Will humans evolve further?

Discussion in 'Science & Society' started by grazzhoppa, Aug 4, 2002.

  1. Unregistered The Original Conservative Registered Senior Member

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    Of course humans will evolve. Each passing generation we change, albeit not noticably. Why is it that homosexuals are increasing in numbers and noticabilty even though they cant reproduce?
     
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  3. kmguru Staff Member

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    May be the planet is trying to control the population growth.....

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  5. Firefly Registered Senior Member

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    Temporary social trend?
     
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  7. overdoze human Registered Senior Member

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    I doubt their numbers are changing. They're merely coming out into the light. For the first time in history, they are (somewhat) accepted.

    As for evolution, it'll be artificially driven. We don't need to wait for chance, and we're much too egotistical and impatient anyway; we can quantum-leap using technology. Probably cyborgs are the future, as genetic engineering on humans is orders of magnitude harder (it can't be undone, and you have to know exactly what you're doing -- which is hard to do as you can't experiment on humans; implants on the other hand can be removed if not successful, and prostheses will always have a market of their own anyway.) After cyborgs, it'll probably be 100% artificial life (i.e. even the brain will get replaced with something artificial and hopefully

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    superior.)
     
  8. kmguru Staff Member

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    I like the natural way. We already have technology to grow lost teeth. If we solve the stem cell generation problem, in the near futue, that can be used to repair liver, heart, eyes, brain etc...

    Next will be a computing device that sends electronic signal to repair or regenerate the body damage....

    May be in 100 years our quantum computers can break the genetic code and give us the program source code.
     
  9. Chagur .Seeker. Registered Senior Member

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    overdoze ...

    "I doubt their numbers are changing. They're merely
    coming out into the light. For the first time in history,
    they are (somewhat) accepted."


    My, aren't we gratuitously provincial.

    Take care

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  10. overdoze human Registered Senior Member

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    Re: overdoze ...

    We? Nah, it's just you boyo.

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    Anyway, what are you talking about?

    kmguru,

    Yes that would be very neat. However, I don't think it's very likely, at least not in the foreseeable future. As with any complex nonlinear system, the only way to engineer humans is to make changes to the genetic code and then let the system evolve to see what happens. Even quantum computers might not have what it takes to quickly simulate an entire human being over decades of virtual time at molecular resolution. Of course if I'm wrong and they will be able to do that, then our computational capabilities will be truly godly. I'd love that...but I'm not betting on it. Plus, such detailed simulations might pose ethical problems since they would in essense be human beings (even if only in an electronic format) -- so experimenting on these virtual beings is no less morally repugnant than experimenting on living humans.
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2002
  11. kmguru Staff Member

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    I am not talking about creating a Moriarty (~Sherlock Homes) in a computer. Presently we can not get to the source code. Reverse engineering source code without actually running the full simulation is possible. On the other hand sooner or later someone is going to upload their brain to a quantum computer. Hopefully, once there, the clone may be able to create his own environment inside the internet....

    Stephen Wolfram showed us that complex nonlinear structure can come from simple original conditions (book: a new kind of science). So with proper design, we can get there....without killing our virtual people.
     
  12. ~The_Chosen~ Registered Senior Member

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    Huh?

    I don't know about devoling, that's utter crap for what it is worth.

    We are taking the next step, instead of evolving PHYSICALLY, we can evolve MENTALLY.

    Why wait for evolution to adapt to a disease when we can vacinate ourselves instantly using our EVOLVED mental potential?

    We are indeed evolving. Maybe we might develop telepathy or something

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  13. NenarTronian Teenaged Transhumanist Registered Senior Member

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    As for guided evolution ("enhancement","enchantment"), i think most of the technologies are here now, atleast in the basic form. We could probably get rid of aging, disease, and cancer within a few years if we had more scientific freedom involving stem cells and genetics. But, as others have stated, we won't know how somethings going to turn out without experimenting, and society won't let us do that on humans (i dont think its ethical either).

    Maybe a very sophisticated computer model should be used. I think this was mentioned before, too.

    As far as i see it we are at a standstill. The techs here more or less, we can't (ethically) experiment to figure out how to use the technology and how to use it correctly so...

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    I think a combination of nanotech and genetic enhancements will be in our future selves, if anything.
     
  14. kmguru Staff Member

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    It has already happened with plant based foods. Now thanks to Cargill, Dow, ADM etc, we have corns that produce all shorts of chemicals through genetic modification. Soon we will have intelligent plants...and if you eat them, who knows what will happen?
     
  15. NenarTronian Teenaged Transhumanist Registered Senior Member

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    Not any nanotech enhancements yet, right? Not as far as i know anyway. I may be wrong
     
  16. kmguru Staff Member

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    If you mean, nanotech as a metal based molecular gadgets that have physical motion etc...then no, no such products yet....

    (Nanotech word is a grey area where memory chips are now nanoscale...)
     
  17. NenarTronian Teenaged Transhumanist Registered Senior Member

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  18. Popcorn8636 Registered Senior Member

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    By babelina:

    Why would we evolve? We have everything we need right here, right now. Air conditioning, heating, climate control, and we have no predators, what would cause us to evolve?
     
  19. NenarTronian Teenaged Transhumanist Registered Senior Member

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    We'll evolve better eyesight for television viewing, a modified rear-end for sitting in chairs...There's other examples, i'm sure people will list some.
     
  20. Clockwood You Forgot Poland Registered Senior Member

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    We are evolveing as we speek. For beauty, disease resistance, intelligence, psychological adaptation to the rigors of society, etc...
     
  21. Eman Resu Registered Senior Member

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    Call me a soul stalker ...

    Humans are evolving - not "devolving". Think about it ... we develop the technology that allows us to do something better. We continually evolve with respect to intelligence. As stated peviously, wisdom becomes another matter.

    If we could genetically "evolve" via technology eventually these "engineered" people would see us as inferior and unnecessary and lilely eliminate us naturally-selected individuals. The movie "Matrix" allowed the term "virus" to be used to describe humans.

    What would a genetically modified race aim for? They, too, would likely spread like a virus ... possibly with the greed to control every environment that their ships would carry them to?

    What's the purpose?
     
  22. VAKEMP Registered Senior Member

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    HA! HA! HA!

    That was funny!

    ...it's probably true, though.

    hee hee! Good post!
     
  23. le coq Registered Senior Member

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    A theory that I heard of, by a zoologic sex researcher, is that the genes responsible for homosexual behavior, as expressed in one sex, may be responsible for virile reproduction in the other sex, so the gene(s) itself is useful in evolutionary terms. While the individual homosexual may not be passing it on, it may be getting passed on due to its high selectivity in heterosexual behavior in the population at large. Also, the genes responsible for homosexual behavior or morphology are probably entirely different as far as genomic location for each sex.

    On the topic as a whole, I think a better defined question would be "will there be an intelligent species inhabiting the earth in the future that descended from H. Sapiens, but are themselves genetically not H. Sapiens?" At the rate we're destroying the earth, they may be intelligent, but they may not be very agreeable. I'm thinking a return to monobrows and sloping foreheads to go with our winter collection.

    Le Coq
     

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