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."

Comments

Mostly bunk

[taustin]

Steven Novella deconstructs this nonsense with his usual thoroughness. The executive summary is that Jones got a lot of facts wrong, and that mutation is overrated as a factor in evolution anyway.

Re:Right for the wrong reasons

[thepotoo]

"talking shit and lying out your ass" has almost no heritable fitness. It's a learned behavior, so you won't see evolution for or against it.

You are confusing Social Darwinism and biological evolution. Your last sentence is correct, though.