Re: What is the effect of intelligence on evolution??

Einstein:

Ain't we moving away from the main topic??


I just wanted a discussion on the issue if humans are special when we
see from evolution's perspective?


I think we certainly are. Since, no other organism(or a large
percentage of organisms) has ever tried to change to paths of natural
evolution by domesticating organisms, genetically modification. So,
today we, humans, are a cause of different type of evolution on earth.
Let us call it Artificial Evolution.


So, the essence of evolution has certainly changed after the emergence
of homo sapeins.

Ragland:
You write, "I just wanted a discussion on the issue if humans are
special when we
see from evolution's perspective?" You think we are. From purely the
standpoint of Darwinian
evolution I don't think we are. It's true Homo Sapiens have
domesticated organisms through genetic
engineering but they have not yet done that to themselves. Most of this
"domestication" or
genetic engineering has been done with plants, not animals. There is no
such thing as
"artificial evolution" that I'm aware of biologically speaking with
humans. There are computers,
nanotechnology and other things which could be said to be artificial
evolution.

I don't see the "essence" of evolution (Darwinian evolution) as
changing after the emergence of
Homo Sapiens. There is, however, the possibility. As Tim Tyler once
stated even with genetic
engineering of people natural selection would still operate.
Ultimately, I would envision natural selection
being signifigantly eliminated but that would take a long time and in
between genetic engineering and
natural selection would coexist at various levels.

What I have always found ironic is why we didn't just remain animals
without written symbols,
printing press, scientific knowledge, technological progress, etc.
since this resulted in a
conflict between "Civilization" and man's primal instincts. Through
Darwinian evolution we were
enabled to have the development of language (my understanding is we
still don't fully understand
how language came into existence), written symbolization, printing
press, scientific knowledge and
technological progress yet on a biological level we have remained
largely cavemen.

A disturbing fact is man's primal instinct's have in many cases
developed and incorporated
scientific and technological knowledge and devices towards caveman
behavior. An example of
this is the atomic bomb. It is not my intent to get into a political
discussion over whether the
atomic bomb should have been developed and used. Suffice to say
Einstein (no pun intended)
stated he should have been a plumber. As an aside, during the Cold War
Era the U.S. government
decimated many Marshallese Island natives and polluted their islands.
They didn't ask the Marshallese
for permission let alone evacuate them.

Natural selection operates very slowly. We are biologically lagging
behind all of the science and
technology cultural evolution has brought and continues to bring. The
only way to possibly become
adaptive to our current environment (which is unlike that of our
ancestors) is through genetic engineering.
Because this will change the definition of what a human being is it is
understandable there will be
tremendous fierce resistance to it. The definition of a human being has
never been static but has
changed throughout evolution.

Personally, I find it difficult living in a caveman world but things
could be much worse and the cavemen
are rumbling. It produces to a degree a state of apprehension and
anxiety.


.

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