Thursday, April 22, 2010
Bejamin Phelan's "How we evolve"
It makes sense that human evolution has slowed down. As Phelan states, in our society "the fit and the unfit equally flourish"(192). As a result, the concept of "survival of the fittest" may have taken a backseat. I think its undeniable that our technology has overtaken our natural evolution. In a matter of a century we created atomic bombs and space shuttles. The fact that our population has boomed may also hinder evolution. As the article states genetic drift contributes to evolution. It is difficult for a single gene to spread through a species that is 6.8 billion strong in number. It is a natural rule that organisms must adapt to their environment. However, the environment must now adapt to humans. I feel that as a whole humanity is reaching a critical point where will decide if we will destroy ourselves or continue to thrive.
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I don't know if survival of the fittest has really gone away. I think its just not so much about person-to-person competition as it really is about survival. Those people/nations who dont have as much health or wealth or access to it typically live shorter lives than those who don't. There has just been more emphasis places on perserving human life in general, but there are always exceptions. Take Darfur in the Sudan for example people were being slaughtered there for years but that population is seeen as being not as important to the United States. Instead of dying off in competition with the United states, they were simply ignored for years because they were seen as being not as important.
ReplyDeleteActually, Matt, Phelan claims that human evolution is happening really quickly now and that it is observable.
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