Human Evolution - Are we done??

Antomus Prime

So I was watching an old episode of Friends lastnite, the one where pheobe chalanges ross' evolution beliefs and it got me thinking, Has the human race evolved as far as it's going to? Or people still going to continue to change over they centurys and could humans possibly even change appearance?

If so what do you think would be the next steps in evolution?
Or to make it a bit more fun, What would you WANT the next step to be???

For me I reckon scientifically the next steps will be greater immune systems to todays diseases (hopefully anyway, we loose too many people to the likes of cancer ect)

And the fun answer would be , for want of a better expression, Super Powers, as in enhanced strength, senses, agility.... so on and so forth..............

Sykk

We're probably starting to go backwards... In which case.. Swamp thing!

FatherLen

i grew a tail last week :eek:

msg11

Doubt it , sure I think there are kid's in Africa been born with a resistance to HIV/AIDS

AntiMatter

The next steps in evolution will be psychological, I believe.

People have been recorded as growing taller, for the last few centuries, to allow woman to give birth to babies with larger brains.

I believe, and hope, the evolution will be away from our current territorial, selfish, paleolithic psychology, to a more enlightened future.

sbsquarepants

I think if anything our evolution is going to speed up as scientific advances happen. Genetic therapies being passed down the generations, tecnological enhancements to eyesight and hearing, tits with laser pointers built in, women with mute buttons and so on.
Basically we are going to turn into the borg, but i'm fine with that cos 7 of 9 is hot as f'uck:D
Bring on the future!!

Antomus Prime

Sykk wrote: »

We're probably starting to go backwards... In which case.. Swamp thing!

Well from what i see around the estate, i think that people are getting shorter and not growing as tall as previous generations!

AnonoBoy

Well I'm knackered anyways so I'm knocking the old evolving on the head for a while.

Snakeblood

FatherLen wrote: »

i grew a tail last week :eek:

If it's on the front, that's a penis.

smk89

Are you kidding?

Take a look at yourself ffs, as Dara O'Brian says we still bite the inside of our mouths.

Evolution is nowhere near finished but from this century we can control it. Maybe a little now but soon we will be able to completely control our destiny, and with cybernetics the potential is unlimited.

But none of that matters because the robot revolution will begin in 2012

Antomus Prime

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I think if anything our evolution is going to speed up as scientific advances happen. Genetic therapies being passed down the generations, tecnological enhancements to eyesight and hearing, tits with laser pointers built in, women with mute buttons and so on.
Basically we are going to turn into the borg, but i'm fine with that cos 7 of 9 is hot as f'uck
Bring on the future!!

Fantastic thoughts, the mute button would be amazing!!!

And yes 7 is quite the babe, shame about her real name though............

--Kaiser--

AntiMatter wrote: »

The next steps in evolution will be psychological, I believe.

People have been recorded as growing taller, for the last few centuries, to allow woman to give birth to babies with larger brains.

I believe, and hope, the evolution will be away from our current territorial, selfish, paleolithic psychology, to a more enlightened future.

Actually, paleolithic people had larger brains than modern humans.

Antomus Prime

smk89 wrote: »

Are you kidding?

Take a look at yourself ffs, as Dara O'Brian says we still bite the inside of our mouths.

Evolution is nowhere near finished but from this century we can control it. Maybe a little now but soon we will be able to completely control our destiny, and with cybernetics the potential is unlimited.

But none of that matters because the robot revolution will begin in 2012

Ah Dara O Brian, a great contributor to the world of science lol

Cybernetics eh? I call dibbs on Jax's arms from Mortal Kombat!!!

AntiMatter

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Actually, paleolithic people had larger brains than modern humans.

All of them, or just the Neanderthals?

sensibleken

I want wings, and lazers for eyes. And an arse that dispenses Rum.

Unforunetely thats rather an unlikely genetic mutation and would require me to shag myself and then be born again. And from what i hear the christians arent to keen on evolution because it contradicts the BFG

--Kaiser--

AntiMatter wrote: »

All of them, or just the Neanderthals?

