I was wondering if the human species continues to evolve. I was reasonably certain that we’re continuously changing just because of natural selection, and the fact that the lifestyle we live in the West allows us to exploit being selective. Back in the day, the mating choices tended to be limited to the people on the next farm or the tribe at the next water source. We have lots more options now that an average lifespan has stretched beyond forty. Plus we’ve been mobile for some time and all kinds of genetic mating options are available. All you have to do is look around and be friendly.
Still, that’s natural selection and I wasn’t certain if selection and evolution were the same thing.
So, I descended into the Google rabbit hole in the quest for answers.
As I expected there are a few opinions on the subject. The adherents to the concept that we were created in God’s image were predictable. They immediately get their prayer mats in a knot as soon as they hear the word evolution. I guess that if you’re essentially a mortal clone of God then it’s difficult to accept the idea that there might be room for improvement, or even change.
But, if we ignore those idiots then there are some facts to consider. For starters, we’re taller and that change has been documented. We’re also fatter, have decreased bone weight, are more resistant to some diseases, have developed an enzyme that allows us to digest dairy, and blue eyed mutants appeared. Also, women are menstruating earlier, we have less wisdom teeth. our skin tone changed depending on sunlight amount, we’ve learned to breathe in high altitude, and our skulls are shrinking.
And those are just some of the alterations that we know about.
Research geneticists think there are many more changes that are happening at the D.N.A. level, and those researchers also believe that the genetic alterations are accelerating. They believe this simply because of mathematics. The more people there are, the more mutations there are. If a specific mutation provides an advantage then we mate selectively with those people who display that they possess the mutated gene.
The dairy enzyme is a good example of this phenomena. If you were a tribe member of the first group of people that decided to keep cows around for something other than steaks, then your body had to learn to digest milk and cheese because that was the new primary food source. Having the shits each time you drank the white gold wasn’t particularly attractive and so people tended to shy away from the weak, malnourished people that smelled like shit. As a result the milk digesting enzyme became desirable and a sign of a strong bloodline.
Our society of the moment has other nutritional options, and as a result we’re seeing lactose intolerance resurface as the need for the enzyme vanishes. So, we select and then we de-select depending on the circumstances required for survival.
Those physical changes also create social changes. Social evolution if you will. P.E.T.A. for example, would never have existed three hundred years ago in Canada. Even with a global agrarian society we still lacked the infrastructure to transport fresh broccoli to Toronto in January. Plus no one had even heard of Tofu and so being Vegan wasn’t a viable survival route until recently.
Except in India. It’s warm there and the growing season is long. Monsoons bring rain and flora flourishes. Plus the people were and are packed in like fucking sardines, and that doesn’t leave enough grazing and roaming land for the necessary critters to supply meat for everyone. So, lentils, roti, chickpeas, rice and curry were the order of the day. Of course religion played a part as well. India pretty much stopped eating cows during the Gupta period ( 650 a.d.) because the mother goddess disapproved. Then about five hundred years later the Muslims arrived and the pigs got a lot safer too.
But the fact remains that there were options. If those bread and veggie choices hadn’t existed, then it’s likely the Gods nutrition preferences would have been ignored in favor of not starving. People tend to alter their standards when they’re hungry.
It could be argued that P.E.T.A. and Vegans only exist because we drank milk and ate meat until we built a society where we have an option to not eat meat or drink milk. So now Canada is more aligned with India in that we have nutritional options. Choices that enable some of us to be socially evolved sanctimonious pricks.
Shut down the supply lines of California cauliflower for a year though and the vegans would vanish from every part of the world that gets a few months of snow. Even Pamela Anderson would eventually get too skinny and would start eying up your pork chops.
So, when the shit hits the fan we adapt accordingly to survive. Nut crunch time is nut crunch time, regardless of your preference for honey nut crunch time.
At this precise moment the planet has been able to shoulder the pandemic and still keep the grocery shelves stocked, so it looks like the Vegans of North America are safe for the time being. In fact, our societies are generally stable enough that we have real choices. I say real because if the fruit and vegetables stopped showing up at Safeway then the decision to eat more meat would become a necessity, not a choice.
And that got me thinking about natural selection and choices. What if our nutritional options have made us secure enough that we make bad choices in departments other than food? What if those choices seem like the right thing to do, but eventually end up causing an evolutionary change that’s convenient but not in our best long term interests?
Like two really stupid people creating hordes more stupid people. The next thing you know, we’re up to our armpits in idiots. Morons who would have died from natural causes, or died out because no one wanted to mate with them, are now able to flourish because of seatbelts, clean water, a fast food joint on every corner, and plenty of other morons to breed with.
The question then becomes will quantity eventually produce quality, and will the volume of mediocrity take us down before the quality can save us? It’s kind of a race to see if we can produce another Einstein, Polgar and Da Vinci before we have an imbecile implosion and society crashes and burns.
I think we’re teetering on the edge of this precipice right this very moment. For every Kasparov we have ten Kardashians. For every Tesla we have a family of Trumps. For every Steven Hawking we have a trailer park full of Honey Boo Boo’s, and I think we’re flirting with disaster.
It’s all going to come down to mathematics and mutations.
Back in the day, we spent all of our lives swimming in the same tepid gene pool. As a result, we produced a shitpile of duplicates and we preserved genetic deficiencies at the same rate we preserved advantages. Now, we at least have the option of adding fresh water to that same genetic pool, and this blending should in theory produce more natural mutations. Mutations aren’t picky though and so we get Marfan Syndrome and Cystic fibrosis showing up as we hope for x-man mutants and geniuses. Again it all comes down to the math and to some degree chance. The chance part based on mating choices which are barely sensible and certainly not calculated. Unless you’re in a royal family, and even then….. hemophilia.
So as of this day of our lord, November 29th 2020 we’ve accomplished the first part of the formula. We have nearly eight billion genetic flesh sacks walking around the planet. The problem is that each of those flesh sacks takes a dump every day and generally makes a mess everywhere they go. So, we need one or two of those genetically mutated geniuses to come up with a way to use shit as an alternative fuel source, and to find a way to shovel nutrients into an insatiable maw of humanity so we can keep on producing favorable mutations.
Kind of a catch 22.
Joseph Heller would be proud of us.