Has Modern Technology(electrical) slowed the Human Natural Evolution?

*Since the word technology is very broad, i added a specific technology in title*

Hello everyone...


Its one of those thoughts that came to me when i look at the current society, i personally always felt great about not fitting into what the society wants me.. growing up in city is not easy this way.

im bombarded with "how to be normal". A piece of cloth with a known name is greater than a plain cloth of same quality, or what the next technology that is out in the market i should be equipped with.

I was sitting in downtown Toronto, while waiting for a friend and watching as people look like zombies. Burying their head inside their smartphones.. be it when crossing roads or going around street corners, but they do it very well too.. its like their mind is has adapted a way to co-exist with the technology that is making us lazier and dumber.

I personally came to rely on auto correct too much.. i now have to think twice about a common word before i write them without the aid of technology.

Now, as a microbiologist, it would be a dumb thing to say, the evolution has stopped or slowed down... because it never does... but it definitely has taken a detour through a least resistance route.

The traits it has picked up or i should say "retained" along this path is not something we should be proud of...


Would you break down technology into different category... there are the ones that make things convenience for us... also there are technology that make us efficient,, nuclear/space advancements...?

Or would you sacrifice it all?

What do you think? Evolution without technology? would it be a good thing?

reply to post by luciddream


I think we will forge our own evolution from now on, the advancements in biotech, cybertech etc make sure it is in our own hands.
Evolution is slow and our tech has outrun it.
Pity I will miss it all, I really wanted to be put in a cyberspaceshipsuit and explore the galaxy.

Cyberhumans FTW!!!


Just to add I think future tech will make humanity more into a hive collective, imagine the net in our brains and you get the idea.

reply to post by luciddream


People have been going through their lives without using critical thought for centuries. Keep in mind that a massive number of people able to read and write is a relatively new experience. Up until maybe a century ago, illiteracy was more common than literacy.

Also, human intelligence works on the bell curve. For every Einstein or Hawking, we have some twit who couldn't find his way out of a closet with a map. Then everyone else sits in the middle. It is only natural as you become more and more educated, that you see people not using intelligence more and more. I seriously get tired of seeing people talk about humans getting dumber or something. It is frankly untrue. We are as smart as we ever were, we just have access to more knowledge to more people than ever before, so we think that there is something wrong if someone doesn't want to access or use that information. But really, they are being more normal than you or I who looks for more information all the time.

reply to post by boymonkey74


I think technology was a great addition, a great tool.. but we got stuck in it.

I see technology as a espresso shot in our daily life. A boost.

But now we are all a caffeine addicts and cant get out of the box.

reply to post by luciddream


Humanity cannot unlearn things so, technology cannot be made to go away no matter how much of a desire one may have.

reply to post by luciddream


Good morning.

Very compelling title here - I imagined it would address medical technology and bio-engineering, which is allowing for contrived births (in vitro/fertility manipulation), as well as prolonged life via transplants, chemo, pharma, etc. but I see that's not what you are addressing.

The traits it has picked up or i should say "retained" along this path is not something we should be proud of...


Would you break down technology into different category... there are the ones that make things convenience for us... also there are technology that make us efficient,, nuclear/space advancements...?

Or would you sacrifice it all?

Now, if we take all three -

'convenience' (no need to remember word spelling)
'efficiency' (getting more done via tech)
'advancements' (nuclear energy, space exploration, medical tech)

It's a more complicated issue. Personally I think bio-engineering is wrong, ethically. If a person is unable to reproduce due to natural causes, should we intervene and allow them to do so? Maybe there is an evolution-pertinent reason for it. Perhaps they can't because they shouldn't. Now with DNA/blood typing we know a little bit more about genetic heredity.

The same for illnesses and organ failure - we sustain life even beyond what the patient wants in many cases...
I'm reminded of the recent Texas case of the brain-dead pregnant woman; as well as the brain-dead teen tonsilectomy complication...

As for space/science, no - I certainly would not sacrifice it - as long as it is helping us understand the world around us. Not so much to manipulate the world around us. I also think it's a shame that fine arts, humanities, cursive handwriting and other subjects are being left out of education. They are as critical as science. I think the going-all-digital idea is a mistake.

