[lbo-talk] Bonobo you don't

[Miles Jackson]

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> As to whether James ignores evolutionary theory - he can certainly speak for
> himself, but I do not think that it is what he claims.  He seems to argue
> that humans acquired ways to neutralize the effects of natural selection
> through social development and technology in the ways that animals could not
> - which is not the same as denying the existence of that selection. 
No, it is impossible for us to "neutralize" the effects of natural 
selection, because that could only happen if (a) reproduction didn't 
occur and (b) there was no genetic diversity in the human species.  Any 
changes to the environment that humans create simply become part of the 
environment that than "selects" for members of the species that are best 
adapted to that environment.  This is true in most species (they shape 
their environment and the shaped environment than "selects" certain traits).

Example: imagine industrialization continues to replace human manual 
labor with machine power, and we get to the point that physical exertion 
is minimal.  Evolution would select for traits that help humans adapt to 
this rarified environment (say, the developmental resources used to 
build bulky muscle would be used to enhance the senses or increase 
cognitive ability--whatever helps people survive and reproduce in that 
new hyperindustrialized environment).  Note that this must be true for 
any environmental conditions; it's irrelevant whether the conditions are 
created by humans, bonobos, or God.  --And it is certainly completely 
irrelevant whether the humans had a "mental picture" of the 
environmental changes they made!

Granted, this evolutionary process is slow, and as I have argued 
repeatedly on the list, there are many human characteristics that have 
nothing to do with evolution.  However, if you understand the basic 
principles of evolutionary theory, it is abundantly clear that any 
environmental changes that humans generate cannot "nullify" or 
"neutralize" the process of evolution.  At best, these environmental 
changes can influence the "random walk" of evolution for one or more 
species.

Miles