Calling Darwinists Everywhere!

[Richard Creager]

Alright Epinephrine, it's true, we're devolving. I tried so hard not to admit it but I guess we have to now.

[froedrick]

Alright Epinephrine, it's true, we're devolving. I tried so hard not to admit it but I guess we have to now.

You're a prime example of Devolution rich

[AFPilot]

I wasn't talking about any perticular gene mutation or genetic disorder though. There would surely be multiple genes involved in the immune system and if we are treating kids for infections that might kill them without antibiotics you could argue that we are interfering with natural selection by using our technology to compensate for a weaker immune system allowing them to pass on there genes and therefore increase the amount of those genes in our gene pool. Modern medicine and technology could well lead to the average person haveing a significantly weaker immune system than in the past by both helping us overcome illnesses and better hygine practices exposing our immune systems to less bacteria and viruses etc... than in the past. If this were the case then if there was a pandemic of a highly virulent dieases alot more could die than if we had never interfered. So i by no means think we have conquered mother nature.

As you said even if you were to somehow iradicate a heriditary disease gene from our gene pool there is nothing stoping another random mutation happening to bring it back. (unless you screened all fetuses an aborted them)

Anyways by no means i'm i for these things, i'm just trying to say that you could argue that we are weakening our gene pool. I'm not saying its my viewpoint we should with hold medicine or anything like that.

Well the medicine if administered in wide spread use would take away a tiny advantage that people with a natural resistance would have.

But in the grand scheme of things it does almost nothing to give everybody an equal opportunity to reproduce. It just tinkers with one of countless variables. It's like infinity - 1 = infinity. And if the drug has any side effects (which it usually does) it only adds to the number of variables.

Our technology just changes the set of variables that determine your likely hood to reproduce successfully. Sure, most people don't have to hunt, but natural selection has nothing more to do with hunting than it does driving or using a computer. If your kid dies in a car accident, shatters his balls in a Tee-Ball game, or if no women are willing to screw him, it's just as much natural selection as not being able to throw a spear as well as your neighbor. Different environment means different variables, but the mathematics are the same