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joejama

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Posts posted by joejama

  1. I've wondered, and I'm sure others have too, if we have - for the most part - reached the point where we are no longer evolving due to natural selection.  Specifically, given modern medicine and social support, how much of a factor is "natural selection" any more, since most people can live past the point of reproduction regardless of their genetic make-up?  Certainly some factors remain.  For example, tall people are more attractive, so they will have more children, and so forth.  I know natural selection still exists for humanity, if perhaps reduced compared to other time periods in our history.

    But what I am really getting at, is have we reached a point where UN-natural selection occurs?  In other words, there must be some mutations that occur more often than others.  Let's say, for instance, that 1 out of 1000 babies do not have toes.  Assume this mutation is dominant, so if one parent has no toes, the children have no toes.   In the past, perhaps these babies would have been ostracized, or they couldn't run fast enough, far enough, and the mutation was weeded out.  But NOW, would such a mutation actually be detrimental? And if not, would such a relatively common and dominant mutation eventually work its way into all of the population (more or less).  Does the math work out?  Have we reached the point in our history where "UN-natural selection" is a real phenomenon?

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