If we evolved from apes, will we be evolving forever? What would our new adaptations be? Will we ever be perfectly adapted to our enviroment?

Sorry if this doesn't belong in this forum; some of the things I read just got me to thinking.

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Originally posted by Phlegm:
If we evolved from apes...

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I'll defer to Nox.

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will we be evolving forever?

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Yup

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What would our new adaptations be?

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How much money do you have?

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Will we ever be perfectly adapted to our enviroment?

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Never. Environment is dynamic, so we must be also.

I thought we didn't evolve from apes, just a mammal similar to apes that both humans and apes evolved from?

I don't buy that, i dont see how we could of evolved from apes, and if we did, how come muffukin apes are not evolving now?...I know everyone is entitled to thier opinons and all, but that just does'nt add up to me, I think that a supernatural being put us here out of thier creation, im not sayin god, could be aliens or whatever, maybe we're just a big experiment that extra-terristrials started for study or what not and thier monitoring our everyday life...i don't know, im just talkin shit now i guess....disreguard the previous...

Haddock got it right--neither Darwin nor any other person with two brain cells to rub together ever said we evolved from apes, but rather shared common ancestry, which is a proven fact. Or do you think it is just a coincidence that chimp DNA is 99% identical to human (i.e., domesticated primate) DNA? However, given the rapacity of the Republicans in power vis a vis raping the environment, the carcinogens that are already in the air and water we consume, and humankind's general collective insanity, we will probably be extinct before we do much more evolving. Have a nice day.

Thanks UserX.

Now I will put my -5 IQ to work.

I once read that in another 50,000 years that mankind will evolve to the point that we all will be totally bald.

Nox

Evolution...
...occurs through something resembling natural selection, right?

And natural selection occurs through the weak dying off and strong surviving to reproduce and further propagate 'beneficial' characteristics, right?

In first-world countries, however, where the rights of the individual are supposedly sacrosanct, natural selection no longer happens on such a large scale, because society tries to compensate for the 'detrimental' characteristics that, in the past, would have killed the individual and ended the family line.

Nowadays, the closest thing that happens is that ugly people don't get laid.

I agree 100 percent. Survival of the fittest is a thing of the past for humans is this country. In fact, I think we are actually getting dumber. People a few hundred years ago had a higher "physical" IQ. That is, they had a high apptitude for dealing with things that are real. Hell, most people today can't even fix a flat tire!

Think about that.

1000 years ago we could make bow and arrows.

And now, people can hardly FIX A FLAT TIRE.

We are de-evolving, for sure.

Only highly skilled workers could make bows (crossbows anyway). Nowadays moderately skilled people make computers.

evolution... its the riddle of life if you ask me. and the meaning. were here because we evolve. and even though we seem to screw up more often than not, we will get it right someday. patience...

How can humans evolve to adapt to their enviroment, when humans changethe enviroment to suit them?

evolution never stops until extinction. so long as there are breeding pairs, humanity will continue to produce more generations, the most successful of which will in turn produce their own generations.

the thing that confuses people is that it's the criteria for success that have changed so rapidly in the last few hundred years. nowadays, a successful human (that is, most likely to attract a mate and propogate) is not necessarily the biggest or strongest or most adaptable at hunting & gathering; rather he's more likely to be the one who can hold a steady job in a trade or profession, ie demonstrate adaptability in social skills, intelligence, etc.

an extreme example of this: stephen hawking!
one of the world's greatest geniuses suffers from crippling als (aka lou gherig's disease), and would have died young, were it not for our society's capacity to ferret out and protect adaptability in individuals who otherwise might not survive.

You say survival of the strongest. By right, homosexuals should not survive. However, nowadays they can 'have' children.

Come on guys. There is no such thing as evolution. Darwinism was created to be able to justify imperialism, racism, and genocide. Darwin was born in 1809. He tried being a doctor and a theologist, but got tired of it. So he hopped aboard a ship and went around from island to island studying plants and organisms. He then returned to England and published his "theory" in 1838. Since it was too controversial, he didn't release it. However, the Germans got a hold of this 20 years later, switched some of his ideas around and published it in 1859. All Darwin said was simply that his ideology was that certain characteristics in organisms adapt and change to best fit their envinment. Like the horse, for example. They developed 2 and 3 toes instead of the 5 they had to better help them run from the preditors of the great plains. Germany desperatly wanted to expand their territory. So they hired Herbert Spencer, who actually was the one who added all this evoulutionary "survival of the fittest" bullshit. With this ideology, the rich people go the idea that it was o.k. to crush the little guy. The idea of the "white mans burdan" and the idea that it is o.k. for Anglo-Saxons to imperialize. This brought racism to a whole new level. Evolution is just a way to justify all of these things. There is no truth to it whatsoever. I really don't mind this though, cause I like racism, it adds spark to peoples lives.

