Thread: Evolution #9
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Old 09-08-2005, 09:35 PM
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Default Misconceptions about Evolution

Most of the questions you have asked show that you have a misconception about evolution which most people share. I am writing a thesis on evolutionary biology at the moment, and I have learned alot about evolutionary processes.

The most common misconception about evolution is one which you have expressed in most of your questions, namely that evolution has a defined path or a final goal. This is not the case. Evolution is a result of isolated genetic differences which occur in specific organisms and prove advantageous to the survival of the organism as a whole. For example, we have evolved to have eyelids because at some stage in our development there was a genetic anomaly which resulted in our ancestors having eyelids. These then proved to be advantageous to our ancestors in terms of survival and so those ancestors of ours with eyelids became more prominent than those without until eventually the only humans (or whatever we were at that stage) that were left were the descendants of the first ones with eyelids. This process is known as adaptation. There are some arguments which suggest that this is maybe not the only process which dictates our evolution (see Gould & Lewontin) but for the most part evolutionary biologists agree that this is the most common process in evolution. Richard Dawkins is a very well known supporter of this thesis and he has some very interesting books and theories on it.

So there is no set path, or evolutionary plan, evolution is a result of completely random genetic anomalies. There is no 'evolutionary brain' forecasting what processes must take place for our bodies as a whole to develop in a certain way, but rather our evolution is a result of individual traits adapting and proving to be more advantageous to us than the previous trait. This also debunks the common myth about evolution which suggests that we are headed towards absolute perfection. There is no such thing.

Our future evolution will be as a result of the adaptive processes just discussed, and not as a result of some predetermined path or goal. We can never know what we will become or turn into because we do not know what sort of genetic anomalies will occur.

The general consensus at the moment is that evolution in humans at least has slowed down considerably as a result of much larger gene pools when compared with the past. The adaptive process is not nearly as prevalent in large gene pools as in small ones as even if some genetic anomaly does confer an advantage to the individual in terms of survival, this anomaly might not be prevalent in enough people to break a trend in the gene pool and become a feature of everybody, more than likely it will get passed on to a few people but will eventually get swamped and will die out.

Hopefully this has gone some way to answering your questions, if you have any more just ask.
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