Both Cro-magnons and Neanderthals.
Some (me) would put decrease in quality of diet as a factor. Cavemen would have had denser bones and better teeth also.

In many ways you could almost say we are devolving from our paleolithic selves. Early man would have to be fit, healthy and shrewd to pass on his genes. Nowadays.....not so much

sensibleken

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Actually, paleolithic people had larger brains than modern humans.

They had to figure out a lot of stuff on the fly. Google is going to turn humanity into blithering idiots.

dont know something? figure it out, dont look it up on your fancy internet.

also, there are deliquents on my lawn!

Rhyme

Human mandibles are receding thanks to food being easier to eat.

jackiebaron

anthonyk.is wrote: »

So I was watching an old episode of Friends lastnite, the one where pheobe chalanges ross' evolution beliefs and it got me thinking, Has the human race evolved as far as it's going to? Or people still going to continue to change over they centurys and could humans possibly even change appearance?

If so what do you think would be the next steps in evolution?
Or to make it a bit more fun, What would you WANT the next step to be???

For me I reckon scientifically the next steps will be greater immune systems to todays diseases (hopefully anyway, we loose too many people to the likes of cancer ect)

And the fun answer would be , for want of a better expression, Super Powers, as in enhanced strength, senses, agility.... so on and so forth..............

Well you're definitely heading back towards the Cro-magnon, buddy!

seamus

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

In many ways you could almost say we are devolving

There is no such thing as de-evolving. Contrary to popular belief, evolution is not a change towards the best that any organism can be. It is simply a change to be better in a given environment. The human environment has changed since cro-magnon times, so we are are evolving in such a way that the best traits for our current environment are those which tend to be passed onto our offspring. A bigger brain doesn't necessarily mean more intelligent. We could very well have more tightly packed and energy-efficient brains in comparison to previous ancestors.

From a shark's point of view, they are the pinnacle of evolution as they know it. Sure humans can't even breathe underwater, let alone that pathetic flailing that we call "swimming".

The obvious implication here is that there is no such thing as a hierarchy of animals - we are no better or "more evolved" than any other other organism. All organisms have evolved to be the best fit for their environment.

AntiMatter

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Both Cro-magnons and Neanderthals.
Some (me) would put decrease in quality of diet as a factor. Cavemen would have had denser bones and better teeth also.

Are they both homosapiens?

wes

Well, I think genetic engineering will give us the ability to add or change traits at will, assuming we are able to master it. So that could be big factor in any future evolution.

Antomus Prime

seamus wrote: »

There is no such thing as de-evolving. Contrary to popular belief, evolution is not a change towards the best that any organism can be. It is simply a change to be better in a given environment.

From a shark's point of view, they are the pinnacle of evolution as they know it. Sure humans can't even breathe underwater, let alone that pathetic flailing that we call "swimming".

The obvious implication here is that there is no such thing as a hierarchy of animals - we are no better or "more evolved" than any other other organism. All organisms have evolved to be the best fit for their environment.

Hence the fun part of the question, what would you like humans next evolution step to be? Better swimming? Breathing under water?? Both of them would be really cool

Wazdakka

anthonyk.is wrote: »

For me I reckon scientifically the next steps will be greater immune systems to todays diseases (hopefully anyway, we loose too many people to the likes of cancer ect).

I would have said exactly the opposite. I reckon were killing off our natural immune system by being paranoid and over protective..

kerryman12

Human Evolution - Are we done??

i hope not

IM0

anthonyk.is wrote: »

For me I reckon scientifically the next steps will be greater immune systems to todays diseases (hopefully anyway, we loose too many people to the likes of cancer ect)

lmao. if anything worse.

NothingMan

The OP seems to be thanking everyone that posts in the thread....


just sayin.

