Comments on Jeff Vail - Litigation Strategy & Innovation: Diagonal Economy 4: Compatibility with Human Onto...

Hi Jeff, As to the continuing evolution of modern...

2009-12-03T00:11:02.872-07:00

Hi Jeff,

As to the continuing evolution of modern humans, I would point you to an interesting and modest read by Gary Paul Nabhan called "Why Some Like it Hot". It is about food and how quickly populations evolve in response to local foods.

(Nabhan served as Director of Science at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and co-founded Native Seeds/SEARCH, a nonprofit conservation organization that works to preserve indigenous southwestern agricultural plants as well as knowledge of their uses.)Wikipedia

Joel, I think that genetic evolution was continui...

2009-12-02T14:40:42.425-07:00

Joel,

I think that genetic evolution was continuing quite rapidly at the dawn of civilization--the rapid shift may have even accellerated genetic evolution right around the transition to agriculture, urban living, etc. However, to the extent that there is no longer a fitness-based impediment to surviving long enough to reproduce, genetic evolution (at least as far as I understand it) has now ceased. Admittedly, there are many instances today where this is not the case--third world countries broadly, or with regard to specific diseases even in first world countries. However, while there may be some genetic evolution continuing to compensate for things like specific diseases, it seems that there is little evolutionary pressure to evolve, for example, into a more intelligent, faster, or more perceptive species. For example, one can be well below average in all three of those traits in the US, yet still fully expect to live long enough to reproduce. In fact, for various demographic and societal reasons, such a sub-average individual may even be more likely to pass on their genetic material.

For these reasons, I think that it's fair to say that, generally, genetic evolution of the type that evolved the human species has stopped. It's an interesting discussion to talk about how and why our genes may still be changing, but I simply can't identify a selective pressure that could be "evolving humanity towards" a higher being, etc.

Of course, I'm no geneticist, and this is just my simple understanding based on limited reading and study. My guess is that, to the extent that we agree on what we mean when we say "evolution," we also agree that it has stopped. However, I would be earnestly interested in hearing opposing views...

Finally, re: harems or primae noctis, I think this may be a better example of breeding than evolution. You can breed a new type of dog in only a few generations, whereas evolution normally takes much longer than that. I *do* think that humanity is breeding into a broader spectrum due to demographic and economic factors (don't think we can call it speciation, at least not yet), but that's a different mechanism than evolution...

Hmm...not so sure I agree with your first sentence...

2009-12-02T14:22:36.437-07:00

Hmm...not so sure I agree with your first sentence.

I was under the impression that some groups have doubled or quadrupled the number of amylase gene copies since their ancestors started building granaries.

Also, there seems to be the potential for a rapid shift in a population's genes when individuals begin to keep harems or to practice jus primae noctis.

That said, I guess I agree that most of our instincts were established in less-hierarchical times, and the bulk of the adaptation has been cultural rather than genetic.

Jeff, excellent post, looking forward to more on t...

2009-11-30T08:38:50.536-07:00

Jeff, excellent post, looking forward to more on the diagonal economy. Some quick comments:

In my experience, having "enough" allows the freedom to do other, useful and rewarding things. However, if "enough" is to mean something more reasonable than having one level more riches than I have now, it will require a major basic change in our society's values. Then the diagonal economy can have some reasonable goals.

Another change required is a much closer connection to the natural world, to all of life. Lots of ways of looking at this, perhaps as part of spirituality. Certainly the essentially
universal elements of compassion, caring, inclusiveness found in religions - and in our DNA - but ignored by our society will be needed for success over 1,000 year time frames.

On the subject of DNA: don't even think of messing with it! Dangerous, sorcerer's apprentice stuff, even worse because potentially there's money to be made.