# Did the human race stop evolving? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 11, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403 "2009-10-11T15:28:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tattman40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@tattman40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tattman40)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/1 "2009-10-11T15:28:03Z")
Is this it? Or will there be future people with huge texting/video game thumbs? Will brain capacity diminish because of instant information we have access to? No real need to remember anything, just look it up again when needed. What else will be part of “Humans of the Future”? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/2 "2009-10-11T15:34:00Z")
No, humans have not stopped evolving. This question comes up again and again. > [@tattman40](#): > > Is this it? Or will there be future people with huge texting/video game thumbs? Only if skill at games leads to greater reproductive success. Given the _lack_ of social contact and mating opportunities of the stereotypical gamer I’d say evolution is more likely to eliminate than promote such creatures. > [@](#): > > Will brain capacity diminish because of instant information we have access to? No real need to remember anything, just look it up again when needed. It may be that our brains are more devoted to asking the correct questions of search engines than remembering all sorts of minor things. > [@](#): > > What else will be part of “Humans of the Future”? How about greater resistance to environmental toxins? That would definitely seem to be an advantage. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/3 "2009-10-11T15:38:29Z")
> [@tattman40](#): > > Is this it? Or will there be future people with huge texting/video game thumbs? Fun fact: Someone with large thumbs would actually be a horrible texter/video game player. Most cell phones have small buttons to enter text (and full text keyboards are even worse) while most video game controllers are designed for an “all ages” audience, so the buttons are small enough for children and those of us with large hands often have to upgrade to a bigger controller. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/4 "2009-10-11T15:39:03Z")
We’re certainly still evolving. But evolution is very slow. Humans have looked pretty much the same for the last 100,000 years. It will probably take an interval of time 100 to 200 times longer than all recorded human history for us to see significant changes in human behavior or appearance. With that in mind, the evolutionary pressure of civilization has so far been trivial. ---
**Author:** ![tattman40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@tattman40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tattman40)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/5 "2009-10-11T16:02:51Z")
I should of added I was looking for humorous traits, not really scientific. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/6 "2009-10-11T17:28:46Z")
Remember that natural selection acts via gene transfer and combination through the union of two zygotes, i.e. egg and sperm come together and mix & match chromosomes, so only traits that contribute to reproductive success–either by making both members more attractive or suitable for mating in some way, or contribute to the survival of the organism through reproduction and sexual maturity of the offspring–are those that are selected for. Unless text messaging in some way makes the carrier somehow more attractive or otherwise capable of reproducing, phenotypes that contribute to superior text messaging ability are superfluous to the pressures that contribute to natural selection. And no, the human race hasn’t stopped evolving, but via a combination of tool use and advanced cognition and self awareness, it is to some extent take its own opposable-thumbed hand in evolutionary selection. Richard Dawkins would say that tools and language are part of our “extended phenotype”, an expression of the capacity of our genes to influence our behavior and capabilities that lies outside of our bodies. As we shape our tools from wood, flint, and steel, they shape us as well, allowing us to spend more energy sustaining an oversized brain rather than muscles and body hair. We can anticipate more evolutionary changes in the future, although many of these will be deliberate modifications and improvements via direct modification of the genetic code. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/7 "2009-10-11T17:48:13Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > We’re certainly still evolving. But evolution is very slow. Humans have looked pretty much the same for the last 100,000 years. It will probably take an interval of time 100 to 200 times longer than all recorded human history for us to see significant changes in human behavior or appearance. With that in mind, the evolutionary pressure of civilization has so far been trivial. Your estimates are off by a couple orders of magnitude. Current theory (backed up by studies of the distribution and variation of mitochondrial DNA in various human populations) suggests that modern humans (_Homo sapiens_ evolved from _Homo erectus_ populations in Africa sometime between 120k and 200k years ago, and that all human populations are the result of an exodus from Africa ~60k years ago which overran and caused the extinction or genetic assimilation all other _Homo_-derived species. The size of the origin population is uncertain, but is likely to be only a few million members, and more likely several hundred thousand, concentrated in East Africa. From this small and (presumably) relatively homogenous population we get the vast variety of human features and characteristics, including large variations in size, skin color, distribution of hair, et cetera. While it is possible that there may have been some gene transfer between the expanding _H. sapiens_ and indigenous _Homo_ species, examination of the gene codes of various widely dispersed ethnicities suggests that the influx of novel genes would have been nearly insignificant compared to natural variation and mutation within _H. sapiens_. It’s difficult to say what impact this had on the variation in innate behavior in humans, which is largely a learned behavior (albeit influenced by genetic factors), and of course, no human population has started sprouting extra limbs or eschewed vestigial characteristics like the vermiform appendix or anysuch. It is safe to say, however, that selective pressures resulted in some pretty rapid, if largely superficial, variation in human populations. And in regard to dietary or disease resistance the selective pressures have been intense; witness the relative lactose-tolerance of adults derived from Scandinavian stock (where dairy products contribute to a large portion of overall dietary calories) versus West and Southeast Asian peoples, the protective benefit of sickle cell trait in equatorial populations, and of course the resistance to smallpox and other plague diseases by the peoples of Eurasia, not enjoyed by the native populations of the Americas, resulting in near-extinctions when the populations came into contact. Variation can happen very quickly when populations are reproductively isolated or are under intense survival and reproductive pressures. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/8 "2009-10-12T08:56:03Z")
