Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id LAA13010 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 6 Feb 2001 11:55:56 GMT Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745C37@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Evolution of ontogeny Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 11:55:02 -0000 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
<Yes, 50,000 years may be too little to see biological evolution --
but we do
> know that homo sapiens evolved from earlier forms of homo. Are you
> suggesting that that process has stopped, or simply that the last 50,000
> years don't reveal biological evolution?
>
<I can think of a lot of changes that have happened socially in the
last
> 50,000 years that I would call markers of social evolution:
> sedentarization
> and farming, empire, distance communication, technological 'symbiosis',
> etc.
> I am of course not suggesting that all of these are wholly 'good' -- only
> that they are of evolutionary consequence, and certainly that they are
> irreversible.>
>
There's also the issue of what changed between homo erectus and
cro-magnon that led to the cambrian-like cultural explosion? Some argue
that there must have been some subtle but significant changes in brain
structure- something unrecoverable archeologically- and that would have been
a biological change, and thus evolutionary.
Then of course, you're quite right to point out things like farming,
extensive niche selection, that has led to distinct population
characteristics like lactose tolerance in adulthood. Debates do currently
rage as to whether human biological evolution has effectively stopped or not
(at least in the developed world) due to low mortality rates etc. I think
both of these have been mentioned before a couple of weeks ago though, so I
won't go over old ground.
Vincent
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