The Possibilities of Technological Influences on Evolution

Describe the major developments of early human and social evolution. Throughout, discuss tool manufacturing, language development, agriculture, social behavior, and population growth.

Over the millions of years organisms have been present on earth, there has been many forms of evidence to suggest animals are evolving through natural selection. However, the question still remains as to whether homo sapiens are still evolving through natural selection. Through the nature of science being subject to change and many new discoveries being made each day, it is difficult to make clear confined theories and conclusions, which will not be impacted on in the future.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change”(Evolution Quotes). So far in the saga that is Earth humanity has been on the winning side of change. Humans have evolved over time from simple hunter gathers to an advanced species of builders and thinkers. Humans have built complex cities, created advanced medicine, and even left their own plant for the moon. Despite all these remarkable achievements humans were not the first species of Homo to expand across the globe. Before Homo sapiens dominated the Earth, their cousins Homo-Neanderthals roamed Europe and Asia hunting big game and thriving. However, between 30,000 and 40,00 years ago the Neanderthal population began to decrease drastically. It is unclear what caused this drastic drop in Neanderthal population, but one leading theory points an evolutionary finger at Homo sapiens. The introduction of Homo sapiens into the Neanderthal environment negatively affected the Neanderthal population size through increased food completion, Homo Sapien violence, and interbreeding

After Charles Darwin published his book “On the origins of species” in 1859, evolution became a hot topic of discussion; the notion of the human race improving itself by selective breeding started to spread (Winfield, 2012). For years

The ability to promote or enhance certain capacities in the hope to develop a superior human race connotes science fiction as well as fantasy, however the study of eugenics proves that this act of fiction has the potential to be reality. Eugenics, or “good breeding” as Sir Francis Galton would say, is a controversial topic due to the deliberation of whether its benefits outweigh the toll that it takes on humankind. The process of eugenics can be viewed as humans’ ability to control the Natural Selection process, which is the survival and reproduction of organisms with the best adaptations, such as a tree frog’s adaptation of different colouring to better blend in with their surroundings to avoid predators. Scientific experimentation seeks to

Human beings are still very much evolving. According to recent studies, genetic changes in women over the years have decreased the age at which they birthed their first child. In one study the age decreased as much as four years from age 26 down to age 22 (Allen 2011). Another concurrent study looked at women’s physical appearance in correlation with the number of children they had. The resulting data revealed that, “stout, slightly plump” women had more children. Researchers found that these characteristics are passed on from mothers to their offspring and so forth (Harrell 2009). Therefore, as these traits are passed from generation to generation, the population grows and these characteristics become more prominent in the population. All of these findings confirm that the evolution of human beings is still very much an ongoing process.

Both evolutionary and functional explanations of physiology and behavior are important in understanding why certain genes evolve across various generations. The evolution of structural characteristics and behaviors explain many of the questions often asked as to why humans, as well as other species, are the way that they are. More specifically, evolutionary psychologists use adaptive theories to comprehend why particular behaviors are promoted across generations or cultures, while others are not. Both structural and behavioral advantages managed to the survival rates in countless populations, at least in ancestral times (Kalat, 2013). However, while current evolutionary trends are no longer focused on just the adaptations relating to survival,

It is almost undeniable that the technologies cause rapid changes in human relationships, cultures, and societies. While it enormously facilitates us in nearly every aspect of our life, such changes also create consequences that we do not yet realize. Almost all of us know Darwinism and Natural Selection in the biological field, but we often overlook the similar phenomena in the social aspect. In fact, resemble to the way we adapt to our physical environment, we also adapt to our social environment in order to survive and excel in our social relationships. Such adaption is called Social Darwinism. Because technologies have significantly influenced our social environment, humans are forced to adapt not only to technologies, but also to the

In topic 1, the introduction to human uniqueness and social coercion theory, we are introduced to some of the common misinterpretation behind Charles’ Darwin’s theory of evolution, specifically in regards to natural selection and survival of the fittest. One of the biggest contributors to this issue is the lack of exposure to the general public on the overall theory behind these two processes. Instead of a full detailed explanation about natural selection and survival of the fittest, we are just told that it is slow and that to be fit means a level of superiority among competition, respectively. Topic 1 revealed that this is not true, as well as stating that natural selection is about individual risk, benefit and cost is of the utmost importance(Bingham). Based on this newly found insight from the course, how does individual risk, benefit, and cost play such an important role in natural selection even though selection is seen in a population and not a

Evolution is a change in a population and is usually seen as a slow process, but the pace of evolution can be rapid. In this lab, two of the forces of evolution was tested natural selection and genetic drift. In natural selection, 60 beans were used, 15 of each of 4 different kinds of beans. For genetic drift 48 beans were used, 12 of each of 4 different kinds of beans. The exercises was repeated up to 10 generations. Maintaining the frequency of each variety of the beans from the end of one generation to the start of the next generation the population was rebuilt to 60 beans for the natural selection exercise and 48 beans for the genetic drift. By the end of the 10th generation, changes were seen in both forces of evolution. This shows that

Earth is a quintessential mecca for approximately nine million different species of plants, animals, reptiles, bugs, and more. These creatures have modified to adapt to changes in environment in a process called evolution. This natural flow of life is related to natural selection, a term coined by Charles Darwin, and should not be tampered with. Medicine has been able to save countless people from death and should be regarded as both a beneficial and malevolent savior. Due to the leaps and bounds made in medical advancements, more specifically in terms of human medicine, natural selection has been put on the proverbial back-burner of the grill by humans’ moral values for preservation

Natural selection is the cause of evolution, environmental factors to determine which phenotypes are successful can be bred and pass on to the successful allele to the offspring. This means that the amount of successful alleles will increase in the gene pools be unsuccessful will decrease. As environments change so so successful phenotypes, removing unsuccessful ones from the gene pool. This is called microevolution. Microevolution will occur if there is a presence of variation in alleles variation will be from gene mutation and arrangement of genes and Gene analysis. Evolution by natural selection is a slow process as new species emerge. To Speed up this process humans begin the process of selective breeding, this is when individuals with

Medical technology has greatly affected human evolution over the years due to recent discoveries and enhancements. Some of the main effects it has had on human evolution are the curing of diseases, living longer, and reproducing later. This report will discuss how and why medical technology has been developed, how it affects human evolution in the past, present and future. In the past many lives ended due to there being a lack in medical technology and knowledge. But over time, generation after generation, knowledge was passed down and medical technology advanced each time to help fight against illnesses and saving people from serious injuries, etc. Medical technology has immensely affected the evolution of humans.

Abstract evolution has occurred in humans for millions of years; however, in a modern society many scientists and evolutionists are now debating whether or not it is still occurring, and if it follows the same rules. With all of the new technology humans have created, some experts believe that humans have essentially conquered nature, and no further evolutionary changes will occur. Still, others hold opposing views; some experts believe that evolution is still occurring, but modern societal advancements have changed the rules. These experts say that the changes in evolution are a result of recent medical advancements that allow doctors to perpetuate genes that would not have lasted years ago. Additionally, others maintain that evolution is

Humans have faced many challenges in their time and many of these challenges threatened the very survival of the species itself. However, some way or another, humans have always found a way to evolve and adapt to overcome such challenges. And now, as Jamais Cascio puts it, we no longer have to rely on natural evolution to make us smart enough to survive because we humans have created various technologies to boost our intelligence (Cascio, 2009).