25 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Mankind Overspecialized for Living in "Gadget-Ridden Envi...
The outlook seems grim. Natural selection under civilized conditions may lead mankind to evolve towards a state of genetic overspecialization for living in gadget-ridden environments. It is certainly up to man to decide whether this direction of his evolution is or is not desirable. If it is not, man has, or soon will have, the knowledge requisite to redirect the evolution of his species pretty much as he sees fit. Perhaps we should not be too dogmatic about this choice of direction. We may b...Folksonomies: evolution cultural evolution
Folksonomies: evolution cultural evolution
Would it be a bad thing for humans to adapt to such a state of things?
25 APR 2012 by ideonexus
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 wh...Folksonomies: evolution cultural evolution
Folksonomies: evolution cultural evolution
Just because we use cultural innovations to outwit nature doesn't mean we aren't still evolving.
19 APR 2011 by ideonexus
Science Tames Nature by Understanding
Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. rhis is why science has succeeded where magic failed: because it has looked for no spell to cast over nature. The alchemist and the magician in the Middle Ages thought, and the addict of comic strips is still encouraged to think, that nature must be mastered by a device which outrages her laws. But in four hundred years since the Scientific Revolu tion we have learned that we gain our ends only with the laws of nature; we control her only ...Contrasted with comics, fiction, and religion, where nature is subdued by force and magic.