08 Mar BSC1005 The Pinnacle of Human Evolution Discussion
BSC 1005 FIU The Pinnacle of Human Evolution Discussion
Recall that evolution is a change in allelic frequencies in a population. For billions of years, species have evolved by natural selection, the process by which genetic mutations that help an organism survive are passed on from one generation to the next and harmful ones are eliminated.
Millions of years ago, the natural environment was shaping us into the species we are now. Today, we create our own environments. We’ve turned the notion of natural selection on its head. Nature isn’t the only force that picks the genes that stick around — we’re doing it too. Thanks to modern medicine and technology, we survive conditions or diseases that we would have succumbed to in the past. We’re moving toward a time when we can routinely repair, remove or insert genes in people.
What do you think? Have we reached the “pinnacle” of human evolution? Or will our environment yet produce more changes in our genome? What do think/hope those changes might be?
