Natural Selection in Humans is Going Strong
The frequent allegation that the selective processes in the human species are no longer 'natural' is due to persistence of the obsolete nineteenth- century concept of 'natural' selection. The error of this view is made clear when we ask its proponents such questions as, why should the 'surviving fittest' be able to withstand cold and inclement weather without the benefit of fire and clothing? Is it not ludicrous to expect selection to make us good at defending ourselves against wild beasts when wild beasts are getting to be so rare that it is a privilege to see one outside of a zoo? Is it necessary to eliminate everyone who has poor teeth when our dentists stand ready to provide us with artificial ones? Is it a great virtue to be able to endure pain when anaesthetics are available?
Notes:
Just because we use cultural innovations to outwit nature doesn't mean we aren't still evolving.
Folksonomies: evolution cultural evolution
Taxonomies:
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/science/medicine (0.398726)
/science/medicine/surgery (0.331157)
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Concepts:
Natural selection (0.971673): dbpedia | freebase
Human (0.633764): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Natural environment (0.559111): dbpedia | freebase
Species (0.476121): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Charles Darwin (0.468713): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago
Evolution (0.468004): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Selection (0.427749): dbpedia | freebase
Nature (0.422130): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Does Natural Selection Continue to Operate in Modern Mankind?'