• Question: How will mankind evolve given changes in technology and climate?

    Asked by EllaRosenblattx to Dave, Ed, Guido, Hugh, Stef on 12 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Dave Bond

      Dave Bond answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Humanity is still evolving. Look at height for a nation. We are getting taller. This might be down to environment and nutrition, or evolution.
      I don’t think we have stopped evolving.

      How about this as a thought….
      Maybe technology is bringing more variety to human evolution. More things are correctable and you can live with them. So they do not inhibit your life so you get to pass on your genetics easier.

      Then again climate plays a part
      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/gingers-face-extinction-due-to-climate-change-scientists-warn-9590054.html

      It looks to be hard to predict as there are too many variables. From this you might think gingers are numbered. But humanity can solve a lot of these issues with medicine etc. So why would the ginger gene die out?

    • Photo: Ed Rial

      Ed Rial answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      I don’t think climate change will drive any evolutionary changes in humans, but I do wonder if if we will start integrating technology into our bodies more directly. Installing phones into our jaws, or computer chips being tattooed directly onto the skin. (an idea that has already been patented!)

      The future is going to be an exciting place to be!

Comments

  • Photo: lauren

    lauren commented on :

    is light the reason for the earth to evolve, and were the first living creatures only one cell big?

  • Photo: Ed

    Ed commented on :

    Hi Lauren

    There is something called Entropy that states that over time, everything will go to a disordered state. (My bedroom when I was younger was evidence of this – it never stayed tidy!)

    However life requires things to be very ordered. To go from a dis-ordered state to an ordered state requires energy.

    Animals get their energy from food (mostly plants), and plants get their energy from light, but you can also get energy from breaking down certain rocks, or from heat sources underground.

    So life can evolve without light, but there must be a source of energy.

    The first living creatures were one cell big. You always want to start simply 🙂

    Ed