Will modern humans ever evolve?

When i look back in science books and such about evolution, I always notice that it is the species that rely on its own instints to survive are the

ones that evolve. Basically all species back then relied on there own
instinct. But today we humans rely on machine and technology to thrive

and survive. Does evolution affect all aspects of life no matter what the circumstance is, or is our use of technology to better our selves and

survive slowing or stoping the affects of evolution on us? I always see it like this that if humans were to one day find out, for example, that in 200

yrs the whole entire surface of earth will be under water, we would make preparations to either find ways to live in some dome underneath the sea

or live above it, which ever suits us better. But I cant see that in millions and millions of years in the future we would have webbed feet and hands

and gills on the sides of our neck knowing that we would have tchnology to support us instead of our own physical means. Can anyone shed light on this?

Personally I think we'll kill ourselves off far before we can ever evolve.

But lets say that AIDs no longer exists, air pollution was a thing of the past, the ozone replenished itself, no war no nothing that would kill ourselves, only nature that would kill us. Would we evolve or not. We went from cavemen to homosapiens because we relied on our physical and instinctive abilities to survive, but today we have thechnology. Would we ever evolve again?

I believe we would evolve, but not in the normal natural way that life has been evolving in the past. We would probably physically adapt to be more symbiotic with our technology.

For example if the human race no longer needs human physical labor in the distant future because of machines, then given enough time we would become smaller.

If we were constantly in front of computer screens all the time then our eyes would probably get bigger.

We would be exposed to much more information throughout our lives, and over generations and generations our brains would probably grow.

I think we would probably evolve into somethign looking like greys.

I could be wrong about my examples, but either way if the human species is around for long enough time, genes will change. Distinguishing the exact moment when we officially become a new species would be impossible, but I believe evolution is inevitable if a species survives for a long enough time.

But as I said before, I doubt that human's are going to last long enough.

I see your point very well put. So the overload of information on the human brain might cause our brains to get bigger and what no like the Greys. Does this signify that the greys could have been human kong before they ever got to there current state?

I believe we are evolving, but very slowly (as I'm sure is natural). For example, I knew a girl who was born without any body hair whatsoever. She had eyebrows, eyelashes and hair on her head but that's it! Perhaps this is due to the fact that we are now almost always clothed nowadays. Just a thought.

[edit on 8-2-2007 by LovingSoul]

I see now. Its not so much evolving to adapt to nature but more to adapt to our own technology and way of life. It makes sense how one would be born with no body hair because we would wear clothes all the time. It makes so much sense. I think that is why aliens look the way they are right now, seeing how they have so much technology and knowledge that they wont ever have to lift a finger to do anything again. Today we cars that park automatically, doors that open automatically, intead of traveling on feet we use every way possible not to let our feet touch the ground. This evolution stuff is cool

We are evolving. It is not as noticed, because the people who haven't evolved don't notice it. Intuitive response in our brains has evolved.

Example: Do you read instructions before playing a video game, or construct something? People in this decade, really don't need to. The intuitive response is growing. Just knowing how to do things without actually reading or having to do them.

It's easy to confuse technological advancement with forward evolution but in actuallity only a few people are responsible for this growth.

The masses however are devolving because technology [created by others] has made life easier, less challenging thus the masses get fatter, lazyier, more stupid. As a species we are getting weaker and at the same time more violent. Not a good sign.

It's a brave new world, welcome to the monkey house!

"We are not men; We are DEVO"

[edit on 8-2-2007 by whaaa]

Is evolution an on going thing for species or is there a limit to how far it can take place. Can you ever see those intelligent Grey aliens evolving again? Is evolution something that can be prevented by any means? Please I love information.

In terms of Darwinism: Evolution is survival of the fittest.

As it stands, we will probably wipe out the grays, unless they can evolve into a more robust lifeform. That's probably why they are trying to make hybrids...right?? I don't know about alien activities, but what I've read, that's the theory...grays are making hybrids...right??

Its true about hybrids. They mingle our DNA with their's. They are creating one species to adapt to two worlds. Mabey gray aliens do evolve, its just that they are speeding up the process.

