Computers are dependent on quantum physics being true, GPS depends on the theory of relativity, the moonshot was dependent on the theory of gravitation, vaccines depend on the germ theory of disease, etc. What observable effects depend on the theory of evolution? Are there any technologies that depend on it?
Thanks,
Rob
Not coming up with anything. One thing to keep in mind is that evolution takes place over long periods of time, so any technology that depended on it would have to be something where results in a timely matter was not important.
I am sure that there are testable predictions, correct?
Anti-biotic resistance and strategies to counter it.
yeah normally anything technology based runs on precision, calculation, accurate variables, and exact figures… evolution… is kinda like a million year long trial and error plan. hmm just had a thought… its a sleep deprived thought so bear with me. would stem cells? or… idk that thing people can do where parents basically select traits and…donated…“dna” from parents with desired features. basically creating a made to order baby. evolution would be the supplier as well as cause of those more desirable/beneficial traits being passed on. and the technological process would depend on having the right genes, that would stay strong through the whole process as well as be passed onto their offspring… idk if that made sense but its all i got
Define “dependent”.
In what way?
I thought it was simple Newtonian triangulation.
Evolution is a process of change in successive generations.
For that reason we would not observe that change process, within any single generation,
even though we witness the consequence.
My 2016 Honda Civic is different from my grandfather’s Dusenberg. His car didn’t have:
There are some software techniques that use evolution as a mechanism for dynamically generating solutions to a problem. It’s not common, but it has been done.
Here’s a more visual example of an attempt to find a race car that performs reasonably well:
SR #7
Yes.
A.I.
Good example.
It’s designed to learn.
Are you looking for real world applications of evolutionary theory?
Agriculture.
How about CRISPR-Cas9?
It’s not dependent on evolution per se, but if the only alternative “model” to evolution is Creationism (complete with “no increase in information”), then it would probably have taken a lot longer to figure out this mechanism because, on its face, it seems to go against such principles.
Naturally, I’ve no doubt such believers will find a way to retrospectively explain it, though.
(actually now I think about it, generally the immune system is a problem for creationists)
Also I should push back against the OP somewhat.
If you look across all of science, particularly biology, stuff with no obvious practical benefit will outnumber the stuff that lets humans build widgets. And that’s fine: just understanding can be an end in itself (plus many things may eventually bring practical benefits, after we enhance and/or link our models).
The theory of evolution is accepted because it makes good predictions: about fossils that we subsequently found, about genomes that we later sequenced, etc. Whether it allows us to make gubbins is a misleading and irrelevant point.
Relevant: two videos by a geneticist about how evolution has furthered his research on HIV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtnz2QZRg-Q
If we lived in a Newtonian universe, yes, but we don’t.
For the precision needed in a GPS system the relativistic effects of being in orbit are too large to ignore, and has to be accounted for if you want your navigation system to stay accurate for more than a couple of minutes.
[/hijack]
Cavalry. Bit old as a technology, but I think it counts.
Sniffer dogs and all the other things we use dogs for. Agriculture today is based on directed evolution of plants and meat animals.
Is the op talking about evolution here, or Darwin’s Theory of Evolution? Dogs were bred and crossbred for specific purposes long before Darwin’s Theory became established. It would be interesting to discover what previous generations thought were going on with regards to these matters. Certainly the opinion that your “genes” or something akin to your genes should be bred further have been around since the early modern period and probably a lot further back than that.
I’m thinking more GQ. Off we go.
Yes, in biochemistry/protein engineering, we use “directed evolution” or “in-vitro evolution”, e.g. to adapt microbial and eukaryotic cell lines to the large-scale production of biomolecules under laboratory conditions, and to improve the stability and binding affinity of proteins for research and as pharmacological compounds. These techniques all combine ways of increasing the mutation rates and generation of synthetic genes with sequence variability in defined regions with methods to select for those cells/bacteria/viruses that produce a variant of the desired gene with improved properties. Fo us, evolution is not a theory but a well-tested method.
How so? Agriculture has been around a heck of a lot longer than any formal theory of evolution has.
But it (specifically, the breeding of animals and crops for specific traits) depends on the truth of the theory of evolution, whether anyone has explicitly declared that truth or not. If species had been created by an intelligent designer and were forever after immutable - that is, if the theory of evolution were wrong - the development of specific breeds/varieties would not have been possible.
Hand-in-hand with this is gene theory, which says that the gene is the unit of inheritance. GMOs and gene therapy would not be possible if gene theory, an important part of the theory of evolution, were incorrect.