Evolutionists:Would you still believe in evolution if it showed man getting less intelligent?

Question

Moonspot: Your example of bacteria: it is still bacteria it didnt change.

Answer 1

No one who is both literate and computer/web literate can possibly be this ignorant without choosing to be. You sir, are the trolliest of all troll life forms.

Answer 2

Religion vs Science

God vs Devil

Human blasfemy

Answer 3

Yes, because humans are no longer subject to natural selection.  Natural selection requires changes in the surrounding evironment (and subsequent adaptation), but we can alter our environment and therefore do not feel (in a genetic sense) the effects of environmental change.

Response to your moonspot response - there are many species of bacteria, and one of the ways to discern these species is to describe their metabolic function.  Resistant bacteria have altered enzymatic function (and associated genetic changes) and can be considered a new species.  Saying that a bacteria has not evolved because it is still a bacteria shows a lack of basic biological knowledge.

Answer 4

Yes, because there could easily be an environment where intelligence is less important than having lots of kids (very high child mortality). That would make gestation times shorten, and the IQ would go down. Also, a smaller head size would make birth easier and lessen maternal and infant mortality too.

Answer 5

Yes.....but only if being less intelligent increased a person's fitness. In a theocracy it might pay to be dumb and submissive to the State. Otherwise you could get killed.

Answer 6

I wouldn't expect you to understand this but who knows, maybe it will spark some bit of understanding.  Evolution favors animals that are adapted to their particular niche which is how they survive in their environment.  The ancestors of chimps did not grow big brains because it was not advantageous to do so.  Big brains are heavy and require a lot of calories to feed it.  There is an optimal size.  The same thing can be said of the size and shape of the eye teeth (among a million other examples).  If the tooth grows too much it may begin to interfere with eating.  Too small and it is not effective at biting which is required for defense and territorial disputes.  Evolution is not about developing one set of features.  It is about evolving a whole suite of feature that makes that creature ideally suited to its environment.

Answer 7

Yes.  You are operating under a false assumption:  that evolution operates towards a specific goal, such as great intelligence (for humans), great speed (for horse, antelopes, cheetahs), etc.

That is not the case at all.  Selection operates on populations to produce populations that are as well suited to their environment as their genetic variability allows.  This occurs by differential reproductive success for the individuals in the population.

Evolution works to the point of success and no further.  

Addressing your point directly, some Paleoanthropologists argue that we might not be as intelligent on average.  They argue that humans have evolved to use culture as our primary adaptive means.  This makes sense; Eskimos, for instance, don't develop thick coats of fur and blubber to live in the Arctic, they use fire, igloos, etc. to survive.  So it is suggested that before humans adapted well enough to use culture effectively, they had to be smarter than we are present day to survive.  Once cultural means were in place, those who would not have been smart enough to survive and reproduce now do.

It is an interesting argument, but I don't buy it.  No way to really measure intelligence anyway, let alone the intelligence of dead people.  Also, it is quite possible that there are selective pressures for greater intelligence in more "complex" cultures than in "less complex" cultures (whatever that might mean).

In any event, humans, like all life, evolve for survival, not some abstract ideal.

wl

Answer 8

Yes. Evolution doesn't mean organisms necessarily get more complex or better; that's a creationist strawman of it. It just means they get better adapted to their environment. There are plausible reasons one can imagine why humans today wouldn't need to be as intelligent. Civilization provides us with a safe and consistent environment, which tends to make intelligence (which is useful because it gives organisms the capacity to innovate in response to changing circumstances) potentially less valuable. Since a large brain like ours comes at a significant metabolic cost and makes reproduction more difficult (the large heads of human infants are difficult to squeeze through the birth canal), there may be a selection pressure toward reduced intelligence in the absence of one toward higher intelligence.

Answer 9

Whoops....another "what if" question" asked by a fundie.  Yes, evolution is  a fact, even if ridiculous hypotheticals can be asked about it.

Answer 10

Yes, I need to accept, since evolution is not just about humans, it's about the total flora and fauna of millions of varieties of trillions in strength!

You must know the fact that, man is nothing even when compared to the TERMITES on Earth, who outweigh humans by weight 20 times! Yes, the weight of Termites as whole on Earth is 20 times more than the weight of all humans weighed in whole!

So also the fish and sea living organisms and also the poultry we manage too! By the knowledge of evolution man has understood the extinction of millions of species and now cares for the importance of bio-diversity to maintain all the life forms to ecologically balance the Earth to make his survival better!

To understand the evolution better, one needs to be knowledgeable to understand the biological development in genetic make up of species, which are now resulting into cloning of species! In fact we find astonishing that a human DNA and that of a rat differs just only 2 % as variation in built up, to differentiate we as human to they as rats!  

You cannot gage the evolutionary change in the body even for a thousand years, then how come you want to see the change to happen in your lifetime! See that, you can’t even believe our Earth is running at a fantastic speed of 90,000 kmph (Ninety thousand kilometers per hour!) across the solar path and yet we don't feel it! Added, the entire solar system of our Sun and the nine planets is rotating the galactic center of our Milky Way Galaxy (positioned itself in one of the spiral arm of our galaxy!) at a speed of one million kmph! In the same way we can't perceive the evolutionary changes on living species within our lifetime!

Answer 11

Yes, absolutely!  Evolution has no goal & in fact those with an IQ below 90 do produce 3X the number of offspring than those with an IQ above 125.  We are probably evolving toward two classes of people... the ignorant & the informed, capable of scientifically analyzing evidence.

Why else would we have an increasing number of creationists?

Answer 12

That would still be evolution. Evolution has no set direction.

Would you still deny evolution if you took the time to understand it?

Answer 13

It's like asking if I would believe in water if it meant people would drown.

We see evolution around us every day.  An excellent example is the stronger strains of bacteria evolving from the improper use of antibiotics.

Bacteria have changed drastically in the 70 years since penicillin was introduced.  Change from one species to another in inevitable over the timespans on which evolution works.

Hybridization is a form of evolution.  In this case it's artificial selection rather than natural selection.

Many people choose their science based on their religion.  I understand science based on science, and religion based on religion.

Answer 14

Evolution has no direction and is not progressive, Evolution is merely the change in allele frequency over time in a population of organisms. Not a matter of belief, but of evidence, evidence you obviously are not capable of understanding.

You question revels the willful ignorance that you possess, in spades.

Answer 15

we are using less percentage of our brains than in the past which means we are less intelligent than our ancestors

Answer 16

Yes, evolution have no set direction.

With all this new technology, we can alter mother nature and cure diseases. That changes things. Natural Selection is no longer in play.

Answer 17

How dare you suggest we, in A-Mur-A-Ka are less intelligent.

Observe this example of our US brain power:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juOQhTuzD...

Now tell me we ain't smart!