Mankind still evolving

[Pah]

As quoted from http://atheism.about.com/b/a/253958.htm?nl=1 Austin Cline

The Economist reports studies of human genomes around the world:

The team identified several hundred genes that had undergone recent selection in at least one of the populations being studied. Some were not surprising. Genes involved in the generation of sex cells, and in fertilisation, are known from other work to have strong selective pressures on them, and those pressures clearly continue in modern humans. Nor was it much of a shock to discover selection, in Europeans, for changes in four skin-pigmentation genes known to be involved in reducing melanin content.

Perhaps the most intriguing results were those connected with food metabolism. The gene for alcohol dehydrogenase is undergoing selection in Asia, as is that for processing sucrose (table sugar). Meanwhile, the genes for processing two other sorts of sugar, lactose (found in milk) and mannose (found in some fruit) are changing in Europeans and Yoruba respectively. Fatty-acid metabolism, too, is changing in all three populations. And Europeans are having the toxin-disposal systems in their livers modified.

Some brain genes are also changing, including two that control the size of brains, and two involved in susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease. And three genes that control bone growth have been modified in Europeans and East Asians, while the Yoruba have seen changes in genes that control hair growth.

Comment?

http://nusapiens.blogspot.com/2006/03/more-evidence-of-ongoing-human.html

 

[zabugle]

Why would anyone think mankind had stopped evolving?

 

[evearael]

Yep. Evolution is creeping along just fine, whether we like it or not.

Not that I would be too terribly concerned if SCIENTISTS ousted evolution, if favor with a theory that works better as long as it accurately, as possible, describes how species change over time. After all, the theory of evolution has gone through several revisions since Darwin's original.

 

[evearael]

Zabugle - some people feel we are above natural processes. Of course, usually that sentiment is selective: believing in respiration, but not evolution...

 

[Opethian]

Zabugle - some people feel we are above natural processes. Of course, usually that sentiment is selective: believing in respiration, but not evolution...

Intellectual honesty is what these people lack. They would like to be above natural processes, and therefore they reject any evidence that would point in the other direction. Wanting something and something being truth are two completely different things, but a lot of people have issues with this.

 

[michel]

I am afraid that the science is above me; I can see what is being said, but cannot understand the actual ramifications of the changes noticed. I wish I could understand; apart from that, as everyone has said, it is to be expected. Evolution will still be beavering away at us on the last day of the existance of Earth.

 

[Endless]

I think evolution is entering a new era - mankind is getting involved in manipulating the genome. Think of genetic engineering - we are tampering with something only nature tampered with before.

 

[evearael]

What is scary about genetic manipulation is that if you have a flock of identical sheep, then a single virus has the ability to wipe them all out. It is the genetic variety that shields us from mass devastation if our environment changes or if a new plague descends on us. I fear that the lure of easy profits from a better strain of tofu will outweigh concerns for biodiversity. Genetic engineering is dangerous because genes have many purposes, and one that seems to produce what we percieve as negative traits may actually be defending us from something much worse. I fear that our attempts to prod evolution unnaturally will have devastating consequences.

 

[zabugle]

Zabugle - some people feel we are above natural processes. Of course, usually that sentiment is selective: believing in respiration, but not evolution...

I realize this. My curiosity is in why this is newsworthy as if it is some great revelation or discovery. The only response you will get from the scientific community is a great big collective "duh"

 

[zabugle]

I think evolution is entering a new era - mankind is getting involved in manipulating the genome. Think of genetic engineering - we are tampering with something only nature tampered with before.

We have been manipulating genomes ever since we started domesticating and breeding animals and growing and crossing crops.

What is scary about genetic manipulation is that if you have a flock of identical sheep, then a single virus has the ability to wipe them all out. It is the genetic variety that shields us from mass devastation if our environment changes or if a new plague descends on us. I fear that the lure of easy profits from a better strain of tofu will outweigh concerns for biodiversity. Genetic engineering is dangerous because genes have many purposes, and one that seems to produce what we percieve as negative traits may actually be defending us from something much worse. I fear that our attempts to prod evolution unnaturally will have devastating consequences.

No genetic engineering necessary. We already accomplish this through controlled breeding and crossing. We've been doing it for centuries.

