Topic: Evolution
started by: DuSTman
Posted by DuSTman on Apr. 26 2002,03:48
I was thinking a bit about evolution recently and it struck me that although natural selection may not really be in play that much within the human populace (ie no real correlation between physical strength and whether someone will survive long enough to have children) there may be other mechanisms at play to drive evolution within the human species.The mechanism that particularly strikes me as possibly-still-acting-on-humans is one of breeding trends. An example of this is these threads on here discussing required characteristics of girl/boyfriends.
A lot of people on this board but "geek" as a requirement for a potential mate, and I'm sure this behaviour isn't confined to this forum; People tend to preferentially select other people that share similar traits to themselves to mate with.
When a child is sired and raised by two people with similar traits, I suspect it's probable that the child will also have that trait. Likely stronger than either of the parents had it, in fact.
This sort of mechanism would surely serve to enforce and increase the differences between different "types" of folk, over multiple generations. I think that over a sufficiently long timescale this may increase the differences between different "types" of folk to the point where it becomes feasible to consider them different species from one another.
I dunno, maybe i'm just talking out of my ass. What do you think?
Posted by Non on Apr. 26 2002,04:00
My guess is you are talking out your ass, however I agree with:| Quote |
| People tend to preferentially select other people that share similar traits to themselves to mate with. |
Posted by Uberkommando on Apr. 26 2002,04:58
Interesting point, Dustman. It certainly explains a few things in Oklahoma City. All the nerds are centralized around the Seagate plant on the west side of town, along with the college and medical complex. I'm on the southeast side of OKC, with all the sports complexes and auto body shops. Here, there's not a nerd to be found -- the only strains of human in the sector seem to fall under the 'retarded cheerleader/jock' genus, as measured in the standard "State and National Sports Championship Trophy per Capita" unit.Thus, it certainly explains why I, as a nerd, have as yet been unable to attract a stupid, large-breasted female from amongst the local population.
Posted by Wiley on Apr. 26 2002,05:37
Did you happen to catch the Neanderthal and Primordial thing on the Discovery channel? After watching that last Sunday I went walking on 3rd Street (3rd Street Promenade is a strip near the beach in Santa Monica that is home to the local freak population ..lots of homeless, one with a psychic cat and some with dancing monkeys playing organ grinders) and was thinking just about the same thing. Basically the show was about how there were two species of man living at the same time and within close proximity. They had completely different social structures and languages and didn't interact much with each other. I looked at some of the freaks and it hit me ...my world is so foreign to them and theirs to me. We are different species. They will breed more freak and I will breed more geek. I doubt their offspring would be computer literate and mine will most likely never be swinging cinder-blocks from their nipples for spare change.Evolution in humans is a reality and natural selection does exist. Think about the evil big kid who dominated the dodge-ball court during physical education who went on to be the captain of the football team in High School ..and now is on a scholarship in college. He will graduate and play second string pro ball and marry a catalog model that really would be much happier with you if she ever gave you the chance. You however will fall for some girl in your study group who makes the best Mac & Cheese you've ever tasted during a late night cramming session. If there is no variance in a humans that can classify them as different species then why are some social traits so easy to define and categorize?
On a side note, why isn't man divided in sub-species? I mean a Northern Black Bear and a Northwestern Brown Bear are two different species, but an Eskimo and a Nigerian are the same species? One is short round and has no nose bridge and one is tall thin and very dark. We are different species ...why is everybody so afraid to say it? It doesn't mean you're racist ...just means you like to define things.
Posted by Uberkommando on Apr. 26 2002,05:52
Indeed... but is it possible to determine how many subgroups actually exist? After all, the 3rd street freakers could be completely incompatible with the Midamerica Boulevard freakers here in the midwest. Could it be that random selection and environment shape us more than genetics? If so, wouldn't that mean that an 'individual' adapts himself to fit the lifestyle surrounding him when he reaches the climactic crisis of his life, rather than having his personality be preordained by DNA?Either way, I still don't have an airhead cheerleader bimbo to give me head between classes. Dumb bitches -- don't they realize I'm their god?
Posted by DuSTman on Apr. 26 2002,05:59
This does raise the question of exactly how different one sort of person has to be before you would give them a nametag as being an entirely different species. Also numbers. In theory, you probably wouldn't recognise the first animal of a new species as being that. You'd probably just think of them as a wierd occurrance of an existing species. You'd probably hold off assigning them a new species name until the population had grown to at least a couple hundred..
Posted by mqa on Apr. 26 2002,06:39
the reason eskimos and nigerians are considered one species is because they can breed and produce fertile offspring, whereas (i assume) the bears cannot. the variances in the human race are similar to that of different breeds of dogs.
Posted by kbreak on Apr. 26 2002,11:54
Woof!Um, pant and stuff.
damn.
is that all there is?
Posted by Wiley on Apr. 26 2002,13:47
| Quote (mqa @ 25 April 2002,22:39) |
| the variances in the human race are similar to that of different breeds of dogs. |
And I'm pretty sure that differerent breeds of dogs have different species names ...they are in the same class, but different species. Who's a bio person ...clear this up
k-thnx
Posted by Necromancer on Apr. 26 2002,14:43
go read the darwin awards. evolution is still very much in effect in the human race.
Posted by ic0n0 on Apr. 26 2002,17:27
I am a social Darwinist, so too me evolution is not only real but I think we need to implament it in our social structures for the benefit of our species.
