As people with disabalities, both mental and physical, are living their lives in better condition and for longer periods than ever before. Where before, they would have died or been killed at an early age, they are now able to live full lives.
While some are flukes and have nothing to do with Darwinian evolution, some of these people posess "weak" or "flawed" genes that they may pass on to other generations. ("Little people", some forms of hearing loss, heart problems, many brain disorders such as Alzheimers, predisposition to certain diseases...)
What do you think will come of this, if anything?
-
A few weak links here and there...I think that this may lead to more medical problems, especially with /predispositions/ to such things like obesity, heart problems, mental disorders.75% Voted for by nanoinfinity, eighteight, Earthfling.
If it will truely affect the Darwinian balence to any great extent is somehting to consider.
I feel that, while in some cases it may "weaken" humanity as a whole, we are capable of correcting the flaws in a way that no previous species could - by surgery, medicine, prevention.
We can actually fend off such geneticly encoded problems, (or at least, WILL be able to, at some point in our future) so as to render Darwinian law absent from calculations. -
Not reallyThat's not how it works. You'd be hard pressed to fine a genetic advantage that isn't a DISADVANTAGE in another environment. There technically are no weak or strong conditions in terms of evolution. Just what you can survive with.Voted for by Weydon.
Different races occurred because of evolution. For instance, people living in the colder environments needed paler skin to attain more vitamin D, and more hair to help stay naturally warm. Hot, sun beating environments are more favorable for darker skin to protect you from severe dermatological problems. Most Native Americans don't grow facial hair.
The most advantageous inheritance of all? Ingenuity. Using the world around us to create materials and devices to protect us even better from the world around us. You can be whatever race and have an equal chance of being a surviving group of people. That is why humans are so adaptable. Cockroaches can be thrown in a whole lot more worse environments than us, but they can't create things to protect them or cure them of genetic problems. Dolphins CAN use sea sponges to protect their nose while searching for food in rough coral reef. Apes CAN use sticks to measure how deep water is before deciding weather they should cross. Their doing this makes them more likely to survive, and if they couldn't do this they'd likely die out in certain areas.
So yes, because people with glasses heart problems have an easy chance of surviving, these traits are more likely to get passed on. And? How is being MORE likely to survive in spite of hardships thrown on you a weakness? This is evolution at it's finest.
Adding your reply:
Registration is required because of issues with spam. It is fast and free! This author would LOVE to get a comment from you, please join!
Please register or login to comment! It's totally free