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Because humans are so cognitively advance, we undergo two distinct types of evolution, genetic and social.  Genetic evolution being change in the population gene pool, and social evolution being a change in the way humans act and think, because they have found that to be more advantageous.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Social evolution works much faster, because it can easily occur within a generation, while takes generations to take form.  Social evolution, however, can be easily lost, because it is not engrained into our biology.  For example, when the Roman Empire fell, much of the social evolution that it created was lost.  Another difference is that genetic evolution is pushed by nature towards the more advantageous form b natural selection (at least we think), but social evolution is pushed by us humans our selves.  Therefore, social evolution may not be advantageous, and likely could be harmful to our survival.

This got me thinking.  Is the ability to socially evolve an advantageous trait?  It certainly allows us to adapt.  We are the only species that can live in any climate on earth.  However, our creativity that allows us to survive in various conditions, also allows us to create destructive forces.  We have the ability to create complicated things, but we do not have the ability to fully understand the implications of many of our complicated creations.  This very well could end up destroying our species, but at the same time, it has helped our species grow.  As Dr. Grobstein stated, we will not know for sure until we are extinct, but evidence of global warming and similar human created problems point out that our ability to socially and culturally evolve may be a disadvantage not an advantage.