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Geneticist Claims Human Evolution Is Over
GogglesPisano writes "UK geneticist Steve Jones gave a presentation entitled Human Evolution Is Over. He asserts that human beings have stopped evolving because modern social customs have lowered the age at which human males have offspring, which results in fewer of the mutations necessary to drive evolutionary change. Apparently the fate of our species now depends upon older guys hooking up with younger woman. I, for one, welcome this development."
Imagine that. Old guy scientist claims that old guys should bag young women. "But, baby, it's scientific!"
I immediately thought of this:
General "Buck" Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
Ambassador de Sadesky: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.
"I for one welcome our old men banging young women overlords."
Keep on dreaming buddy.
I accept my fate. I will propagate with younger women, if for nothing else than to save our species. :)
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Biological evolution is for chimps; real men are all about memetic evolution!
Those who fail to understand communication protocols, are doomed to repeat them over port 80.
You could call this the cougar syndrome.
And when we kill them, the neocon menace will finally be over. Too bad we'll have just killed the last Neanderthals.
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
we are looking, within a few generations at the ability to edit our own DNA. We will start selecting ourselves.
+++ATH0
Modern medicine may SAVE people that "should have" died and not passed on their genes.
Hell, I do that all the time when I slam on the brakes for idiot pedestrians. I feel like such a traitor to Darwin. I'm screwing up the whole system.
Loose lips lose spit.
Indeed, I mean here all these people with high IQs are hooking up, yet the average IQ remains at 100!
G G G G GODWIN!!!!!
3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
Or maybe Slashdot published this article as part of a long term plot to get us all spending more time at work. Becuase we all know what we do at work, don't we?
How old were Romeo and Juliet? Seriously, I've read that the average life expectancy in classical Greece was something like 19, something like 23 for Imperial Rome, and, for that matter, something like 45 for 19th century America. When does this guy think people in tribal societies started breeding when an impacted wisdom tooth could kill you?
Sounds more like _somebody_ is having way too many thoughts about his grad assistants blended in with fantasies about the good old days when the chief got _all_ the action.
Humans are more analogous to the Protoss than the Zerg. We do not naturally evolve biologically anymore because we develop advanced technology to do our bidding when we require it. If we need something biological, we'll eventually be able to genetically manipulate it into existence in a lab.
P.S. Yes I realize we are most analogous to Terrans than to the Protoss, but Carriers are cooler than Battlecruisers.
This is hardly news. It's been obvious for many years. But it's interesting to see someone famous talking about it.
It's still not quite right--there are selective pressures. For example, in 1000 years the genes associated with the ability to use contraceptives will have been purged from the population. For example, all of humanity might have an innate terror of taking a pill every day. And then they'll release the new horror movie, "Condoms On Planes"!
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."