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Effect of Civilization on Evolution
Topic Started: Feb 20 2011, 08:06 PM (359 Views)
Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

So I've been reading a lot lately on the effect living in progressively larger groups has had on humans over the past six thousand years or so. It seems that while the evolution of our bodies has for the most part halted, our brains have been getting more complex. Modern cities bombard their inhabitants with so much information - sounds, sights, smells - that our brains have to filter most of them out. They effect our biological clocks with their constant light; humans on average now sleep three hours less than humans prior to the invention of the electric light. And yet our brains seem to operate just as efficiently as those of humans living nearly two centuries ago, when humans required more sleep. Maybe humans just got more sleep than they needed back then, or maybe in the 150 or so years since the introduction of the electric light humans have developed brains that require less sleep.

How will increasingly large and complex cities lead to increasingly large and complex brains? Will living in cities actually make us smarter? Can a species really inadvertently affect its own evolution by developing technology and civilization? Does getting smarter actually make a species more likely to become even smarter?
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Issac
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I would say this is a question that needs an intelligent answer.
However I would say that evolving under human selection or such environments can lead to many evolutionary outcomes.

Just to note, modern human environments are not the best for true intelligence these days. I will elaborate this later.
Edited by Issac, Feb 20 2011, 10:10 PM.
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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

Well perhaps not intelligence directly, but the brain will have to deal with processing more information at once, which will allow for greater intelligence in those who pursue it.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Issac
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Feb 20 2011, 11:07 PM
Well perhaps not intelligence directly, but the brain will have to deal with processing more information at once, which will allow for greater intelligence in those who pursue it.
Not exactly
If you have a schooling system that is narrowed minded like in Singapore which sorta cuts down on creativity.

Then we have to rethink the definition of intelligence.

People with autistic spectrum for example tend to have high IQs but then they are not adapting well to modern societies in regards of noise, light pollution. But give them a natural environment, they are still intelligent and even brilliant.
Edited by Issac, Feb 20 2011, 11:12 PM.
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Holben
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IQ is not a good indicator of what we see as intelligence.

A little piece of importance is the transfer of brain functions to a laptop or smartphones- rely on their calendars to keep meetings, store photographs etc. also, they will be what we turn to when we don't know something or the like.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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T.Neo
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Yeah, I dunno. I don't think it's going to have a really major effect on humans... remember, where society makes things harder (navigation through cities), it also makes it easier (various forms of technology).

Another thing that is important to remember is that civilisation removes evolutionary pressures, and makes an effort of this. In other words, society is continuously working towards eliminating the environmental pressures that cause evolutionary change.

I really think, that the sleep example is due to people being able to sleep more than is required for proper rest (this is not a huge surprise). Considering that there was not much to do back then, in the dark, the fact that they slept more only makes sense.

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People with autistic spectrum for example tend to have high IQs but then they are not adapting well to modern societies in regards of noise, light pollution. But give them a natural environment, they are still intelligent and even brilliant.


Only certain autistic spectrum disorders... those with "true" autism can have various developmental disabilities (and I mean developmental, I'm not using the term as a silly euphemism).

How well they adapt to society depends on the person. A lot of the problems autistic people have with life are similar to those that "neuro-typical" people have, just magnified. For example, nobody really likes noise pollution...
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
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Kamidio
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Issac
Feb 20 2011, 11:12 PM
People with autistic spectrum for example tend to have high IQs but then they are not adapting well to modern societies in regards of noise, light pollution. But give them a natural environment, they are still intelligent and even brilliant.
Bullshit. I have Asperger's Syndrome and I am drawn to technology. In fact, a lot of people with my condition do the same. Satoshi Tajiri to name one.

Put me in a forest, and I will literally die of boredom. When I get bored, I lie around, which makes me an easy meal.
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Holben
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Asperger's isn't the only form of Autistic Spectrum. ;)

There are people who want to get involved in technology... *coughRayKurzweil* it'd make a differnece to them.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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