Archive pour 30 avril 2011

Are we ready for neo-evolution?

I’m fundamentally opposed to the way Henry Fineberg dissect the subject, but paradoxically I very much like the overall stance he is promoting.

Where he presents the three possibilities of how our species is going to evolve in the future he get it wrong (direct link to 9m51sec).

  1. He says “no evolution”, but he describe alleles frequencies variations due to preservation thanks to medicine and that fits exactly the definition of evolution!
  2. He distinguish natural evolution from some other kind… What? Supernatural? Nope, he prepare the audience to contrast natural evolution with directed by humans evolution, bad idea to present H. sapiens as not being part of nature.
  3. Self-directed evolution, thus, where “self” would be the attribute of a species rather than an individual. Not only that doesn’t fit the standard definitions but also presents part of the process: human-directed evolution will concern much more than our own species. To what extend are we going to be one of the selective factors for the whole biosphere?

Now, I’m ready for neo-evolution! And in fact, does it matter if we are ready for it? The next generations will adapt.

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