How come humans have not evolved into a higher species?

[The Barbarian]

Since the fall humans have been de-evolving.

Seems unlikely. Sports records for speed, strength, etc have been falling, while humans are demonstrably smarter than they were just decades ago.

The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century.
Flynn effect - Wikipedia

There is no such thing as "devolution", of course. Just evolution. Natural selection tends to increase fitness in a population over time, as we have seen time after time. Even many creationists are now admitting the fact:

Similarly, natural selection may have played a role in the differences between polar bears and brown bears, but the two species still belong to the same bear kind.
“Natural Selection Is Evolution.”

Of course the many mutations in polar bears that are not present in brown bears are there because of natural selection. Those mutations helped polar bears to survive in the Arctic environment.

 

[The Barbarian]

I could use an extra pair of hands.

And that's a good point. But evolution isn't magical. It can only work with what it has, and every step in the evolution of feature has got to be at least neutral in selective value. The evolution of another set of limbs, useful as they might be, just requires too many maladaptive intermediate stages.

 

[Rod That Budded]

Much of what passes for evolution is merely adaptation or incentivized improvement by means of lifestyle change.

 

[The Barbarian]

Because we did not and are not evolving. God made mankind the best that he/she could be and we have been going downhill ever since.

Actually, humans are continuing to evolve. Tibetans, for example, have a gene that allows them to live at very high altitudes. They acquired this gene in just a few thousand years. And then, there's this:


The results show that divers and non-divers from the Bajau community have similar sized spleens. This helped to show that the enlargement wasn't simply a consequence of regular diving.

But when the researchers compared the Bajau to a neighbouring group called the Saluan, who traditionally lead a farming lifestyle, they found the Bajau had spleens that were 50% larger on average.

The team was also able to find an apparent genetic basis for the size difference. They compared the genomes (the total complement of DNA in the nuclei of human cells) of the Bajau, the Saluan and Han Chinese for areas that had been under natural selection.

"We could ask the question: are there any genetic variants - are there any mutations - that are at a much higher frequency, that have changed their frequency specifically in the Bajau compared to other populations," said co-author Prof Rasmus Nielsen, from the University of California, Berkeley.

The results of this "selection scan" turned up 25 sites in the genome that differed significantly in the Bajau compared to the other groups. Of these, one site on a gene known as PDE10A was found to correlate with the Bajau's larger spleen size, even after accounting for confounding factors like age, sex, and height.

Each of these populations have evolved to become more fit in their respective environments.

 

[Rod That Budded]

@The Barbarian May I just say, your signature is very amusing, in a good way.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Much of what passes for evolution is merely adaptation or incentivized improvement by means of lifestyle change.

I agree. I just read a report about feral hogs in the northern climes. It seems they can grow a good layer of hair for warmth if in the cold north long enough. I'm guessing that this adaptation was designed into them from the start. A few seasons in the cold isn't enough time for them to evolve this feature.

 

[Rod That Budded]

I agree. I just read a report about feral hogs in the northern climes. It seems they can grow a good layer of hair for warmth if in the cold north long enough. I'm guessing that this adaptation was designed into them from the start. A few seasons in the cold isn't enough time for them to evolve this feature.

A million years wouldn't be enough. And don't forget, God sustains as well as designs.

 

[MrsFoundit]

The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century.
Flynn effect - Wikipedia

And if a person from 1000 years ago were to devise an intelligence test, and subject a few thousand people from now to it, I wonder how fast we would "know" that we are actually now much dimmer.

 

[-57]

Seems unlikely. Sports records for speed, strength, etc have been falling, while humans are demonstrably smarter than they were just decades ago.

So, let me get this straight....sports records are being broke because of mutations?????

 

[The Barbarian]

Much of what passes for evolution is merely adaptation or incentivized improvement by means of lifestyle change.

No. Evolution a change in allele frequencies in a population over time. Only a change in the population genome counts. And that's what we see happening.

 

[The Barbarian]

And if a person from 1000 years ago were to devise an intelligence test, and subject a few thousand people from now to it, I wonder how fast we would "know" that we are actually now much dimmer.

We merely know that people are smarter now then they were generations ago. So the idea that we are degenerating is obviously false. And genetic data shows that Tibetans are more fit than they were thousands of years ago, as are the Bajau people, each for their own environments. Which is precisely what evolutionary theory predicts.