Survival of the fittest will continue to take affect on our every day lives. The only major threats to human kind are disease/virus and ourselvs. Based off of what Asimove, Darwin and a few other famous evolutionists have said. The major changes that you will see in the human race are as follows:

Since physical work will come to a minimum due to machinary and computer systems, the body will take a long, slender form. Longer necks, thinner limbs, etc.

Since we have moved out of the machine age and into the technology age, evolution has not had a chance to catch up with that. What is said to be in store for us in the future is higher capicty brains. HOWEVER, some people believe that we will become dependant on computers and we will LOSE brain power.

Since most of the world will have interbread amongst the different nations, skin tone will become a thing of the past. Most everybody in the world will have a mid tone skin color, similar to that of an asian.


I always like to humor myself into thinking that the human hands will adapt more to the keyboard, heh.

but why would most of that happen? There is no selection to encourage those traits to become more obvious?

Chris

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Originally posted by GBruns:
Come on guys. There is no such thing as evolution. Darwinism was created to be able to justify imperialism, racism, and genocide. Darwin was born in 1809. He tried being a doctor and a theologist, but got tired of it. So he hopped aboard a ship and went around from island to island studying plants and organisms. He then returned to England and published his "theory" in 1838. Since it was too controversial, he didn't release it. However, the Germans got a hold of this 20 years later, switched some of his ideas around and published it in 1859. All Darwin said was simply that his ideology was that certain characteristics in organisms adapt and change to best fit their envinment. Like the horse, for example. They developed 2 and 3 toes instead of the 5 they had to better help them run from the preditors of the great plains.

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there most decidedly is such a thing as evolution. darwin's theory says that organisms that the fittest organisms survive to reproduce, and the unfit ones do not. he went on to explain that mutation sometimes results in favorable adaptation, and thus displacement of the old species. like the horses, for example. the proto-horses who were born with fewer toes proved better able to run from predators, and could therefore reproduce more often than their slower kin. the better ability to run was the result of incedental mutation (it's not like the horses pushed real hard and just sprouted fewer toes because they felt like it).

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Germany desperatly wanted to expand their territory. So they hired Herbert Spencer, who actually was the one who added all this evoulutionary "survival of the fittest" bullshit. With this ideology, the rich people go the idea that it was o.k. to crush the little guy. The idea of the "white mans burdan" and the idea that it is o.k. for Anglo-Saxons to imperialize.

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i would like to point out that during, say the french revolution, being rich was a deadly trait. "survival of the fittest" only means that the fit are the ones who survive.

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This brought racism to a whole new level. Evolution is just a way to justify all of these things. There is no truth to it whatsoever. I really don't mind this though, cause I like racism, it adds spark to peoples lives.

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evolution is not a *means* to justify anything; it is an effect that simply is, like gravity or taxes.

*where i'm from, racists have real short life expectancies.*

GBruns, I think your confusing Eugenics
with Evolution.

First off, evolution is not a scientific fact. Adapting to an envinment is, but there is not enough scientific evidence to say that we evolved from bacteria or apes. Second of all, its well documented by the Germans and Prussians by both leaders of that period, as well as modern-day Historians. Gobineau, the father of modern racism, even flat out addmitted that they (he had a part in it) changed Darwin's writings around to justify racism.

we'll evolve into a 5.5inch disk bay with scsi adapter to the hub of the universe.

Personally, I think lifeforms evolve to fit their enviroment. So.. does that mean on mars, we'd become dry-skinned locusts things and on Pluto... snowmen? ...hehe


SYNTEX

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Originally posted by GBruns:
First off, evolution is not a scientific fact.

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Actually, now it is accepted as a fact. Due to microscopic organism research, we can see viruses and bacteria reproduce at a more rapid rate, thus speeding up their evolution. That is why we have to create a new flu vaccine every year and why nobody can ever find a cure for the common cold.

Thank you Zok for explaining your scientifical fact. It seems now a days everyone thinks science is just a bunch of "theories" and refuse to acknowledge that which has been proven.

For all you disbelievers who remain blatantly ignorant, prove everything to me and I will believe in reality as a whole. Until then everthing is just in "theory".

Nox: Thats good to hear! Combing my hair every day is such a drag.

We'll be directing our own evolution in 500 years. If we don't fuck it up, our physical and mental capabilities will start to develop along a non-linear line, like technology does.

The human of 3000 will be radically different from that of today. We'll either turn ourselves into gods or monsters.