Caporegime
- Joined
- 13 May 2003
- Posts
- 34,709
- Location
- Warwickshire
I've just been thinking about the implications of a modern society on humanity and whether or not all the medical and technological aids we have these days, could have serious implications for the long term survival of the human race.
Is it not the case that not having to fight for one's food or mate, nor worry too much about dying from a minor graze, will eliminate prior genetic advances by allowing people with poorer genes to breed and contaminate the gene pool? This is not currently a problem because science has, for the most part, overcome humanity's fundamental needs such as food and water. However, taking the effect of these advances to their extremes, what are the long-term implications?
In terms of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the bottom rung (basic physiological needs, such as survival) barely now even register on the scale of consideration for most people, at least in the developed world. Whereas ten thousand years ago, a human would have woken up wondering htf they were going to survive the day, nowadays the most pressing concern is whether they're going to spend their dollars on a PC or a Mac.
So what's your opinion:
No, we are not devolving. Besides, mankind is getting more and more clever such that evolution isn't important anymore.
Or
Yes, our way of life has serious implications for the quality of the human gene pool. We have already stopped improving as a species and in ten thousand years, everyone will be fat, asthmatic, and allergic to everything. (By improving I mean in physiological terms, not in terms of scientific advances, which are arguably a function of time and resources rather than increasing intelligence).
?
I am not a Nazi or any other kind of supremacist, nor do I propose a cull of weaker human beings. I have asthma myself. I do not have a solution to the problem, assuming there even is one. I'm just interested to hear whether people think that the human gene pool is being sent backwards by the ease with which we can now survive. People that are born with serious physical defects, or are of extremely low intelligence, are no longer any more or less likely to survive than someone with perfect genetics, assuming that the physical defect does not, for example, affect the likelihood of your vital organs working correctly.
Edit: I was hoping to avoid typing this out, but since the word 'pancake' has been mentioned, please add the following to the two options above:
'None of the above - [insert intelligent opinion here]'
Is it not the case that not having to fight for one's food or mate, nor worry too much about dying from a minor graze, will eliminate prior genetic advances by allowing people with poorer genes to breed and contaminate the gene pool? This is not currently a problem because science has, for the most part, overcome humanity's fundamental needs such as food and water. However, taking the effect of these advances to their extremes, what are the long-term implications?
In terms of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the bottom rung (basic physiological needs, such as survival) barely now even register on the scale of consideration for most people, at least in the developed world. Whereas ten thousand years ago, a human would have woken up wondering htf they were going to survive the day, nowadays the most pressing concern is whether they're going to spend their dollars on a PC or a Mac.
So what's your opinion:
No, we are not devolving. Besides, mankind is getting more and more clever such that evolution isn't important anymore.
Or
Yes, our way of life has serious implications for the quality of the human gene pool. We have already stopped improving as a species and in ten thousand years, everyone will be fat, asthmatic, and allergic to everything. (By improving I mean in physiological terms, not in terms of scientific advances, which are arguably a function of time and resources rather than increasing intelligence).
?
I am not a Nazi or any other kind of supremacist, nor do I propose a cull of weaker human beings. I have asthma myself. I do not have a solution to the problem, assuming there even is one. I'm just interested to hear whether people think that the human gene pool is being sent backwards by the ease with which we can now survive. People that are born with serious physical defects, or are of extremely low intelligence, are no longer any more or less likely to survive than someone with perfect genetics, assuming that the physical defect does not, for example, affect the likelihood of your vital organs working correctly.
Edit: I was hoping to avoid typing this out, but since the word 'pancake' has been mentioned, please add the following to the two options above:
'None of the above - [insert intelligent opinion here]'
Last edited:
