hey, could someone help me out with this?

[Guest buddhakhan]

Hey, I'm doing a school project about evolution and I would really appreciate if you guys could respond to these questions. I only need one person to respond, and I would really, really apreciate it. If you don't wish to leave your real name, that's fine, but it would help.

 

Here they are:

 

Is evolution inevitable?

 

Can emotional evolution be included in the same category of change that physical evolution is?

 

Can evolution be a bad thing? (detrimental to human race)

 

Has evolution, either emotionally or physically, happened in the past?

 

Is it possible to de-evolve (become a lower life-form)?

 

thanks, to whoever can answer my questions, I'd really appreciate it!

 

-Ben

[Skye]

Any answers will depend on how you define evolution. A common definition is that evolution is any change in the frequency of alleles (i.e. different genes that could occupy the position, or locus, on an organisms genome) in a population over time. It could also be a process where variable traits are passed on through successive generations and are subject to selective forces which alter the frequency of the different varieties. The first definition is based on a measurable change, the second is a process that leads to change. Which do you mean? Or do you mean something else (these are only two common definitions)?

 

Is evolution inevitable? Pretty much. If you include mutations then it's almost impossible for any population to remain the same over time.

 

Can emotional evolution be included in the same category of change that physical evolution is? By the two definitions I gave, no (remember they aren't the only possible definitions), since there is no process by which emotions are passed on through successive generations, and there are no equivalents to genes. You could theorise that emotions change over time through successive generations, whether they do or not I don't know. This could be called evolution but it would be of a different class.

 

Can evolution be a bad thing? (detrimental to human race) It can be a bad thing if a population evolves to a particular environment and then that environment changes, or they move to a new environment, where their traits are now disadvantagous. Sickle cell anemia is an example.

 

Has evolution, either emotionally or physically, happened in the past? Because emotional evolution doesn't seem to fit in with either of the two definitions I gave, then no. Physically it has occurred many times, the different breeds of domestic dogs are an example of evolution as a process. Particularly fast genetic evolution occurs in viruses, in which genetic mutations lead to slightly different protein coats evolving pretty much every year.

 

Is it possible to de-evolve (become a lower life-form)? It's quite possible, if you mean by changing to an earlier evolved structure. Most of the boundaries between the levels of life have some structural basis. A common structural feature of 'higher' animals is bilateral symmetry, only symmetrical along one plane. Starfish (and other echinoderms) have changed back to radial symmetry. This doesn't mean they are less well suited to their environment. Radial symmetry is probably great if you don't move much. I'ld keep the ideas of evolution and improving your evolutionary fitness seperate, it starts getting very confusing.