Some day paper books and handwritten letters may be all that's left. Imagine loss of the grid/mass power failure. If the future academics can neither read nor write cursive, and/or there are no physical books available for them - the entire culture could be lost in what - to them - might look simply like trillions of silver discs that would appear to them to do nothing and have no purpose except perhaps as shiny toy or table coaster or reflective garden decor :/

Scary.

reply to post by Krazysh0t

I seriously get tired of seeing people talk about humans getting dumber or something. It is frankly untrue. We are as smart as we ever were, we just have access to more knowledge to more people than ever before, so we think that there is something wrong if someone doesn't want to access or use that information.

I think technology has created a great way to communicate and share information(including bad things, which is a moot point), my whole agreement is that we are at a point we rely COMPLETELY on it.

Have you ever seen a person who left their cellphone at home? ...lost, confused, frustrated...He looks like a junkie that needs his hit.

What about traveling without GPS, heck im amazed that some people still do it with good ol maps.

We use less and less of our natural talents and relying on a devices.


My question, has technology had any negative impact on us?

greencmp
reply to post by luciddream

 

Humanity cannot unlearn things so, technology cannot be made to go away no matter how much of a desire one may have.

That is what im worried about, relying on it too much, to a point where it can affect lives.


A quick example i can think of Calculators and memorizing multiplication tables.

reply to post by BuzzyWigs


Great breakdown of examples i mentioned.

There was a reason i mentioned, im more concerned with the issue the basic convenience of it, the need for it.

Which i personally think is making us not think hard enough.

We are choking on the effluent runoff from our technology.

So the better technologically the more advanced we are? The more "civilized"? How evolved is that?

If we marvel at our handiwork on the one hand while its killing us on the other, then we are devolving.

reply to post by luciddream


If the power went out I really would fear for many younger folk who can't remember a time before the internet and mobile phones.
I do think many have forgotten how to live without tech that's why every now and then I pack a rucksack go to my bug out place and forget my tech and go back to nature.

Technology absolutely alters evolution, and it has since our ancestors started using tools. It is a factor in survival and reproduction, and therefore it is a factor in evolution.

Today's technology, of course, is much more than flint spearheads used to kill your dinner. Does the fact that everyone is staring at a smartphone all day effect evolution? I guess it would to some degree, but it would need to effect reproduction (who is reproducing and how many viable offspring). Or, if it didn't effect our probabilities of producing offspring, it could also impact evolution if the technology was directly altering our genetics - which would then get passed on to our offspring (which sounds a bit Lamarckian...)

One area where technology could clearly be impacting evolution is in reproductive technologies. Not only the ability to prevent pregnancy, if one chooses, but also the ability to get pregnant when a couple normally could not (IUI and IVF methods of fertilization etc.) There are lots of people out there today that would not exist if not for reproductive technologies - lots of genes that never would have been passed to the next generation.

Very interesting subject - sorry I didn't address your question too well, but it's interesting stuff nonetheless.

I saw a very interesting documentary a few months back that said we, "humans" have reached a sort of evolutionary maximum on this planet as far s brains go. Any bigger and it would take to long for the neurons to communicate. Now there are some limitations going on within our brains that are very peculiar. Somehow we have perfect brains yet we are lacking the ability to use them to their full potential? Sounds fishy to me right? But according to that doc. from here on out we only have technology to lead the way for further evolution. Hello cyborgs!

reply to post by luciddream

im more concerned with the issue the basic convenience of it, the need for it.

Which i personally think is making us not think hard enough.

Ah, okay. Yes, I thought that might have been your main point.

I agree - I recall some years ago working in the public alternative schools (for kids with emotional/behavioral/learning disorders),
and was shocked that they weren't being taught how to do long-hand math, but were allowed to use calculators.

My dad used to tell us to Look It Up! when we asked what a word meant or a subject entailed. I grew up in libraries, even worked in one during high school. Learning the Dewey Decimal system, using card catalogs, etc. How many people now go to libraries and don't use the computers there? In grad school some of my cohorts flunked out due to inability to use the internet or to write properly in a scholarly way.

While I love having a library at my fingertips, I miss the musty stacks of the old library at my college - I could get lost in those stacks for hours - they even had half-levels and old elevators that you had to pull the cage door closed before it would go.