> [@tattman40](#): > > Is this it? Or will there be future people with huge texting/video game thumbs? > > Will brain capacity diminish because of instant information we have access to? No real need to remember anything, just look it up again when needed. > > What else will be part of “Humans of the Future”? This [bbc](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6057734.stm) article predicts humans will split into 2 sub-species in 1,00,000 years ,One a tall healthy upper class and the other dim-witted ugly goblins. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/9 "2009-10-12T14:51:21Z")
> [@indian](#): > > This [bbc](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6057734.stm) article predicts humans will split into 2 sub-species in 1,00,000 years ,One a tall healthy upper class and the other dim-witted ugly goblins. “Very simple was my explanation, and plausible enough - as many wrong theories are!” – H.G. Wells, _The Time Machine_ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/10 "2009-10-12T15:32:22Z")
> [@indian](#): > > This [bbc](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6057734.stm) article predicts humans will split into 2 sub-species in 1,00,000 years ,One a tall healthy upper class and the other dim-witted ugly goblins. That’s only going to happen if there are two human populations that are isolated from each other, one way or another. Given the amount of reproduction that goes on between the upper and lower classes now, and has been going on for many millennia, I don’t think it’s likely that it’s going to happen in the foreseeable future. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/11 "2009-10-12T17:38:04Z")
I’ve long thought that humans \*in industrialized nations \*are as a whole no longer subject to evolutionary pressure. Two main reasons: Number one: significant advances in medical care. Something as simple as glasses (and contact lenses!) really removes the selective pressure that would otherwise have eliminated individuals with medical problems from the gene pool before they reproduced. For example, breast cancer appears to be inheritable. But with chemo, etc. women with the breast cancer gene live long enough to have children, who will then pass on the gene. Therefore, the evolutionary pressure to remove individuals with genes for a particular illness from the gene pool is eliminated. Number two: people as individuals and society as a whole believing that if you want a child, you should have a child. (I swear, this is not a rant and I’m not trying to hijack!) The existence of sperm banks alone pretty much guarantees that the effects of sexual selection are moot. An ugly chick with a foul temper and bad breath can go get herself pregnant - it’s a rarity in the wild for an animal with nothing going for it (so to speak) to still be able to find a mate. Survival of the fittest? Bah. Not in this species. Go to Wal-Mart and have a look around. Oh, and humans of the future will evolve cameras in their eyeballs, the way cell phones today evolved cameras in their, um, well, not eyeballs… ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/12 "2009-10-12T20:16:38Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > We’re certainly still evolving. But evolution is very slow. Humans have looked pretty much the same for the last 100,000 years. It will probably take an interval of time 100 to 200 times longer than all recorded human history for us to see significant changes in human behavior or appearance. With that in mind, the evolutionary pressure of civilization has so far been trivial. [http://the10000yearexplosion.com/](http://the10000yearexplosion.com/) Human evolution has actually accelerated in “recent” times, as the human population expanded and adapted to different geographical regions. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/13 "2009-10-12T20:17:58Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > I’ve long thought that humans \*in industrialized nations \*are as a whole no longer subject to evolutionary pressure. Evolution selects for whatever traits let you produce more offspring that survive to have kids of their own. Just because nobody starves anymore doesn’t mean it stops operating; it means that the evolutionarily successful strategy now is to have lots of kids (r-selection vs. k-selection). The future belongs to the Mormons. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/14 "2009-10-12T21:34:42Z")
Amazingly enough I was just thinking about this today. Not that anyone cares. I was trying to resolve modern medicines influence. A lot of less desirable traits are (maybe) being propagated due to the fact that we keep people alive that may have died otherwise. Those genes don’t just go away. ETA: didn’t read purplehorseshoe’s post ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/15 "2009-10-12T22:01:19Z")
LOL, stopped evolving? We are on the cusp of dynamically controlled human evolution via science. Far from stopped evolving we have evolved near past our own physical limitations. Humanity will evolve more in the next 500 years than it did in the previous 5 million. ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/16 "2009-10-12T22:08:10Z")
> [@indian](#): > > This [bbc](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6057734.stm) article predicts humans will split into 2 sub-species in **1,00,000** years ,One a tall healthy upper class and the other dim-witted ugly goblins. I know the British used to have their own concept of a billion, but this one is new to me. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/17 "2009-10-12T23:18:26Z")
> [@LunarPlexus](#): > > I know the British used to have their own concept of a billion, but this one is new to me. India also uses this form of separators. The number 1,00,000 is known as 1 lakh: > **[Lakh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakh)** > > A lakh (/læk, lɑːk/; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For example, in India, 150,000 rupees becomes 1.5 lakh rupees, written as ₹1,50,000 or INR 1,50,000. > It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is often ... ---
**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/18 "2009-10-12T23:48:33Z")
I suspect that people of the future will have more organs. Instead of just two lungs and two kidneys, people will opt to add several smaller livers, a few pancreases, spares of prostates and thyroids. Then freely pass them out whenever a relative needs one. ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/19 "2009-10-13T14:57:19Z")
> [@xash](#): > > India also uses this form of separators. The number 1,00,000 is known as 1 lakh: > > [Lakh - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakh) Very interesting. Thanks for the link. Separator but equal. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-human-race-stop-evolving/513403/20 "2009-10-13T20:21:50Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > For example, breast cancer appears to be inheritable. But with chemo, etc. women with the breast cancer gene live long enough to have children, who will then pass on the gene. Therefore, the evolutionary pressure to remove individuals with genes for a particular illness from the gene pool is eliminated. Most women who develop breast cancer do so after child-bearing years. Those with early-onset breast cancer develop it well after they begin their childbearing years. E.g. my sister, diagnosed at 27. 27 is considered very young for breast cancer.