 

[evearael]

Zabugle - With the scientists you're preaching to the choir. The average joe or jane doesn't necessary know or care to know much of anything at all about science except the new comforts it can bring. The solution is to improve the education system. Besides I still have a migraine from the last debate with someone willfully ignorant of all things scientific...

 

[evearael]

Yes, but with breeding methods, you still preserve a strong level of biodiversity.

 

[zabugle]

Yes, but with breeding methods, you still preserve a strong level of biodiversity.

Depends what you are trying to accomplish. Lab mice strains are made up of individuals indentical to each other. This is accompliished exclusively through breeding. You can maintain diversity through genetic engineering as well.

 

[zabugle]

Zabugle - With the scientists you're preaching to the choir. The average joe or jane doesn't necessary know or care to know much of anything at all about science except the new comforts it can bring. The solution is to improve the education system. Besides I still have a migraine from the last debate with someone willfully ignorant of all things scientific...

Agreed. My point is presenting this as if it some new revelation only perpetuates that ignorance.

 

[evearael]

I agree, I just worry about the drive for profits trumping ethics in the scientific processes. Most scientists are ethical, but for some it depends on who's funding the projects.

 

[zabugle]

I agree, I just worry about the drive for profits trumping ethics in the scientific processes. Most scientists are ethical, but for some it depends on who's funding the projects.

Any science or technology is vulnerable to ethical abuse - genetic engineering no more so than any other. Ethical concerns should not be overlooked, but to halt progress because of the concren over potential abuse is uneccesarily overreacting.

 

[evearael]

I don't suggest that, only mindfulness .

 

[literal visionary]

Nor was it much of a shock to discover selection, in Europeans, for changes in four skin-pigmentation genes known to be involved in reducing
Nor was it much of a shock to discover selection, in Europeans, for changes in four skin-pigmentation genes known to be involved in reducing melanin content.
.

I dont think that this could be considered evolution, when seeing the ethinic diversity in modern countries today, this is just a natural change. When it comes to your environment and reduction of melanin content, (if you wanted)you could of course attribute this to evolution, but the fact is if you moved to Africa or a country of similar climate, close to the equater, in 500 years your prodigeny would all have black or dark skin, even if you were part of a colony of fair skinned europeans and never bred out of your colonies gene pool. God created the human body to change according to its environment. Concerning the body changing, with proccessing blood sugar,you could call it evolution but the fact is as a race our diet has changed very rapidly in the past few hundred years, look at the high trait of obesity in western countries, people who get obese earlier die earlier, and this affects the gene pool, compared to the way of the past where people who gained weight easily might live longer in case of famines,

you could call this evolution, but im inclined to think it just random breeding, and how much evolving would be going on if we as a modern people were'n't meddling with our environment, and creating things like bioligical warfare, you know some microbioligists think that at least 45% of N america is infected with various bacterias and viruses that our own Gov. created?

You all are so focused on evolution, what about deevolution? huh, how does that fit into the modern atheists theories?

If you give people the slightest excuse to do so, they'll grasp at anything, illogical as it may be

 

[evearael]

Random breeding influenced by environmental factors is the basis for evolution. We would still have an environment to react to without our meddling. I quantify evolution as change in a species over time, so it doesn't have any positive or negative qualities.

 

[EnhancedSpirit]

Besides physical evolution of our 'species' there is also a spiritual evolution going on. I was trying to find some way of summing up this idea and came across this diagram, and it looked pretty interesting to me. I have only read 0. the first step of the process. I am going back to read some more, thought others might want to read as well.

0. [SIZE=-1]Undifferentiated Experiencehttp://www.hyperthot.com/1240_cyc.htm
1. [SIZE=-1]Judgment - Chosing Good over Evil[/SIZE]
2. [SIZE=-1]Faith - Believing Good over Evil[/SIZE]
3. [SIZE=-1]Spiritual Understanding - Unreality of Evil[/SIZE]
[/SIZE]4. [SIZE=-1]Infinite Being - Good Unopposed[/SIZE]
5. [SIZE=-1]Integration - Pure Goodness filling Empty Space[/SIZE]
6. [SIZE=-1]Consumation and Wholeness[/SIZE]