Human Evolution - no more?

Human evolution has been the subject of debate for just about the entirety of its existence. It has been discussed, argued, and criticized for centuries. But where to now? Has the human race reached the point in its development at which it no longer reacts to its environment, changing according to Darwin’s theory of natural selection, but changes its environment to suit itself? Think about it. At one stage, if something stopped humans from achieving something, then it would direct human development according to how successful we were at achieving it. Now, we simply create something that will achieve it for us. The reason we are considered the most intelligent race on earth we must remember, is our ability to create machines.

The theory of natural selection still applies to everything else, but not humans (well not anymore anyway). If we don’t like something, then we change it so that we do. Similarly, we have reached a point in medicinal progression at which we can now cure just about every disease that would otherwise affect the course of human development. This obviously has a similar effect. However, this has a less noticeable effect on developing countries, for obvious reasons.

But, is this necessarily a good thing? It is through our ability to alter our environment in order to stop it from affecting us that we are potentially growing into a weaker race. Diseases that at one stage would have run the course of natural selection (sorting the men from the boys so to speak), are now simply killed off, because we can. Obviously this is a good thing in terms of our general development, and it allows us to continually increase things such as life expectancy and the like.

However, this lack of effective natural selection (particularly in developed countries), is likely to be countered in a number of ways, including the continual immigration of developing peoples into industrial communities, and future use of genetic manipulation and intentional breeding. So there’s not a lot to be worried about. Apparently.

As always, it’s been a pleasure to empty the contents of my mind onto the floor, sort them out and provide you with the interesting bits. If you have any thoughts on the matter, or any discussions that you would like to be raised in the future, please leave a comment. Thanks

Stem cell research

The other night I watched a show called catalyst, an Australian science program that discusses a number of current scientific issues and the latest research etc. One of the segments involved the ongoing ethical debate surrounding the use of stem cells for scientific purposes. This sparked my mind into thinking, where do I stand on all of this?

To flesh the argument out, the basic dispute lies in the stage at which something can be considered to be a human life. Is for example, a group of cells, such as the ones being considered for scientific purposes, a human life? If not, at what stage in the early development of humans can we consider there to be human life?

If we transfer this onto a religious stage, the program pointed out that Islam considers human life to only be fully formed 40 days following conception, and Jewish people believe a similar thing. This is very different to views held by other religious faiths, and considering my own upbringing as a Catholic adherent, I disagree with this, naturally.

In a Christian sense, the main problem arises when those ethically opposed to the use of cells for research clash with those that believe that to help people with a number of disabilities; it is ethical TO use them. Is either side wrong? Those with a number of disabilities, of which we currently have little understanding, often rely on the use of stem cells to uncover the basis of their disease, and in doing so, hopefully uncover a form of cure for it. This dispute creates major religious tension, and pushes the faith of those involved.

In my own opinion, I have to say, while I have relatively little understanding of the concept, that I am understandably lost on the notion of when it is that “life” as such, begins. I feel however, that there are enough people to benefit from the use of stem cells that it is acceptable to undergo research, but these cells must be treated with respect, and used in a way which minimizes the need to simply throw away such potentially valuable resources.