 

[The Barbarian]

So, let me get this straight....sports records are being broke because of mutations?????

Sometimes. Sometimes, it just demonstrates that humans are not degenerating. But for example, one professional athlete does have a mutation of the myostatin gene, which gives her much greater strength. One kid happened to get the gene from both parents. Last time I heard, he could chin himself as an infant.

There's was once even a human baby who popped out with such unusual musculature that the pediatric neurologist brought in to examine the kid told The New York Times that "everybody noticed." He and his colleagues later wrote about the baby in the New England Journal of Medicine, noting that "he appeared extraordinarily muscular, with protruding muscles in his thighs and upper arms."
...
That exceptionally strong baby's mother turned out to be heterozygous for a mutation in the myostatin gene. She was a professional athlete, noticeably more muscular than the average woman, and she had four other relatives who were naturally strong people.
Why these animals (and one baby) are incredibly jacked

Turns out, his mom was a professional athlete, and this mutation gave her much more strength than normal.

 

[The Barbarian]

I agree. I just read a report about feral hogs in the northern climes. It seems they can grow a good layer of hair for warmth if in the cold north long enough. I'm guessing that this adaptation was designed into them from the start. A few seasons in the cold isn't enough time for them to evolve this feature.

Many mammals get thicker fur in cold seasons. It's not genetic. Hence not evolution. On the other hand, Japanese monkeys have evolved thicker, heavier fur to adapt to their colder environment. Even in warm climates, the fur is still thick and long. That's evolution.

 

[MrsFoundit]

No. Evolution a change in allele frequencies in a population over time. Only a change in the population genome counts. And that's what we see happening.

So the human population genome as changed in a few decades to make us all more intelligent ?

 

[MrsFoundit]

We merely know that people are smarter now then they were generations ago. So the idea that we are degenerating is obviously false.

No, you are of the opinion that people are smarter now. We do not know. Some of us do not agree that people are smarter now. Some people even believe that intelligence cannot be tested objectively.

 

[MrsFoundit]

Even in warm climates, the fur is still thick and long. That's evolution.

Should evolution not predict the fur stop growing ?

 

[Rod That Budded]

Many mammals get thicker fur in cold seasons. It's not genetic. Hence not evolution. On the other hand, Japanese monkeys have evolved thicker, heavier fur to adapt to their colder environment. Even in warm climates, the fur is still thick and long. That's evolution.

The "many mammals" non-evolution seems like it's yielding better results.

 

[-57]

Sometimes. Sometimes, it just demonstrates that humans are not degenerating. But for example, one professional athlete does have a mutation of the myostatin gene, which gives her much greater strength. One kid happened to get the gene from both parents. Last time I heard, he could chin himself as an infant.

There's was once even a human baby who popped out with such unusual musculature that the pediatric neurologist brought in to examine the kid told The New York Times that "everybody noticed." He and his colleagues later wrote about the baby in the New England Journal of Medicine, noting that "he appeared extraordinarily muscular, with protruding muscles in his thighs and upper arms."
...
That exceptionally strong baby's mother turned out to be heterozygous for a mutation in the myostatin gene. She was a professional athlete, noticeably more muscular than the average woman, and she had four other relatives who were naturally strong people.
Why these animals (and one baby) are incredibly jacked

Turns out, his mom was a professional athlete, and this mutation gave her much more strength than normal.

Once again....So, let me get this straight....sports records are being broke because of mutations?????

 

[The Barbarian]

Once again....So, let me get this straight....sports records are being broke because of mutations?????

Sometimes. Sometimes, it just demonstrates that humans are not degenerating. But for example, one professional athlete does have a mutation of the myostatin gene, which gives her much greater strength. One kid happened to get the gene from both parents. Last time I heard, he could chin himself as an infant.

 

[The Barbarian]

Many mammals get thicker fur in cold seasons. It's not genetic. Hence not evolution. On the other hand, Japanese monkeys have evolved thicker, heavier fur to adapt to their colder environment. Even in warm climates, the fur is still thick and long. That's evolution.

The "many mammals" non-evolution seems like it's yielding better results.

The Japanese monkeys don't seem to think so. The heavier fur works a lot better for them, where they live.