Are we as a species evolving?

Question

What makes your life special?

Answer 1

Yes, we are.  In general we are getting taller and in many cases fatter because of environmental changes in our lives.  Those who can remain healthy ie taller and slimmer and not prone to diabetes and other diseases of unhealthy living will inevitably be more successful than the rest.  Over time the blobbier elements will produce fewer, weaker offspring and the taller and healthier will either produce more or choose not to reproduce.  

At present Asian and Caribbean people are most prone to diseases such as the above probably as a response to changes in culture as they move to the west or to increase in affluence but since there are so many of them it will take a while for evolution to reduce their numbers especially as they tend to have more children in their younger years.  

Westerners who wait longer to have children and then find themselves reduced in fertility are the most likely to die out if nothing alters their present unhealthy way of life.

Answer 2

1) I believe that we are. We are becoming the lowest common denominator.

2) My little lad: he's starting school after the summer and he's a treasure!

Answer 3

Evolution requires 2 things:

1) Random mutations in the genome;

2) Some kind of selection procedure, natural or otherwise, that tends to favour one or other of the different versions of the mutated gene in producing more offspring.

Number 1 is certainly happening all the time, and number 2 is too, unless you think that people select their mates completely at random.

The difference is that any beneficial mutation will probably never spread throughout the entire human population any more.  Perhaps in future (millions of years from now) there will be more than one separate human species which cannot interbreed.

The fact that we're supposedly getting taller or fatter is down to improved nutrition rather than genetic mutation.  The genes for increased height have been there for a lot of generations, but never had any effect when individuals were unable to get sufficient food.

Answer 4

I went to Florida for my holidays this year ,and judging by the majority of Americans there I think we are evolving giant blobs of lard .

If you havent been you should go there ,just to look at how big humans can get before exploding.

Answer 5

yes....over thousands of years like every living thing does...it is called that.....that is if the human race lasts that long and doesnt go **** up due to overpopulation and greed...otherwise its curtains for this lot....and just like the dinosaurs  we dissapear of this world stage

Answer 6

Slowly but surely.

Answer 7

Evolution in larger animals works over tens of thousands of generations and natural selection - individual lives are insignificant.

Answer 8

It depends what you mean by 'evolving'.

'Evolution' can mean any of the following (and more):

1. any process of formation or growth; development: "the evolution of a language; the evolution of the airplane".

2. a product of such development; something evolved: "the exploration of space is the evolution of decades of research".

3. a process of gradual, peaceful, progressive change or development, as in social or economic structure or institutions.

4. a pattern formed by or as if by a series of movements: "the evolutions of a figure skater".

5. BIOLOGY: change in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation by such processes as mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift.

It's almost certainly the 5th, scientific definition that people have in mind when they ask this question, but most people's conception of scientific evolution is corrupted by the other (non-scientific) meanings. For instance, there is nothing to suggest that biological evolution is a progression - is when a species gets BETTER. As the definition above reads, evolution is only a "change". This change can be for better or for worse. (And anyway, who decides if a change is "better"? "Better" according to whom? If lions developed a new method of hunting which meant they caught more zebras, this is only "better" for lions, not for zebras.) The word "devolved" was coined due to this confusion. Something cannot biologically "devolve" - that doesn't make sense.

So if you mean, are we as a species getting better? Then it's entirely up to you - whatever you think "better" is.

If you mean, are we as a species changing? Then of course we are. Mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift affect all kinds of life and all species whether we like it or not. It's important to remember, however, that evolution occurs "from generation to generation". A single being cannot evolve. You and I are not evolving at the moment. But as a species, homo sapiens are changing constantly: certain kinds of people are more likely to have babies before they die than others (for whatever reason); eventually, the people less likely to have babies will have disappeared, and we as a species will have "evolved". In fact, it is impossible for a species not to evolve. So yes, we are biologically evolving as a species.

I hope this clears up the evolution question for you then. As for what makes my life special, surely it is just the fact that I am alive! Evolution is a horrible and messy process, but what it produces is beautiful, majestic, and awe-inspiring - just look at yourself! The amount of things that are happening in your body right this second, most of which you are totally unaware of but which are essential for your survival, is mind-blowing! The product of millions of years of evolution is you. Amazing.

Answer 9

well we dont send kids of 5 yrs old up chimneys or down mnes any more.

I thin k in some ways that we are getting more humanitarian, less tribal.

In other ways we are on a hiding to nothing.

Time will tell if we are the first sentient species to be the author of its own destruction - If we get through whats ahead of us maybe we have a chance.

Answer 10

In my opinion, yes. The fact that we're taller now than several generations ago, more resistant to certain diseases and more vulnerable to others, etc. We seem to be physically adapting to changes in our environment. All life forms appear to be designed to change in order to be able to live in the environment to which they are exposed. The changes in man are relatively minute since it takes so long for man to reproduce from generation to generation. Therefore, man's brain is advanced so that he can better control the environment than other species. As such, changes in man's brain as well as other physical attributes appear to be occurring. This, I believe, is the definition of evolution.

Answer 11

No we seem to be devolving more and more moron have children so we have a society of retards. I am special because I am help destroy the sick cult known as scientology look into how they kil and abuse people

Answer 12

Technology is evolving, humans and society are not.  Society has stagnated and humans are regressing.

Answer 13

If i believed in that . We being so-called superior beings . The next generation will destroy the plant .

I think , care about others, and grow to improve my life and others.

GOD BLESS

Answer 14

Thank God for evolution...

Answer 15

What makes me special in my human capacity when we look at the question along with the concept of evolution then I am sure it is the faculties of my mind that we commonly believe are superior to the rest of living things. Then what makes me special in my personal capacity is my realisation of my self as an individual person, my knowledge and awareness of my peculiarities, my likes and dislikes, my preferences and way of doing things in my life. All these make me, as they do to all other people in their right, a special person. But I would never see any single animal or plant taken out of a hundred, a thousand, or a million to be any different than the rest. Whereas in the case of us human beings even though we might be in our billions not even a single person we can ever find who is same as any single person in the world. We are different similarly, or we are similarly different within our won species, we are altogether different from the animals, better or worse.  

Then we come to realise that there could be two different types of processes that might be going on as part of natural evolution of species: The one, merely physical, and the other mental. In the case of the first, we can see that animals have been around a lot longer than humans. In the billions of years time many species have evolved to certain stage of development and then went extinct, one species after the other, and there is no evidence of any sort of critical intelligence left. Human beings are relatively new to the planet and we have already made our mark. We have gain command over the fat of all other living things merely by our superior mental capacities.

Then may be the processes of physical evolution, as evidenced both in human beings as well as in animal, have a limit, a physical limitation, but the mental evolution have a long way to go yet. We human beings might not evolve physically, or mutate to assume some fantastic or weird physical forms, but I believe we have capacity to evolve mentally. I think in the times to come people would discover new aspects and new dimensions of human mind. After all what we see all around us is what our mind enables us to see, and if for instance, our eyes were made of different material for some different design then we might not have seen what we see all around us. I think mental evolution would bring better awareness to our sense of reality, we will not only know the meanings of life, the universe better, we but will also able to see things beyond temporary limits of life on earth, and the physicality of the universe.

Then I come back to answer the later of your question then the answer is this answer. This is how I see things. This is what I hope for and expects. This is what is peculiar only to me, and yet something that I can share with other people and take immense delight in doing so.

Answer 16

we are evolving biologiclaly socially and intellectually

nothing makes me special - we're equals.

Answer 17

Based on the majority of questions asked on this site (not yours) I would say that we are at a major standstill.  But your second question: I still think falling in love fits the bill : )