I personally feel there are large evolutionary changes taking place both from cultural factors and biological factors. I base my view on the fact that evolution occurs regardless of the causative processes involved and so does natural selection. To see how this might happen in the last ten thousand years or so consider this. If it were not for the advances in cultural evolution and the knowledge that is intimately associated with that, there would be a lot less people alive today than otherwise. Nobody can dispute this fact, because a hunter-gather societal base does not support such a large population base. This explosion of the human population, has allowed for more variation to be expressed in the time frame involved than otherwise would have been possible. Simply put the more births there are, the more chances of evolutionary change being transmitted from one generation to the next.
Has any of this accelerated change produced any changes in biological evolution? Yes it has. Because of the softer life that culture has given us and also due to improved living conditions and health, a lot of people are alive in the world that would not have been here because of genetic screw ups that were passed down from generation to generation. In short, our cultural evolution has been kind to the masses of humanity and has allowed many people with genetic defects and diseases to not only thrive and prosper but to reproduce. Many of these defects have been passed down from generation to generation. We of course call these inherited diseases.
Please note I make absolutely no moral statements here. I’m not saying this is good or bad, but that it just is. I’m only using this to point out that biological evolution is progressing even more rapidly because of social evolution, regardless of the end results. Remember that evolution is a blind process. It has many dead ends and sometimes-entire species become extinct. The biological evolution that we have seen our own species undergo in the last 10,000 years or so may or may not have important evolutionary advantages in the future.
I do know this, that with the near term innovation of artificial life forms, evolution in biological systems will take a quantum leap. We are already becoming cyborgs with artificial body parts that range from knee replacements to artificial hearts. While it is not likely that we will replace the brain any time soon, genetic manipulation of our brains is a likely prospect to enable us to keep up with the machines we create in the future (psst the machines are going to win) and these genetic modifications will be passed down through generations, as will direct manipulation of our DNA in many areas.
Welcome to the brave new world. The Matrix is waiting.
Skipper
