Humans are evolving everyday. As we have previously mentioned in past lectures, evolution is constantly happening, slowly and gradually. There are many genetic factors that contribute to evolution. One of the many contributing factors is the topic of mutation. Mutation, in a sense, is happening continuously. The ways in which I understand the concept of evolution is by comprehending the topic of selection. Of course, genes that are not compatible with societies standards do not survive, and therefore are not selected for.
A cultural trait that is evolving is definitely technology. The 21st century revolves around technology twenty four seven and even jobs are reliant on technology. Transportation is definitely another cultural trademark that is evolving with humans. The distance it takes to make an individual travel involves high amounts of transportation. If we think about it, with the increase in transportation, this increases the probability of gene flow at even greater amounts. For instance, individuals whom are from America chose to reproduce with people who are from Europe because it is so much easier now. The transportation today makes it easier for people to expand and go to different parts of the world and expand their genes. People are able to travel to different areas of the world through transportation.
Individuals may think that an environmental trait that is evolving is climate change. Like the ancestors before us, with the increase cold temperatures, some believe that the climates are getting warmer. It is amazing to think about how the earth once reached Pleistocene era 1.8 million years ago, and now the earth is thought to be warming up. Our environment also relies on agriculture as a food source, which is another environmental trait that evolved. We, as humans, are not focused on hunting like the Homo ergaster, but we obtain food through farming and agricultural tactics in order to survive. Some believe this is a better way of obtaining food resources, while others believe that the way species did it in the past is better.
Some behavioral traits that have evolved have to do with the amount of food we have now and education we are provided. Lots of people, starting at a young age, become very aware of the foods they eat and wanting to look a certain way. In today’s society, it is not about what makes a person healthy, but what makes a person look a certain way. People’s behavior with the involvement of technology and so many opportunities to hear influencers, people are born to believe that they have to live a certain lifestyle to be considered a normalized human. This is definitely something we have not seen before in society, or I should say as much, until now. Lots of people have access to education now. Education is a very beneficial thing but also inhibits certain doings and gives people more the wrong idea if they are taught the wrong thing
I will always believe that natural selection plays an important role in society. Our cultural is what defines our biology through the bio-cultural interactions. These factors all mingle together in order to have humans evolve into what they are. There are definitely outliers in society that are around, however these outliers will not be existent in the world for a long time because selection and evolution will always win.
Hi, Hanna. It is great that you have mentioned technology in your post. I have similar feelings that even in my life, about two decades, the technology has developed very rapidly and it has brought tremendous changes to our life. you have mentioned the conveniences brought by the developments of transportation technologies. It reminded me that with these transportation methods, people could go around the world more freely, and their choices for mate might also have more and more varieties. Such behaviors will directly influence the genetic makeup of the next generation. I like the phrase you used here, “expand their genes”.
The second factor you mentioned is very important, too. It is about climate change. It reminded me that the Neanderthals have used to the cold environments in the Ice Age, while the warming climate might contribute to their extinction.
Hello, I really enjoyed this post and found it very interesting. I think you are correct in ways in which we are evolving and what implications that has for the future. I really like that you brought the environment into your post because it is such a huge and important factor. Climate change is a huge factor in what will happen with the human species in the future because of the Earth can’t even exist on its own because we are destroying it, how will it support life? We definitely need to treat the earth better and be more cautious of what we are doing because destroying our home means destroying our species. I also thought that the technology example was interesting. I also thin that is something that is ruining our species. Like you said, technology gives kids access to unrealistic ideas about body image, food, etc. But it also is ruining the way in which people communicate which I find could cause the most issues when it comes to evolving. If we lose our ability to properly communicate, what would happen?
Hi! I really enjoyed what you talked abut in your blog. It seems like you put a lot of thought into it and picked different ways we are evolving compared to some of the other blog posts. I found your comment on different food sources to be very interesting and not something I would think about in regards to human evolution. I think that even in today’s society we see evolution of food due to genetic changes that increase sensitivity to different food groups. For example, I have Celiac Disease which was previously not a common and is very prevalent in other countries. The way we process foods increases sensitivity to different foods, which is fascinating to me. Another food that we see evolution with is Milk. We are the only mammals that continue to drink milk after infancy, but as of late we are seeing more and more people express a lactose intolerance again.
Madison Diamond
Hi Hanna,
You are right that evolution is always happening. Not only is it influenced by biological factors but environmental and cultural factors as well. I like how you used transportation and travelling as a way of explaining reproduction of people from different areas of the world. That is a nice way of putting things into perspective. I like how you compared hunting and agriculture as means of obtaining food for survival and how you acknowledged that some people still prefer one over the other even with all the advancements we have made in how we obtain our food. It was interesting to me how you talked about education and the process of evolution by connecting them to behavioral traits. Overall, you mentioned some very interesting traits and comparisons to our ancestors.