What a world!! What an experience!! Too bad not everyone gets to explore in that venue.

luciddream
reply to post by Krazysh0t

 

I seriously get tired of seeing people talk about humans getting dumber or something. It is frankly untrue. We are as smart as we ever were, we just have access to more knowledge to more people than ever before, so we think that there is something wrong if someone doesn't want to access or use that information.

I think technology has created a great way to communicate and share information(including bad things, which is a moot point), my whole agreement is that we are at a point we rely COMPLETELY on it.

Have you ever seen a person who left their cellphone at home? ...lost, confused, frustrated...He looks like a junkie that needs his hit.

What about traveling without GPS, heck im amazed that some people still do it with good ol maps.

We use less and less of our natural talents and relying on a devices.


My question, has technology had any negative impact on us?

First off, maps are technology. They are just outdated forms of it. Why should we learn how to read a map correctly when a GPS is much easier? The same reason why I use a computer instead of a typewriter to write up reports and memos now. It's more practical. You seem to have gotten some romantic link between harder to perform equals essential to human functioning.

With society the way it is, I don't need to know which mushrooms are healthy while walking through the woods. I go to the grocery store and they have all the healthy ones ready for me.

Technology isn't a negative or positive thing. It just is. The effects can range from positive to negative, but every piece of technology brings negatives along with positives. But as has been shown as technology steadily improves, humans can function and survive just fine with or without it.

The problem with the, "technology is bad" argument is that no one who practices this ever gets rid of all their technology. Even the Amish still use technology in their horse drawn buggies, saws, axes, etc. All of these things are technology. They are just more primitive than most other technology in the world. What makes those things more noble than a computer that does it for you? Because even though they were designed to make work easier, they are still hard to use and take effort? Well how much "lack of effort" is too much?

Nostalgia is not an excuse to retard technology.

luciddream

greencmp
reply to post by luciddream

 

Humanity cannot unlearn things so, technology cannot be made to go away no matter how much of a desire one may have.

That is what im worried about, relying on it too much, to a point where it can affect lives.

A quick example i can think of Calculators and memorizing multiplication tables.

I know that some people have already 'gone dark' so it is happening.

I always think of the Amish in these discussions, I believe their idea was to protect people from technology. However, human nature is really not changed by any external limitations to tools or intellectual containment procedures.

greencmp
reply to post by luciddream

 

Humanity cannot unlearn things so, technology cannot be made to go away no matter how much of a desire one may have.

Approximately 10,500 bc humanity was forced to unlearn all manner of things.

Countless times over recorded history we have unlearned things. I would still be interested in seeing Greek Fire be relearned.

bigfatfurrytexan

greencmp
reply to post by luciddream

 

Humanity cannot unlearn things so, technology cannot be made to go away no matter how much of a desire one may have.

Approximately 10,500 bc humanity was forced to unlearn all manner of things.

Countless times over recorded history we have unlearned things. I would still be interested in seeing Greek Fire be relearned.

Well, yes, you can kill almost everybody but, I trust that no one here advocates that "final solution".

reply to post by Krazysh0t


We are relying too much on technology that is less than 100 yrs old, and needs a constant power and easier to break.

Tho i understand the word technology might seem broad, but my main aim is at the way it makes us use less of our talents.

Doing harder things sharpens your mind, while relying your phone will has all the answer is something i would think about.

How many people would be functionless or perform poor if power were to go out for a week?

It was very interesting to see last December(during power out) how many came to the mall, hugging the walls in malls to charge their phones. Some didn't even know "what to do", myself included.

*Added specific technology, sry about confusion*

luciddream
reply to post by Krazysh0t

 

We are relying too much on technology that is less than 100 yrs old, and needs a constant power and easier to break.

Tho i understand the word technology might seem broad, but my main aim is at the way it makes us use less of our talents.

Doing harder things sharpens your mind, while relying your phone will has all the answer is something i would think about.

How many people would be functionless or perform poor if power were to go out for a week?

It was very interesting to see last December(during power out) how many came to the mall, hugging the walls in malls to charge their phones. Some didn't even know "what to do", myself included.

All good points that, for me, underscore the need to decentralize and diversify power generation. We are actually very close (technically speaking) to achieving individual energy independence.