Do you think natural selection still acts on humans?

Question

Do you think natural selection still acts on humans?

Answer 1

I think so.

Think about what kinds of people are the most successful in today's society. Intelligence, leadership, resourcefulness all help. The less adept will not be as successful, and will be less likely to continue their family line.

Answer 2

yes, and i think it's one of the explainations for race mixing. with the climate getting warmer, whites will need that frizzy hair and dark skin to survive it.

Answer 3

i don't think we really will know for sure whether humans are going through natural selection, except to study it from the long run. with scientist keeping tract. one thing to remember tho, natural selection doesn't mean its picking the best genetic features. sometimes it may be a desirable genetic trait at the time, but later in time it could become an undesirable trait. also natural selection doesn't always select on on "genetic" traits, sometimes its just on our physical traits that may have been altered by our environment. also, sometimes a certain feature may be chosen, and maybe another trait not considered can tag along. this can happen to humans or to non human animals.

i personally think that it is possible that natural selection is still acting on humans. a persons genetics health trait may still be selected upon, but definately with our technology today it will slow down this process. even for our physical looks. its so easy to alter our looks and make ourselves more attractive today in comparison with before. than there are accidental pregnancies which will produce offsprings with traits that were not desired. still the general human population will still try to look for traits that they do desire. that's why i say you don't really know unless some scientist is able to keep tract and observe for a long period of time. but such observations prob will take a very very very long time and is not logical.

Answer 4

Of course it is. Look at the largest epidemic known in our history- the Spanish flue in 1918. Those of us who were not strong enough/resistent to the virus died. That is a perfect case of natural selection. Even though infectious diseases are less prevelant now, we still die mostly from degenerative diseases such as cancer and heart problems. This is another example of natural selection. Those of us who are less likely to get them due to genetics and lifestyle will live longer. However, females are not choosing to breed with a more healthy male instead of one who will get cancer at 50, so it won't alter the population in that way.

Answer 5

To some extent, particularily reproductive, yes.  However, in the developed countries the weaker are no longer dying off (we take care of everyone) so I think that the process has become much more gradual.

Answer 6

Overall, we've mostly managed to avoid the process of natural selection. Humanity has managed to curb death in most cases that otherwise would have killed them. The technology we've been coming up with has managed to almost entirely erase the effects that natural selection would otherwise have had on humanity, as shown by our dramatic increases in population over recent years.

Answer 7

Yes.  New physical and intellectual characteristics have become favorable.  Which ones they are will manifest over time.

Answer 8

oh yeah.  think of the dumbarses on here putting their homework online.  those people won't make it past childbearing age.

Answer 9

I don't, and this why.   Humans are not selective about who they breed with.  We don't seem to strive for the best genes when choosing a partner to reproduce with.  Besides that, people with known genetic defects choose to have children, knowing these defects will be passed on.  It's really amazing!