Quasar, great post. Humans should continue to evolve just like any other animal that exists. If we knew that our land would be underwater at a certain point in the life of our planet, we would not develop webbed feet and gills, because it would be much faster to create the technology to be able to live underwater in domes just like you said.

Keep in mind that humans have not only evolved physically, but mentally as well. Perhaps our brains will continue to grow, perhaps evolution will teach us how to use more of our brains instead of the tiny amount we currently do use.

As far as physical changes go, i know humans have grown in height since the middle ages. Also, be aware that humans have been losing their body hair for many thousands of years now, and i'm sure we'll continue to lose that hair via evolution, as we don't need it any longer.

I don't see any hugely significant physical changes on the horizon, but I do believe our minds will evolve more than our bodies from this point forth as a result of our "command" over technology and machines.

Yes, we will, and in fact we arr all the time, each subsequent generation
is a little bit more evolved than the last, not enough to be noticed for the
most part.

Oh, and that dpes'nt mean you're better than the last generation either.


Evolution, for the most part, is an incredibly slow process, taking thousands to millions of years, so unless we go through another rapid
evolution, the normal person would never see evolution.


That said, I do think, that saying we did'nt interfere with it, we will
eventually go through the following changes.

-We'll lose all of our body hair, except our eyelashes and the hair on
the top of our head.
-Our fingers will get longer and more dextrous.
-We'll lose the ring finger.
-Our sense of smell will get weaker, and subsequently are noses will
become smaller.
-For humans on Earth, the average height will continue to grow, and
average off at around 6'5-7'0.
-Our toes wil eventually evolve into two super-toes.



Of course, when it comes to humans that will eventually live in other
environments, like low gravity, different changes will occur, but for
humans living on Earth, the above are what will/would come naturally.

Wow thanks guys. You have answered alot of my questions, but I have been known to ask alot of questions which is the greatest thing anyone can ever do. Is there such thing as de-evolution? Is it always that animals and humans evolve and almost always become alot smarter? Is it possible to reverse?

Evolution is occuring in all of us. I mean, just look at the average height of a man 2,000 years ago and today.

Ofcourse, another major issue we got to deal with is how evolution works. Its survival of the fittest, in the wild, the smartest, strongest animal survives, and the weaker of hte pack dies off. it keeps the genes strong. One quick look at daytime television will show you that humans no longer have the survival of the fittest to worry about. Now its who can breed the most. And the dumbest of the bunch are breeding at an expenetial (sp) rate. While the smart people are concerned about when to breed, the dumb people have about 12 kids, and 24 father candidates on Maury.

Whos my babies dady?!

We're de-evolving IMO, we're breeding crappy genes, and it will be the downfall of our species.

Originally posted by whaaa
...the masses get fatter, lazyier, more stupid.

Certainly can't argue with that statement.

Originally posted by quasar101
Is there such thing as de-evolution?

Well, it's not technically de-evolution, as that would assume you
could revert to an evolutionary state exactly like one you had
previously been in, and that's highly improbable.

What it is, is certain genotypes that had become dormant, waking-up
and asserting themselves once again.

In myopinion though, we're not de-evolving.

I was under the impression that mating and having offspring is the only way to evolve.

You get a genius mom, and a genius dad, and they create a genius x2 son. Then that genius x2 son makes a kid with an athletic woman, and they have a genius/athlete. Get the drift?

But, if you get to stupid parents, they are going to have a stupid kid. Thats devolving.

[edit on 8-2-2007 by Connected]

I'm not sure that the Darwin's evolution theory is still true, but if it is, the human is not under natural selection anymore, since it isn't the strongest and the more in shape that is reproducing. That principle is suppose to select the better candidate to adapt to the environment and pass on the right gene for the right adaptation. Anyway, I'm not even sure that your environment is changing, so in that case, we don't need to evolve, but thinking that way, we aren't getting rid of your bad genes. The person who has a disease or a bad gene can still pass it to is children. So, I really don't think that the human species is still evolving.