Antomus Prime

Wazdakka wrote: »

I would have said exactly the opposite. I reckon were killing off our natural immune system by being paranoid and over protective..

That actually touches on a conversation i had with a mate a few weeks back, the worst offenders are mothers with young children who are terrified of their kid even getting a little cold, the more times a child gets sick, the stronger the immune system will grow, if you hide you kid away from every day sicknesses then they will have no immune system to them, but thats a bit off topic though

--Kaiser--

seamus wrote: »

There is no such thing as de-evolving. Contrary to popular belief, evolution is not a change towards the best that any organism can be. It is simply a change to be better in a given environment.

From a shark's point of view, they are the pinnacle of evolution as they know it. Sure humans can't even breathe underwater, let alone that pathetic flailing that we call "swimming".

The obvious implication here is that there is no such thing as a hierarchy of animals - we are no better or "more evolved" than any other other organism. All organisms have evolved to be the best fit for their environment.

Pretty much any animal in existence is the pinnacle of evolution really (except Pandas, they suck!). My point would be that we could be dis-improving, depending on your point of view. Early man was THE top level predator.

Sofiztikated

And for every immunisation that appears, 2 new diseases crop up. Killer diseases.

I am not a scientician, and no research has been done to back up my facts.

Antomus Prime

NothingMan wrote: »

The OP seems to be thanking everyone that posts in the thread....


just sayin.

Whats wrong with thankin people that take the time to post on my thread?? Maybe I wont give you a thanks NothingMan lol

--Kaiser--

AntiMatter wrote: »

Are they both homosapiens?

Cro-magnon men were early Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Are you unable to use Google?

sensibleken

me@ucd wrote: »

lmao. if anything worse.

Argueably. Due to doctors prescribing anti-biotics in everything but even more dangerous is Triclosan. the active ingreedient in most anti septic sprays and soaps.

for god sake you dont need to pour that crap over every surface because the adds tell you you might as well flush your baby down a used toilet as quick as feed them off your plates

ScumLord

I think the human won't be doing any major evolving simply because our current design is so good. We don't evolve to our environment over time like other animals do we can adapt to it using what we have and within a generation we can excel in just about any environment the planet can throw at us. Our bodies ability to translate our brains thoughts into reality through our unique bodies is the skill we won't ever lose.

Dravokivich

opposable thumbs allow me to fap...

[/evolution]

af_thefragile

Humans are using less of their mental capacity than they ever did.
A few decades ago scientists estimated we only use about 10% of out mental capacities.
Now it has gone down to less than 1%.
Thanks to the numerous automated features of the modern world! All we need to do now is press a bunch of buttons to get anything done.

Also we're eating more and working (physical work) less. Atleast in the west anyway.
We are walking less.
We are worrying more.
We have more stress to deal with. We're becoming more type A people.
We are living longer and dying of chronic illnesses rather than dying early in a war or an accident or some acute illness.

From all this what we might become is a bunch of fat people with small heads and no legs in a couple of thousand years time!!
That will be when computers will be ruling the world and all humans will be doing is eating and pressing buttons!!

--Kaiser--

af_thefragile wrote: »

Humans are using less of their mental capacity than they ever did.
A few decades ago scientists estimated we only use about 10% of out mental capacities.
Now it has gone down to less than 1%.

This is a myth. No scientific study has ever proved this statement.

Neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein sets out seven kinds of evidence refuting the ten percent myth:

* Studies of brain damage: If 90% of the brain is normally unused, then damage to these areas should not impair performance. Instead, there is almost no area of the brain that can be damaged without loss of abilities. Even slight damage to small areas of the brain can have profound effects.

* Evolution: The brain is enormously costly to the rest of the body, in terms of oxygen and nutrient consumption. If 90% of it were unnecessary, there would be a large survival advantage to humans with smaller, more efficient brains. If this were true, the process of natural selection would have eliminated the inefficient brains.

