# Why didn't God design us to adapt to different geographical enviroments? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563 "2014-03-12T21:35:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ContentWithTomorrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c0e974/32.png) [@ContentWithTomorrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ContentWithTomorrow)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/1 "2014-03-12T21:35:29Z")
Assuming God exists, why didn’t he make our DNA change to the environment of the organism So African slaves would have blended in to the color of North America, White Australians would be black, extremely dark or tanned. Intelligent design doesn’t seem that intelligent:D 1. If you say evolution, why does it take so long? Shouldn’t evolution have created quick evolution? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/2 "2014-03-12T21:38:59Z")
Is it spring break already? Roddy ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/3 "2014-03-12T21:43:46Z")
Apparently. Either that or some third grader has hacked the board. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/4 "2014-03-12T21:47:36Z")
> [@ContentWithTomorrow](#): > > 1. If you say evolution, why does it take so long? Shouldn’t evolution have created quick evolution? Quick evolution wasn’t necessary. Evolution never results in anything that that isn’t necessary to enhance survival of the species. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/5 "2014-03-12T22:07:30Z")
Perhaps it didn’t occur to him. He went to the trouble of putting things all over the planet, maybe he just things would stay within a few hundred miles of where he put them. Next thing you know, you’ve got pack trains carrying silk all the way from China to Europe. Or perhaps he just likes all the colors. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/6 "2014-03-12T22:28:54Z")
> [@ContentWithTomorrow](#): > > Assuming God exists, why didn’t he make our DNA change to the environment of the organism So African slaves would have blended in to the color of North America, White Australians would be black, extremely dark or tanned. > > Intelligent design doesn’t seem that intelligent:D > > 1. If you say evolution, why does it take so long? Shouldn’t evolution have created quick evolution? What? He gave us a brain, thumbs, and dominion over all. He gave us the tools to change the environment to suit us, not the other way around. What more could you ask for? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/7 "2014-03-12T22:29:04Z")
People do adapt to different environments. It doesn’t have to happen that fast because we didn’t use to move around that fast. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/8 "2014-03-12T23:03:31Z")
I think you’re looking at it from the wrong end; rather than adapt us to the environment, why, as the favoured species of the creator of everything, isn’t the environment better suited for us? 71% of our home planet is covered in salt water. An entire continent is completely inhospitable and likewise vast swathes of the Earth are featureless deserts worthless to us. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/9 "2014-03-12T23:08:46Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > What? > > He gave us a brain, thumbs, and dominion over all. He gave us the tools to change the environment to suit us, not the other way around. What more could you ask for? This. Plus, being forced to use our brains and our brawn to adapt to different environments, instead of it happening automatically, has forced us to develop our ingenuity and made us what we are as a species. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/10 "2014-03-12T23:22:26Z")
> [@ContentWithTomorrow](#): > > Assuming God exists, why didn’t he make our DNA change to the environment of the organism So African slaves would have blended in to the color of North America, White Australians would be black, extremely dark or tanned. > > Intelligent design doesn’t seem that intelligent:D > > 1. If you say evolution, why does it take so long? Shouldn’t evolution have created quick evolution? Evolution, sadly, hasn’t been able to guarantee that “1)” is available to those of us who are attempting a list ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/11 "2014-03-12T23:34:03Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > I think you’re looking at it from the wrong end; rather than adapt us to the environment, why, as the favoured species of the creator of everything, isn’t the environment better suited for us? 71% of our home planet is covered in salt water. An entire continent is completely inhospitable and likewise vast swathes of the Earth are featureless deserts worthless to us. And that’s just the planet. If you consider the universe, then even if you assume every star has a planet with the same percentage of habitable space as Earth (which is likely VASTLY more habitable space than actually exists), it’s still a percentage that is all but zero. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/12 "2014-03-13T00:57:46Z")
Hmm-I thought that Inuits have specific adaptations for arctic environments. And for caucasians/Asians in general that melanin was selected out of the gene pool as their populations moved north millenia ago. Am I mistaken? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/13 "2014-03-13T01:19:23Z")
I think god was preoccupied with persecuting lutherans during that time period. Also > **[Peppered moth evolution | Rise and fall of phenotype frequency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution#Rise_and_fall_of_phenotype_frequency)** > > Melanism has appeared in both European and North American peppered moth populations. Information about the rise in frequency is scarce. Much more is known about the subsequent fall in phenotype frequency, as it has been measured by lepidopterists using moth traps. > Steward compiled data for the first recordings of the peppered moth by locality, and deduced that the carbonaria morph was the result of a single mutation that subsequently spread. By 1895, it had reached a reported frequency of 98% in... Either way, I know some people really love and admire evolution but I think it sucks. It is amoral (worse than amoral since evolution invented pain, suffering and the concept of evil. To be fair I guess, evolution also invented love, mercy and joy. But negative is stronger than positive for organic life) but also inept. In a couple hundred years human technology has already created devices that are stronger, faster, sturdier, better hunters, harder to hunt, etc than anything evolution can or has created. Within 100 years our machines will be smarter than anything evolution has ever created. Compare that to the 3.8 billion year timeline of evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/14 "2014-03-13T01:30:07Z")
This thread hurts. And I don’t just mean the OP. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/15 "2014-03-13T01:41:44Z")
> [@ContentWithTomorrow](#): > > Assuming God exists, why didn’t he make our DNA change to the environment of the organism So African slaves would have blended in to the color of North America What is “the color of North America”? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/16 "2014-03-13T01:48:35Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Hmm-I thought that Inuits have specific adaptations for arctic environments. That is correct, there’s even a Cecil column about it. And of course being black is a significant advantage when it comes to thriving in sub-Saharan Africa and similar hot+dry areas. Unless the white people have all the guns of course. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/17 "2014-03-13T01:54:35Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > What is “the color of North America”? Red white and blue. Reed a book morans. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/18 "2014-03-13T01:57:58Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Red white and blue. Reed a book morans. No u. ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/19 "2014-03-13T02:23:52Z")
I would think if we were going to evolve to adapt to anything it would be the ability to safely drink sea-water. Or, if you’re a creationist, created to drink sea-water. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563/20 "2014-03-13T02:46:37Z")
Contrary to the quoted statement: “Evolution never results in anything that that isn’t necessary to enhance survival of the species.”… there are numerous traits that simply exist because they do not have a bad or limiting effect, or that have lost their advantages outside of the area of origins. Examples: Centralization of fat in the elderly leads to medical problems. Baldness is genetic, but seems to not be of benefit for reproduction. Sickle anemia was only of (questionable) benefit in areas that had endemic malaria, and is disadvantageous when outside those areas…and so forth. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-god-design-us-to-adapt-to-different-geographical-enviroments/683563.md?page=2)