Comment Change does not equal advancement. (Score 1) 541
What many people seem to forget is evolution is not all about solidifying change.
Perhaps us biologists are responsible for this, we continually focus on how evolution happens as a result of natural selection weeding out the weak genes from the code in favor of those most helpful to the existence of the species in question. This is important - survival of the fittest, the ability for those most adapted to their niche to carry on. However, if a species continually has pressure on its survival, to the point that only a very small, select group of the species can continue, any further insult or stress will threaten their extinction. Take the pandas, very cute yes, highly adapted to survive eating something that no other large animal does, but by only surviving on a select food source when that source (read: habitat) is gone so will they be.
The second part to evolution is variability. Part of our design (oops, did I use a bad word there?) is a faulty copying system. Like a book that randomly changes text, removing words, changing their order, writing whole sections backwards. Now some of these are neutral, blue vs brown eyes. Many to most of these changes are probably bad, they compromise our ability to fit in our environment perfectly. They lead to challenges like Down's Syndrome, or "weird" hiccups like androgen insensitivity syndrome. Some people's knees wear out early, others have no concept of morality. Many people in this world survive only because we support them to an "unnatural" degree. However, this does not make use weaker as a species. Instead it is an indication of our health, or rather the health of our habitat and the breadth of habitat we can survive in. If a stressor hits our planet many of these mutations may become an obstruction to procreation and be removed or reduced in the gene pool. However, the greater variability gives us the chance of a random mutation or series of mutations which may grant the species survival.
We have not sidestepped evolution. Rather than being forced to change, we are gaining ever greater variability. It's still evolution, just a different stage.
Perhaps us biologists are responsible for this, we continually focus on how evolution happens as a result of natural selection weeding out the weak genes from the code in favor of those most helpful to the existence of the species in question. This is important - survival of the fittest, the ability for those most adapted to their niche to carry on. However, if a species continually has pressure on its survival, to the point that only a very small, select group of the species can continue, any further insult or stress will threaten their extinction. Take the pandas, very cute yes, highly adapted to survive eating something that no other large animal does, but by only surviving on a select food source when that source (read: habitat) is gone so will they be.
The second part to evolution is variability. Part of our design (oops, did I use a bad word there?) is a faulty copying system. Like a book that randomly changes text, removing words, changing their order, writing whole sections backwards. Now some of these are neutral, blue vs brown eyes. Many to most of these changes are probably bad, they compromise our ability to fit in our environment perfectly. They lead to challenges like Down's Syndrome, or "weird" hiccups like androgen insensitivity syndrome. Some people's knees wear out early, others have no concept of morality. Many people in this world survive only because we support them to an "unnatural" degree. However, this does not make use weaker as a species. Instead it is an indication of our health, or rather the health of our habitat and the breadth of habitat we can survive in. If a stressor hits our planet many of these mutations may become an obstruction to procreation and be removed or reduced in the gene pool. However, the greater variability gives us the chance of a random mutation or series of mutations which may grant the species survival.
We have not sidestepped evolution. Rather than being forced to change, we are gaining ever greater variability. It's still evolution, just a different stage.