* Brain imaging: Technologies such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) allow the activity of the living brain to be monitored. They reveal that even during sleep, all parts of the brain show some level of activity. Only in the case of serious damage does a brain have "silent" areas.

* Localization of function: Rather than acting as a single mass, the brain has distinct regions for different kinds of information processing. Decades of research has gone into mapping functions onto areas of the brain, and no function-less areas have been found.

* Microstructural analysis: In the single-unit recording technique, researchers insert a tiny electrode into the brain to monitor the activity of a single cell. If 90% of cells were unused, then this technique would have revealed that.

* Metabolic studies: Another scientific technique involves studying the take-up of radioactively labelled 2-deoxyglucose molecules by the brain. If 90 percent of the brain were inactive, then those inactive cells would be show up as blank areas in a radiograph of the brain. Again, there is no such result.

* Neural disease: Brain cells that are not used have a tendency to degenerate. Hence if 90% of the brain were inactive, autopsy of adult brains would reveal large-scale degeneration

ScumLord

Dravokivich wrote: »

opposable thumbs allow me to fap...

[/evolution]

Dogs have better evolution than you, your not done yet.

af_thefragile wrote: »

Humans are using less of their mental capacity than they ever did.
A few decades ago scientists estimated we only use about 10% of out mental capacities.
Now it has gone down to less than 1%.
Thanks to the numerous automated features of the modern world! All we need to do now is press a bunch of buttons to get anything done.

I don't know about that. We're doing fewer menial tasks really, not less big thinking. You have 200 times more information to sort through than they would have 100 years ago but your skill set has changed.

Wazdakka

anthonyk.is wrote: »

That actually touches on a conversation i had with a mate a few weeks back, the worst offenders are mothers with young children who are terrified of their kid even getting a little cold, the more times a child gets sick, the stronger the immune system will grow, if you hide you kid away from every day sicknesses then they will have no immune system to them, but thats a bit off topic though

I completely agree..
But I don't really think it's that off topic.

It's just instead of our evolutionary process being controlled by necessity or survival, it's being tampered with by emotions and a desire to protect.

All of these people with their hand sanitizers, and incessant disinfecting, germ paranoia, and pitching a fit if a child actually gets dirty..
They are weakening humankind as a species.

As Technology and society develop more and more, some people seem to want to distance themselves further and further from the natural dangers that are part of living on this planet.
If you do that enough then you just won't be able to deal with them when you inevitably do have to face them.

It's the War of the worlds theory.... Massive technological ability yet no natural defence against the simplest of infections.

When I have kids I'm going to let them play in the mud, get dirty, get colds, scrape knees, fight off infections..
Ya know.. Be kids.

Guill

we are not done but any chance of or cells slightly mutating is hampered by people sterilizing themselves to death.

NothingMan

anthonyk.is wrote: »

Whats wrong with thankin people that take the time to post on my thread?? Maybe I wont give you a thanks NothingMan lol

Drat, plan for easy thanks foiled once again.

Antomus Prime

Wazdakka wrote: »

I completely agree..
But I don't really think it's that off topic.

When I have kids I'm going to let them play in the mud, get dirty, get colds, scrape knees, fight off infections..
Ya know.. Be kids.

Exactly my thoughs on the subject!!

Sisko

We'll see changes in skin colour, people in Australia will have dark skin again for example. But evolution takes a long time, this is something like 20,000 years away.

So many other factors will come into play before then, technology , possible colonisation of other planets etc.

I think technology will overtake evolution pretty soon tbh.

Pyr0

I think any human advancement in either physical or mental change/improvement will be done through technology and not naturally.

seamus

seamus wrote: »

From a shark's point of view, they are the pinnacle of evolution as they know it.

Pff, they don't even have laser beams attached to their heads yet.

Whyner

anthonyk.is wrote: »

Whats wrong with thankin people that take the time to post on my thread?? Maybe I wont give you a thanks NothingMan lol

Cause it looks stupid

AntiMatter

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Cro-magnon men were early Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Are you unable to use Google?

