[da1edwin]

The idea that humankind has stopped evolving is a bit silly. Allele change is actually proceeding more rapidly than ever due to a lot of 'interracial breeding' (races don't exist on the biological level). So to say that some will 'continue to evolve' while others won't is a bit odd, since access to a wider pool of mates is making the human population evolve faster than ever.

Whether natural selection is at work is another matter entirely, however.

Your last sentence is the key, though. For evolution to occur there has to be an overall genetic drift at the species level. Without natural selection (or artificial selection) people will keep mixing up alleles, but the frequency with which alleles occur will not change significantly. All I meant in my previous post was that selection seems to be more prevalent among poorer nations and neighborhoods, and when combined with the fact that these poorer people also tend to have the most children (some developed countries barely produce enough children to replace the previous generation), this suggests that evolution could proceed more rapidly there.

[General Battuta]

No, you're misunderstanding. The frequency of alleles in the human population as a whole is changing more rapidly than it has in the past (not merely 'mixing about'). This is the definition of evolution. Ergo, our species is evolving faster than it ever has.

The selection issue is a dubious one and I've seen no data that really studies it. The idea that poor people would somehow 'evolve faster' than the 1st World rich suggests a belief that 'evolving' is a good thing that makes people more attractive and intelligent. If anything, selection pressure in those countries would favor resistance towards disease and the ability to survive on a restricted diet. We're not likely to see Homo Superior suddenly popping up in Somalia or whatnot. Evolution is adaptive, not directional.

[TrashMan]

Reverse evolution?

[Colonol Dekker]

Surely devolution is a more appropriate term.

[BS403]

Well, that creativeness has allowed us access to contraceptives etc, so it's difficult to do a direct comparison.

True, but humans have been using contraceptives for thousands of years.  3000 years ago ancient egyptians used crocodile dung as spermicide.

[Mongoose]

Well, that creativeness has allowed us access to contraceptives etc, so it's difficult to do a direct comparison.

True, but humans have been using contraceptives for thousands of years.  3000 years ago ancient egyptians used crocodile dung as spermicide.

Dear lord no

[Turambar]

Well, that creativeness has allowed us access to contraceptives etc, so it's difficult to do a direct comparison.

True, but humans have been using contraceptives for thousands of years.  3000 years ago ancient egyptians used crocodile dung as spermicide.

Dear lord no

How does someone come up with that?  "Oh wow, when i smear croc **** on my dong, I don't have kids!"?

How do you even get any woman in any time period to even approach you when there's reptile feces on your wiener?!

[StarSlayer]

Well, that creativeness has allowed us access to contraceptives etc, so it's difficult to do a direct comparison.

True, but humans have been using contraceptives for thousands of years.  3000 years ago ancient egyptians used crocodile dung as spermicide.

Dear lord no

How does someone come up with that?  "Oh wow, when i smear croc **** on my dong, I don't have kids!"?

How do you even get any woman in any time period to even approach you when there's reptile feces on your wiener?!

Do we know thats how it worked? 

[Colonol Dekker]

Maybe they jammed it up there afterwards......

[Mongoose]

Well, that creativeness has allowed us access to contraceptives etc, so it's difficult to do a direct comparison.

True, but humans have been using contraceptives for thousands of years.  3000 years ago ancient egyptians used crocodile dung as spermicide.

Dear lord no

How does someone come up with that?  "Oh wow, when i smear croc **** on my dong, I don't have kids!"?

How do you even get any woman in any time period to even approach you when there's reptile feces on your wiener?!

Do we know thats how it worked? 

You have a good point there.  It'd probably be a killer contraceptive, because no woman would want to be in the same room as you if you used it.

[General Battuta]

You guys have it backwards; they were apparently used in pessary form. The women inserted them.

[Turambar]

You guys have it backwards; they were apparently used in pessary form. The women inserted them.

Again, i must ask, what was the first woman thinking who decided it was a good idea to shove gator poo in her cooter

[Colonol Dekker]

Probably the ancestor of a certain tub-related girl. But enough about that, enough about Gator poop.

More about the odds of us evolving into Morlocks 

[Turambar]

For that, we'd need hundreds of generations of selective breeding and/or genetic engineering.

Wasn't this thread about tricking bird DNA into expressing old unused bits of genetic code, causing them to display dinosaur characteristics?

[Colonol Dekker]

Yas......

[BS403]

Well chickens and other birds legs are already scaly and their feet have the same general look of some
dinosaurs(T-rex).

edit: My question is how much will a chickenosaurus cosst as a pet?

[FUBAR-BDHR]

No the real question is will it taste like chicken?

[Mika]

Colonol Dekker said:

Assuming the more active humans among us succeed in breeding more by getting up off our butts, going out and meeting women and generally keeping trim. Doesn't that negate the withered leg avenue?

But is it enough to overcome the dwindling averages? Some statistics show people are actually moving and having any sort of physical activity less and less. While there are people who still exercise a lot, I find the number of them is relatively small compared to general population.

Also, what thing would support that human would become more dexterious?

As a general question, what kind of adaption in the human spine would need to happen in order that the sitting position would not stress it so much? I guess that's where we would be heading.

[StarSlayer]

DO THE ROOSTERSAURUS REX HAVE LARGE TALONS?!!

[Wobble73]

DO THE ROOSTERSAURUS REX HAVE LARGE TALONS?!!

LOL that's funny, but it appears to have 5 limbs?? Two legs, two wings and one arm???