Evolution question

Korto · Post by **Korto** » 2008-01-28 06:24am

I remember a news article within the last few years about a small town in Europe where a genetically related group had a genetic mutation where their arteries don't clog with cholesterol.

I also remember a piece in a science show talking about evolution in humans, mentioning the ability to digest lactose (and something else, can't remember what). It was saying evolutionary changes to look out for in the future would be related to making women more fertile later on in life. Given the way child-bearing is being put off, anyone who can successfully have more children when they're older has a selection advantage.

ray245 · Post by **ray245** » 2008-01-28 08:31am

Just another question...

Are we 'destined' or 'fated' to developed civilization the momment homo saipence was evolved? Or is it just pure luck?

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2008-01-28 09:03am

ray245 wrote:Just another question...

Are we 'destined' or 'fated' to developed civilization the momment homo saipence was evolved? Or is it just pure luck?

Based on some programmes I watched the other day, circumstance.

We needed to cooperate in bigger groups than the usual hunter gatherer maximum of 30, in order to survive the harshness of the Ice Age.

It all went from there as groups got larger methods of survival got more advanced.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2008-01-28 10:27am

ray245 wrote:Just another question...

Are we 'destined' or 'fated' to developed civilization the momment homo saipence was evolved? Or is it just pure luck?

No, we were not. The chances were good, but it was not set in stone

Darth Smiley · Post by **Darth Smiley** » 2008-01-28 11:26am

You might be able to argue that we were 'destined', in the sense that civilization - the ability to organize in groups beyond 30 or so is a huge evolutionary advantage over those that are stuck in purely family thinking.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2008-01-28 02:04pm

Darth Smiley wrote:You might be able to argue that we were 'destined', in the sense that civilization - the ability to organize in groups beyond 30 or so is a huge evolutionary advantage over those that are stuck in purely family thinking.

It's not quite as clear-cut as all that. Homo sapiens spent the first 150,000 years of its 160,000 year history as a species whose chief advantage over competing hominid species was better stone tools, and having managed to avoid the overspecialization that ultimately doomed the Neanderthals. If the global climate hadn't experienced the shifts it did over the last 10,000 years, it'd be a very good bet the largest organization produced by humans would still be nomadic bands of family-centric hunter-gatherers using nothing more sophisticated than stone tools.