Posted by Uberkommando on Apr. 26 2002,21:04
| Quote (ic0n0 @ 26 April 2002,11:27) |
| I am a social Darwinist, so too me evolution is not only real but I think we need to implament it in our social structures for the benefit of our species. |
Yeah, or at least those of us who're too intelligent for public schooling.
Posted by veistran on Apr. 27 2002,00:04
| Quote (ic0n0 @ 26 April 2002,11:27) |
| I am a social Darwinist, so too me evolution is not only real but I think we need to implament it in our social structures for the benefit of our species. |
social darwinism work so wonderfully well in the late 19th and early 20th, I can't possibly figure out why people stopped adopting the practice.
Posted by damien_s_lucifer on Apr. 27 2002,01:40
Dogs have a wide variety of physical traits, but all breeds of dog are the same species.Two members of the same species can produce fertile offspring. Closely-related species are sometimes able to produce offspring, but they're infertile (i.e. a mule is the product of a male donkey & a female horse, but mules themselves can't reproduce).
The proper word to describe genetic variations within a species is phenotype.
There is enough interbreeding between different human cultures that Homo sapiens will not be diverging any time soon.
Also :
- genes only partially determine which clique you belong to. A much bigger component is how you're raised and what you experience... i.e. I'd likely be a corporate whore right now if it wasn't for a girl I met when I was 15.
- people drift from clique to clique throughout their lives.
- if love (and therefore the reproductive cycle) was tied to social class, my friend wouldn't be going out with a man who is a 100% Dedicated Corper. She's not fond of the Corporate America social structure, but she's very fond of him.
Posted by Beldurin on Apr. 27 2002,06:30
| Quote (Uberkommando @ 26 April 2002,15:04) | ||
Yeah, or at least those of us who're too intelligent for public schooling. |
Hey now...I've attended public schools all the way up to my Master's, and I'd like to think I'm fairly intelligent (despite most of my comments on here).
Maybe you should say "for those of us who can afford private school."
Posted by Uberkommando on Apr. 27 2002,07:02
| Quote (Beldurin @ 27 April 2002,00:30) | ||
 4-->
Yeah, or at least those of us who're too intelligent for public schooling.[/quote] Hey now...I've attended public schools all the way up to my Master's, and I'd like to think I'm fairly intelligent (despite most of my comments on here). Maybe you should say "for those of us who can afford private school." |
Hey, I'm a public schooler too. I just feel like I'm being held back by all the football/cheerleading retards who never learned to spell. I figure I should be able to bust out and do something worthwhile rather than the same shit over and over because Johnny Linebacker doesn't know how to add.
Posted by Wolfguard on Apr. 27 2002,16:39
Evolution has been suspended by the goverment and the PC faction.I feel if you too stupid to know that if you stick a screwdriver in your eye/use a hair drier in the shower/stick your dick in a light socket, then you deserve to die. If you deserve to die your family can not sue the company for millions of dollars because you were stupid, take this money, and breed more idiots that should die. If you are to stupid to know that Coffee is hot, coffee that you have been getting for years and have had to let sit 15-20 min EVERY FUCKING DAY before you can drink it. If you take this coffee and put it in your lap and it spills then guess what? YOUR TO STUPID TO LIVE!
If you dont get it in school you get left back till you do. The ones that get it should not get a substandard education because you are a fucking moron. If your a moron you need to go back to where you understand things and start from there. granted some of the football players i know this would be kindergarden.
and another thing, the language of this country is english. we should not have to teach classes in spanish (unless its a spanish class) just because your mother spawned your ass in this country and never tought you english. if you dont speek english you can still find a job. my grass needs cutting and trimming once a week. Just make sure one of you can talk to me in english i can understand. Same with you fucking indians (the india ones, not the american ones)(personaly, we should be speeking their language but...) when i come into your store i better be able to understand one of you or im not coming back.
This rant brought to you by the letters F and U and the number 3.
Posted by TheTaxMan on Apr. 27 2002,20:22
I think natural selection is very much at work in our society and above the level of "the stupid will die." I think it has nothing to do with intelligence. However, by my estimations, there are many more beautiful people (by the general standard) now than there used to be. This makes sense as the beautiful people, in theory, have more opportunities to breed (ponder, that just sounds odd).However, often these people are extremely stupid. And, obviously, people aren't getting any more intelligent.
Posted by BlackFlag on Apr. 27 2002,21:53
what's really wierd is how many dot-heads work at 7-11's, considering the Japaneese own the damn company. (was owned by germans before that.)
Posted by Beldurin on Apr. 27 2002,23:08
| Quote (BlackFlag @ 27 April 2002,15:53) |
| what's really wierd is how many dot-heads work at 7-11's, considering the Japaneese own the damn company. (was owned by germans before that.) |
dot-heads?
The bigot returneth...
Posted by veistran on Apr. 28 2002,07:32
speaking of things not evolving, the sponge supposedly hasn't done much evolving in the past 500 million years.
Posted by TheTaxMan on Apr. 28 2002,17:09
| Quote (veistran @ 27 April 2002,23:32) |
| speaking of things not evolving, the sponge supposedly hasn't done much evolving in the past 500 million years. |
Haha, I can see it...
Spongie: I am invincible!
Me in the Shower: You're a loony...