Evolution of Feet.

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

DEFTLEFTHAND

What's with all the feet threads in AH's recently?

Wibbs

Paramite Pie wrote: »

Also, humans once adapted to suit their environment but now we adapt the environment to suit us. Evolution will pan out differently for us as long as we continue to farm (not hunt), build shelter from the environment and cure the illnesses that used to thin our populations. Without any major natural selection going on, we're not going to change drastically.

Well... For a start humans have been adapting their environment and externalising evolution from very early on. Toolmaking and control of fire were major gamechangers. Both opened up a huge vista of food choices without having to wait for natural selection to give us bigger teeth, claws, stronger stomach acid, extra stomachs etc. Cooking is right at the top in the How to be Human handbook. Fire, tools and clothing also opened up new environments we could exploit. Again without having to wait around for biology to catch up.

Farming? The human genome has had more changes happening in the last 10,000 years than in the previous 100,000 and that was down to the agricultural revolution, living in larger groups etc. Changes relating to food adaptations(gluten, lactose, even alcohol among others) were a goodly chunk of that. That's what's interesting/funny about the current fad for eating a "paleolithic " diet. We're no longer paleolithic ourselves. Never mind that 90% of the so called paleo food didn't even exist back then.

kneemos wrote: »

Obesity could lead to rapid changes presumably.

Possibly. It seems there is some inheritability from genetic changes within one generation, so it could influence future generations. We need to evolve a more robust insulin response system for a start as we're just not built for the all too common intake of simple carbs. Problem there is that medical intervention is minimising the effect.

Capt'n Midnight

Is it too late to mention that they are an amazing feat of evolution ?

Zen65

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

. . . . . . but how do you limp if both feet are operated on?

Evenly, I'd guess.

Zen65

Paramite Pie wrote: »

Evolution doesn't just happen to the entire human population at once. What happens is one person might be born with a bizarre mutation that alters the shape of their foot, and they'd have to make a lot of babies in order to become the 'common ancestor' for all the billions of people in the future.

Also, humans once adapted to suit their environment but now we adapt the environment to suit us. Evolution will pan out differently for us as long as we continue to farm (not hunt), build shelter from the environment and cure the illnesses that used to thin our populations. Without any major natural selection going on, we're not going to change drastically.

Yes, the practical reality is that we are not allowing evolution per se to occur. Evolution occurs over generations on the basis that a mutation (or a series of small, incremental mutations) in the gene structure allows a greater number of children to be born to the person carrying the mutation. If for example the genetic alteration which would allow a big toe to cease to develop in a female also led to a greater number of eggs in the ovaries, then arguably that female may go on to have more children and so the genetic variation would spread "rapidly" (i.e. over a period of just a couple of thousand years) through society. However due to financial considerations most women having such a genetic variation in western society now would (a) have the toe replaced surgically for aesthetic purposes and (b) limit her offspring through contraception, thereby avoiding any slight variance in the statistical variance of society's gene pool.

The days of evolution for humans are gone.

Scarinae

Wibbs wrote: »

That's what's interesting/funny about the current fad for eating a "paleolithic " diet. We're no longer paleolithic ourselves. Never mind that 90% of the so called paleo food didn't even exist back then.

One of my friends posted pictures on Facebook recently of her paleo chocolate mousse (which is made from avocados) - just like the chocolate mousse Stone Age people used to eat!

Zen65

kneemos wrote: »

Obesity could lead to rapid changes presumably.

For that to happen, one of two things must occur:

(a) Genetically obese people must produce more children than non-obese. By "genetically obese" I mean people who are pre-disposed to being obese due to the functioning of their metabolism or their inability to realise they have eaten enough.

(b) Genetically slim people must produce less children than non-obese. By "genetically slim" I mean people who are pre-disposed to being slim due to the functioning of their metabolism or their inability to eat large amounts of food.

People who are obese for no genetic reason will not influence the gene pool one way of the other, since their off-spring will only be obese if there is enough food / wealth (and a lack of education) to lead to obesity.

Z

Wibbs

Zen65 wrote: »

The days of evolution for humans are gone.

The very fact that we are interfering in some obvious selection pressures, doesn't mean evolution is gone. Not even close. EG, not much more than a century ago on a third of children and often more wouldn't make it to reproductive age. They didn't survive the various ailments of childhood, or were "weaker" compared to those that did survive to reproduce. Today those same children will in the vast majority of cases make it(in developed countries). By their survival they're adding in genes that might have been lost 200 years ago.

Secondly, now that we're beginning to understand about genetics and are fiddling about on the genetic level, there will likely come a time when directed parenting will become commonplace. We're already doing it with parental genetic testing to avoid certain heritable conditions. This will have a major impact on future humanity. That's before we get into artificial intelligence applied as an add on, or even a replacement.

Scarinae wrote: »

One of my friends posted pictures on Facebook recently of her paleo chocolate mousse (which is made from avocados) - just like the chocolate mousse Stone Age people used to eat!

I know. WTF Oh and before they start droning on about veggies, the vast majority of those you get today have been selectively bred and look very different to the wild ones. You would not like to eat a wild banana, AKA Toothbreaker Seedbag.

Celly Smunt

dodderangler wrote: »

Bring back the tails.
Girls would look so much hotter with tails and we could just hang around trees and throw our faeces at each other

I must say,a tail would make a woman more attactive.