I can use google, yes.

It appears to tell me the evidence for Cro-magnons having larger brains came from a test on one skull.

PrincessLola

As far as I'm aware evolution only favours traits that allow the carriers to survive long enough to procreate, which ment in the times before modern medicine only the very strongest survived until adulthood to pass their genes on. Nowadays tho we might be getting weaker without natural selection.
Of course I'm not a biologist so I'm probably just bullsh*ting here :pac:

Saila

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

This is a myth. No scientific study has ever proved this statement.

Neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein sets out seven kinds of evidence refuting the ten percent myth:

* Studies of brain damage: If 90% of the brain is normally unused, then damage to these areas should not impair performance. Instead, there is almost no area of the brain that can be damaged without loss of abilities. Even slight damage to small areas of the brain can have profound effects.

* Evolution: The brain is enormously costly to the rest of the body, in terms of oxygen and nutrient consumption. If 90% of it were unnecessary, there would be a large survival advantage to humans with smaller, more efficient brains. If this were true, the process of natural selection would have eliminated the inefficient brains.

* Brain imaging: Technologies such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) allow the activity of the living brain to be monitored. They reveal that even during sleep, all parts of the brain show some level of activity. Only in the case of serious damage does a brain have "silent" areas.

* Localization of function: Rather than acting as a single mass, the brain has distinct regions for different kinds of information processing. Decades of research has gone into mapping functions onto areas of the brain, and no function-less areas have been found.

* Microstructural analysis: In the single-unit recording technique, researchers insert a tiny electrode into the brain to monitor the activity of a single cell. If 90% of cells were unused, then this technique would have revealed that.

* Metabolic studies: Another scientific technique involves studying the take-up of radioactively labelled 2-deoxyglucose molecules by the brain. If 90 percent of the brain were inactive, then those inactive cells would be show up as blank areas in a radiograph of the brain. Again, there is no such result.

* Neural disease: Brain cells that are not used have a tendency to degenerate. Hence if 90% of the brain were inactive, autopsy of adult brains would reveal large-scale degeneration

understanding of original point fail
the 10% arguement/debate isnt about stating that 90% of the brain is redundant, its about saying at any one time, you are only using 10% or so
to function and perform tasks.

Think of it like this:

a road network, at anyone time you can only use one road at a time, but the rest are redundant according to your reasoning because you are not using them all at the same time, different roads go to different locations
and the barin is the same principle, only 10% or so of the network are being used at any one time.

Shenshen

anthonyk.is wrote: »

So I was watching an old episode of Friends lastnite, the one where pheobe chalanges ross' evolution beliefs and it got me thinking, Has the human race evolved as far as it's going to? Or people still going to continue to change over they centurys and could humans possibly even change appearance?

If so what do you think would be the next steps in evolution?
Or to make it a bit more fun, What would you WANT the next step to be???

For me I reckon scientifically the next steps will be greater immune systems to todays diseases (hopefully anyway, we loose too many people to the likes of cancer ect)

And the fun answer would be , for want of a better expression, Super Powers, as in enhanced strength, senses, agility.... so on and so forth..............

Nothing is ever "finished" in evolutionary terms. Unless you're talking about extinction of course. And even then we might be survived by an offspring species.

That said, I do not think that humans will develop any greater strength, improved senses or agility. We've made all of this redundant in evolutionary terms by using our brains to come up with technology to make up for our shortcomings in those departments.
It's very difficult to make a guess as to what way we're going to evolve. Immunity to some diseases is a good guess, we have done that in the past as well. I'd hope we'd develop our intelligence, but that might be a tad optimistic...

Antomus Prime

Shenshen wrote: »

That said, I do not think that humans will develop any greater strength, improved senses or agility. We've made all of this redundant in evolutionary terms by using our brains to come up with technology to make up for our shortcomings in those departments.

Very good point, it seems we rely on tech for the simplist of things nowadays.