# Is medicine anti-evolutionary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915 "2002-11-08T19:02:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gportela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/82dd89/32.png) [@gportela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gportela)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/21 "2002-11-12T03:00:37Z")
Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/22 "2002-11-12T03:01:10Z")
That’s not what it means in the context of Biology, **gportela**. That’s a general-use definition. > [@](#): > > Evolution (_Biology_) = 1. Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species. Source: [AHD](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=evolution) And your problem in grasping this, in my opinion, stems from your unwillingness to let go of a certain ill-formed concept you have: > [@](#): > > Without medicine these numbers would have been seriously reduced by the mortality rate of the sick not receiving medicine for their conditions, and therefore being unable to pass on their “inferior” genes back into the gene pool. Inferior according to whom? ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/23 "2002-11-12T03:04:56Z")
FYI Evolution: 1. the continuous modification and adaptation of organisms to their environments through selection, hybridization, and the like. [Source](http://www.wordsmyth.net/cgi-bin/simplesearch.cgi?matchent=evolution&matchtype=exact&matchid=-1&retall=1) 1. _Biology_ a. Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species. b. The historical development of a related group of organisms; phylogeny. [Source](http://www.bartleby.com/61/64/E0256400.html) The vernacular meaning of “evolution” is not equivalent to the meaning within biology (just as neither definition is relevant when discussing evolution in a mathematical context). Within a biological context, there is no criterion for passing to a “more advanced” state - especially since “advanced” is a relative qualifier. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/24 "2002-11-12T03:06:09Z")
Curses! Foiled again! ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/25 "2002-11-12T03:09:00Z")
Yeah, but you said it better. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gportela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/82dd89/32.png) [@gportela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gportela)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/26 "2002-11-12T03:14:00Z")
So you believe a tainted gene pool is benificial to the human species? Hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/27 "2002-11-12T03:15:54Z")
Tainted according to whom? ---
**Author:** ![gportela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/82dd89/32.png) [@gportela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gportela)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/28 "2002-11-12T03:19:28Z")
The only people that would defend this position would have to be the people who are benefiting from the process of unnatural selection! ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/29 "2002-11-12T03:26:39Z")
Them, and, you know, people who believe in science. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/30 "2002-11-12T03:50:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gportela \* > \*\*The only people that would defend this position would have to be the people who are benefiting from the process of unnatural selection! \*\* With respect, this would include you and your family, unless they have not used any medical treatments for several generations. Heck, you even benefit when _others_ use medical treatments; smallpox has been eliminated as a threat to _you_ because others were willing to be inoculated against it. You’re using a computer to share your opinion, rather than sitting on the front porch and using only your human voice, right? ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/31 "2002-11-12T04:02:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gportela \* > **So you believe a tainted gene pool is benificial to the human species?** Nope. But I am also aware that selection doesn’t work for the benefit of the species. Nor even the benefit of a population. It works by filtering out those _individuals_ who, given current environmental conditions (which, again, includes medical care for a number of humans), possess traits which prove detrimental under those conditions. For a given trait, its relative detriment or benefit is dependent on the environment. If modern medicine provides an environment whereby certain traits no longer present the barriers to survival or reproduction that they might have _sans_ medicine, then those traits are less likely to be selected against. You may not like it, I may not like it, the species may not like it. But there you go. It’s still evolution. In the biological sense, of course. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/32 "2002-11-12T04:10:43Z")
Yes Finch, it’s still evolution, but it did change the direction evolution preceded. I guess the question is what is the definition of “anti- evolutionary”? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/33 "2002-11-12T04:12:35Z")
I meant proceeded ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/34 "2002-11-12T04:25:50Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Darwin’s Finch \* \*\* Nope. But I am also aware that selection doesn’t work for the benefit of the species. Nor even the benefit of a population. oh no? ---
**Author:** ![gportela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/82dd89/32.png) [@gportela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gportela)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/35 "2002-11-12T04:26:33Z")
I guess that is the point. I believe medicine that inhibits evolution to be anti-evolutionary. That was the original question! ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/36 "2002-11-12T04:34:45Z")
Gotta agree. The question isn’t whether medicine is good or bad, or whether we’d be here if our recent ancestors would’ve died from smallpox. It’s if medicine changes the course of evolution for humans. It seems we all pretty much agree it does. ANTI- EVOLUTIONARY! ---
**Author:** ![Nishroch\_Order](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Nishroch\_Order](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nishroch_Order)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/37 "2002-11-12T04:42:08Z")
x-ray vision, i guess you and Darwin’s Finch’s definition of “benefit” here is different. Medicine is not anti-evolutionary. It IS part of our evolution. Same as how otters that learn how to use stones to break clams are more likely to survive. ---
**Author:** ![Nishroch\_Order](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Nishroch\_Order](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nishroch_Order)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/38 "2002-11-12T04:48:16Z")
The reason why you all say it is anti-evolutionary is because it is commonly taken that evolution has to be something “directly” biological, physical. But evolution can also take the mode where intelligence matters and in our case, the more intelligent you are to have created good medication, the more likely you’ll survive to procreate. _this is also actually, in a sense biological, so you see theres no conflict_ ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/39 "2002-11-12T05:03:33Z")
makes sense Nisroch. I concede. ---
**Author:** ![gportela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/82dd89/32.png) [@gportela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gportela)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915/40 "2002-11-12T05:23:07Z")
Medicine is not passed on genetically like instinct is. I don’t see how that is the same thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-medicine-anti-evolutionary/135915.md?page=3)