Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Devolution?

ib4walrus's picture

 So in class Tuesday our discussion led to a moot point in regards to where humans are in this natural world.  Some people held the idea that we are currently the most superior species in the Darwinian sense because of our technology and other advancements while others believed that our own technology has caused us to "devolve".  As our technology advances, we no longer need to exert the same amount of effort or even use some of our body parts anymore.  However, I view our "evolution" in another light.  My definition of evolution is the change in a species through the populations (generations) in order to better adapt to the environment.  I do not think that our ability to create advanced technology hinders our evolution rather we have now taken our evolution into our own hands.  While other species only "evolve" when disruptive changes occur in their environment, our constant technological advances has allowed us to become, in a sense, immune to the changes in our environment.  Rather than having nature construct the path for evolution, we have become the masons for our own paths.  We might not be evolving in the traditional sense anymore (physically, habitually, etc.) but rather our creations, our technology constantly evolves.  The new motivation for evolution now comes from our human desires: getting to places faster, faster communication, medical advancements.  Unlike all other species who still remain susceptible to the whims of nature, humans have effectively become both the subject and the author in their stories of "evolution".

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
4 + 4 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.