5. JohnM Avatar
    JohnM

    Natural selection comes into play with any factor that makes it relatively more (or less) likely for that human to produce offspring. To take your red head example – if being a red head made it more likely for you to mate, then comparatively non red-heads would be less likely to mate. That slight advantage would incrementally increase the number of red heads over a long period of time, with the result that red-headedness would become more common.
    The confusion arises because people assume that medicine has enabled mankind to thwart evolution. Whilst that’s true to the extent that people who would have died out before producing offspring now live, it does not mean that no evolutionary advantages exist.
    Of course, the question as to whether Red-headedness makes someone more likely to mate is a big conundrum.

    Reply
  6. John Thacker Avatar
    John Thacker

    But seriously, does anyone truly think that evolution stopped?
    Well, discussion of the idea of relatively modern evolutionary effects on human is generally thought to be impolite in modern liberal society. For understandable reasons, too; any such discussion tends to turn from relatively safe discussion about the likelihood of various diseases in different groups to hypotheses of differing physical or mental capabilities between the sexes or different racial groups. There have been public figures who have gotten in enormous trouble for pop evolutionary comments along those lines. (Such as of the: “Well, you’d expect all the pressures of slavery and the weaker slaves dying and masters selecting for physical strength to make blacks in the US better athletes, by evolution” comment which got commentator Jimmy the Greek in trouble.)

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  7. John Thacker Avatar
    John Thacker

    In addition, there’s a taboo against discussing modern effects of evolution because it is thought to undermine the belief in the essential equality of all people, and to lead to acceptance of things like eugenics.

    Reply
  8. Mr. Bingley Avatar
    Mr. Bingley

    Certainly we are still evolving, but the act that people like Bill Gates are able to mate now would seem to indicate that a non-genetic trait, in this case oodles of money, is now taking precedence over Andrew’s chick-magnet jumping ability. The effects of this on the future virility of mankind can onnly make one shudder.

    Reply
  9. EU Serf Avatar
    EU Serf

    The trait that seems to be leading to the most offspring nowadays seems to be the ability to sleep around and scrounge off the state.
    We are doomed……

    Reply
  10. CB Avatar
    CB

    Aren’t we getting taller on average? granted also due to better nutrition, but also a desirable trait in looking for a partner, hence an evolutionary angle too.

    Reply
  11. auntymarianne Avatar
    auntymarianne

    Making oodles of money IS a sign of a genetic fitness. Not physical, but mental.
    I still don’t think I would mate with Bill Gates though.

    Reply
  12. nerd Avatar
    nerd

    So we’re all going to have big heads and scrawny, little bodies in 100,000 years. Cool. Maybe all those alien pictures that people draw is really us in the future.

    Reply

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