Humans are evolving into... Grey!

[cignus_pfaccari]

Right. It should be noted, though, that no living species has a "final evolutionary form"--species either adapt to changing environments, or fail to adapt and go extinct.

One could say that the "final evolutionary form" is what the species looks like right before it goes extinct.

Brad

 

[Ferret]

It should be noted, though, that no living species has a "final evolutionary form"--species either adapt to changing environments, or fail to adapt and go extinct.

Wrong.

Pikachu for instance is a final evolutionary form, no?

 

[Torm]

I hope I shouldn't be offended.

No, no offense meant. It's more like one of those situations where somebody says something funny, and then later someone else says something serious that reminds you of that, so you're amused anyway. Only not quite, because there was no specific earlier thing said, just the weird combinations of concepts in my own addled brain. And the notion that one should encourage survival of the fittest by not wearing kneepads while skateboarding.

On a more serious note, you realize we're screwed as far as that idea goes anyway, right? We take care of our sick and handicapped and old in a way that is counterproductive to it - not that I'm saying that we shouldn't do those things, but we should realize that they play havoc with "the natural order".

Also, dolphins and other mammals with higher brain function do the same things.

Then again, maybe there is some sort of emotional\intellectual "strength" that evolution works through, too, after animals reach a certain point, and we're doing exactly what we should be doing.

 

[Torm]

Wrong.

Pikachu for instance is a final evolutionary form, no?

Pokevolving is a misnomer - what the Pokemon do is more of a life cycle thing like the tadpole-frog cycle than anything to do with evolution.

 

[Aeson]

I did say I could be wrong in some of my theories.

 

[ForceUser]

Wrong.

Pikachu for instance is a final evolutionary form, no?

Pikachu?

 

[ForceUser]

One could say that the "final evolutionary form" is what the species looks like right before it goes extinct.

Brad

Point.

 

[elforcelf]

Dude! and Force you call youself a nerd! Turn in your badge!

 

[ForceUser]

Dude! and Force you call youself a nerd! Turn in your badge!

/shame

/turns in nerd badge

 

[Turanil]

Evolution has no plan. The final form is not predetermined - you can show a difference between the past and present, sometimes, but you cannot predict the future.

One can attempt to say, "If the trend continues, this is a possible result".

The theory was convincing enough, but I am unable to explain it in English. I think that if I tried to explain it in French, my explanations would look like gibberish too.

Mmmmh... lets try it : there was a paleontologist and an odontologist. The former studied the evolution of skulls for the last 3 millions years. Going from quadrupedal to bipedal had a direct influence on the skeleton, something which was plainly obvious (to them) was how it affected the jaws and some bone inside the head. There had been a distinctive trend over the ages. Then, the odontologist, who was specialized in treating chidren's teeth, had noticed a trend over the years, in which the children teeth have the same sort of problem (they said nowadays, that according to studies, approximately : 65% of children in Europe, 80% in US, 95% in Asia). So, the paleontologist learning about it, and making further studies, discovered that it looked like the jaw and inside bone of these children has taken on the same furtherning trend that has characterized evolution of the human skull and skeleton. It that trend continues, the jaws will become smaller and the skull bigger. Hence my comment that we would eventually ressemble (the so-called) Grey. As a last note, two scientists, who had been invited to debate the documentary, said that the environment had a direct influence on homo-sapiens evolution. If that's so, I guess that living in an urban civilization like our own is certainly a big change of environment for homo-sapiens! So maybe the changes do not affect directly the genes, but first the sturcture of bones, etc., and with time the body is "molded into a new expression".