Originally posted by earth2
Darwin's Theory that life can only evolve enough to survive in competition with other life or survive the changes in its enviroment is greatly upset in the case of man. 'Survival of the fittest'.

A more accurate summary of at least some the theory is that variations of individuals within a species sometimes allows those individuals to gain a survival advantage over others, in competition or a change in the environment, such that those without the variation will be "selected out" of that population. That's not quite what's stated above.


[edit on 11-8-2007 by SuicideVirus]

The evolutionary 'pressure' on humans to rule out a trait is sometimes forestalled by an invention, like eyeglasses.

Think of the all the brainiacs with bad eyesight that would have not had their genes passed on but for the benefit of corrective vision.

So your saying a blind brainiac wont have children.

I dont think it works that way. I see where you are coming from but I think thats a bad example.

Originally posted by earth2
So your saying a blind brainiac wont have children. I dont think it works that way. I see where you are coming from but I think thats a bad example.

When I was in the Air Force, we used to call the thick black plastic "Buddy Holly" eyeglasses we were issued "BCGs" or Birth Control Glasses. I suppose over the years, as mass media shapes our ideas of what is attractive and what isn't, people who look good like movie stars will tend to breed more than the pizza-faced hunchback down the street.

I believe that intelligence can be bred out of a population, though, basically because intelligent people often have fewer offspring because they don't rely on them for support in their old age, and they recognize that children can be a big drain on resources and career flexibility.

Some ugly nerds won't ever get laid, but smart people can often figure out how to spruce themselves up at least enough to snag and shag a mate. They just won't reproduce in the same numbers that less intelligent folks will, being that mating and reproduction are tasks perfect for relatively unskilled laborers who love their work.